JetSmarter positions itself as the Uber of the private jet industry; what does that mean?
What that means is we’re an app that integrates with over 3000 airplanes; that’s live data, very similar to how ride-sharing apps connect cars. So when you’re doing a search, we’re accessing over 3000 airplanes’ schedules, their GPS location; we’re seeing if they’re available or not available, and we’re packaging all that information and presenting to you all the options that are available for your user itinerary. You can literally book a jet within minutes.
So it is essentially a technology company that connects users with private jet operators?
We are absolutely a technology company, and the entire idea behind JetSmarter is we are a platform that’s supposed to enhance flying, make it more efficient, but also make the booking experience just amazing. The way that people had to book airplanes [before we launched] was absolutely atrocious; very archaic, just like having to deal with a stockbroker in the 1980s. You had to talk for hours, get a physical contract, sign it, fax it over. It was a really long process and not transparent. When you live in the internet age, you wonder why can’t I access the information online. When you use our app, there’s a 100 percent transparent experience; you see the exact airplane you’re flying on, all the details about that airplane, and boom: you can book it.
Where are your aircraft partners and customers based?
About half of the aircraft are in the United States, the other half are pretty much all over the world. There are a lot in Western Europe. A lot in Russia, a number in the Middle East: they’re all over. The majority of our business is the United States, probably 75 percent. Then our second biggest market, believe it or not, is the Middle East. Not necessarily flying in the Middle East, but Middle Eastern customers that travel all over the world. They’re either traveling from the Middle East or they’re travelling in Western Europe, or even coming to the United States. They’re young, wealthy, they appreciate mobile technologies. Part of it also is that they really hate paperwork. So they love the fact you can do everything over your iPhone.
What sort of things do your Middle East customers book?
Two days ago we had a new customer from the Middle East; he found the technology and made a search for a flight at the beginning of October. Usually in the Middle East they fly on heavier metal; they spend more as opposed to Western Europe. Western Europe is the VLJ (very light jet) market, dominated by passenger planes. In the Middle East we have heavy jet fliers, which is a totally different – we have a lot of customers that are booking all the way up to Airbuses. When they go on our app and make a search and see the rates from the carriers, they realised for the last years they’d been overpaying millions. And that’s how the word gets out.
What long-term impact will JetSmarter have on aviation?
Well let’s look at a real-life example. Today I got a notification from Los Angeles to San Francisco on an empty leg for an eight-passenger jet. LA to San Francisco is the most flown corridor in the world. We’re putting this flight out at $2000 for the whole airplane, and this is a good mid-size jet. Booking this eight-person plane for $2000 is $250 a seat. If I was taking South West Airlines, which is like the bus service of air travel, they sell those seats for [around $200] and I’m offering a private jet for $250 a seat. That’s really accessible for everybody who travels that route. The key is to get eight people together who want to fly that route; and if they find that, they won’t
fly commercial.
How else does the experience differ from commercial?
You can’t compare it with commercial. It’s really the airports; you eliminate that horrible airport experience, especially here in the United States, where it’s just atrocious. So when you eliminate that it’s a way better experience. Time is money and [with private]you don’t go through the stress, headache or time problems. You just arrive at your jet, five minutes before, and then a car takes you to the plane and you leave. Also, I think that in the United States, commercial airlines travel to something like 30 to 50 times less airports [than private]. If you want to go to a remote location, you’re going by private jet unless you want to be driving. That’s what private jets really allow you to do.
How many bookings do you get in an average month and what kind of margins are you achieving?
As a company, we’re growing literally month over month. We’re doing anywhere between five to seven bookings a day right now. In terms of margins, we have a two-part business model: one part is membership sales, secondly is the transaction fee from carriers. So if you’re a member and you’re a frequent flyer, you’re getting a wholesale rate. We’re essentially subsidising our transaction fee and giving that back as a discount to our members. So there’s little to no margin on a member flight. You’re joining as a member and you’re getting access to insider pricing, insider information; it’s really a home run if you’re a frequent flier. And in terms of a transaction fee, if you’re not a member, we take anywhere between 10 percent and 30 percent. We’re always improving our customer experience from the front end, meaning added features on the app, making it more fluid. At the end of 2014, we’re adding seat-sharing capabilities – it’ll just be amazing. It’s going to be really cool.
When was your first private jet flight and what do you remember about it?
The first one I actually boked myself was in 2009, although I had been on a private jet before when I was a kid, with some of my family. But when I actually went through the process and booked it myself, I realised I hated that experience of having to deal with a broker, and going through this archaic process. The flight was great; we had booked something here from south Florida to north Florida; it’s the booking process that was absolutely atrocious.
What are some of your favourite personal travel experiences?
I really enjoy Dubai (when it’s not too hot), but some of my favourite travel experience are in the Colorado mountains of Vail and Aspen as I have been skiing all of my life.
Flying private makes hard-to-reach exotic locations more accessible – what is the most remote place you have visited?
I have travelled to the middle of Siberia in the winter. It was - 35 Celsius and made me wonder if I was going to survive the trip.
If you had to drop US $1 million on a holiday/travel experience right now, what would it be?
I would fly to the Maldives and then to Macau from Florida on a Gulfstream G550.