aviation

someone's flexing hard in Cannes this week with the Qatar Executive jet flying in non-stop from HKG

🔍 ensdata.net ✦ 𝙽𝙾𝚆: design engineer @family ✦ 𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚅: @rainbow 🌈 ✦ 𝙱𝚄𝙸𝙻𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶: @vision

ok i overshot a bit. more like $190k with Qatar Executive

time + comfort + privacy.

this plane seats 13 so let's say 8 people are flying. most airlines don't even have that many first class seats in the cabin. but let's imagine they do.

you're paying $7k per person ($56k) but you are tied to a schedule defined by the airline and you need to have a 4h+ overnight layover in the middle east. that's a lot of time wasted on logistics while your sleep suffers.

when flying private the plane waits for you. you drive up straight to the plane and take off as soon as you get on. no security, no immigration. everything has been cleared already. you land at your destination and there is a car waiting already. zero time wasted.

you don't have to worry about anyone recognizing you or bothering you or taking photos of you in the plane or at the airport (even in the first class lounge and boarding area). 

if you end up choosing a connection through europe this is even worse — you no longer are first class, you are bumped down to "business class" (you can barely call it that) on a narrow body plane. you board with everyone else, have to stand in line at the gate with economy passengers. the only thing that separates you from them is a small curtain in row 3 or 5 of the plane. you have to deplane through the regular commercial terminal at the airport with everyone else there, get through security and immigration like a normal passenger. even with an airport concierge service this is still too much exposure if you are UHNWI or a celebrity.

for some people paying 6 figures to charter a jet feels like a normal person spending $6000 on a first class fare with layovers and red eye connections, so why wouldn't they do it?

average UHNWI private jet spend is around $1-2M a year.

👀 What’s the upside of this compared to buying a first-class ticket on a regular plane?