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How is your Private Jets division performing at the moment? In the first half of the financial year, our Private Jets division reported a slight gross profit increase year-on-year. During the period, we continued to invest in our Private Jets team across the globe to ensure we meet client demand and exceed our clients’ expectations. In the US, where we have also expanded our New York office, we are already seeing the results: there has been a sharp increase in corporate and high net worth individual business and overall client numbers are up nearly 70%. What triggered your decision to target the US? We have been an established US business for over 20 years now, but there are still opportunities that we can capitalise on. We believe that there is strong demand in the region for our product offering, as well as our exceptional client service. We are seeing strong interest in the Air Partner JetCard from businesses in particular, as there is no limit to the number of users that can be linked to a corporate account, which further adds to its flexibility. North America is the biggest private jet market in the world and we are committed to taking more of this share. What other achievements have you seen this year in Private Jets? The Air Partner JetCard was recently ranked the most flexible jet card membership programme in Europe and USA by the independent aviation consultancy Conklin & de Decker versus a number of our competitors in each of the markets. These were Delta Private Jets, Wheels Up and Sentient Jets in the USA, and NetJets Europe and VistaJet in Europe.
How is the Air Partner JetCard performing this year? JetCard renewals are up 24% year on year, which we can largely attribute to our Customer First programme, and overall utilisation continues to be high. At Air Partner, we are constantly looking to enhance the JetCard experience further for our clients and this is another contributor to its success. For example, we have partnered with a number of luxury brands and services, including luxury yacht company Camper & Nicholsons International, and have rolled out bespoke Air Partner JetCard catering in 34 airports across the UK and Continental Europe. We also recently launched a £1 million Air Partner JetCard - which would get someone around the world four times should they wish!
Can you explain a bit more about how the Customer First programme works? The Customer First initiative is all about getting closer to our clients so we better understand their needs, which will enable us to further enhance the client experience when using Air Partner. The programme came about as part of an extensive client feedback exercise which was undertaken throughout 2014. We wanted to understand what really mattered to them, what they wanted and what they expected from Air Partner, so we could make sure that we delivered this. Our aim is to become industry leaders, clearly different from the competition, putting the client first in all we do and delivering an exceptional experience consistently and proactively, to drive repeat business. Customer First is now fully embedded across the whole Air Partner group, with the positive results seen in increased client loyalty and improved retention across our divisions. We are also seeing some encouraging new business from existing clients requesting services from other divisions, which is testament to the strength of our relationships and the quality and increasing breadth of products and services we can deliver. For example, in the case of JetCard, the excellent service we deliver has brought about a number of referrals from existing clients and we also believe it has contributed to the 24% increase in renewals. Where do you envisage growth coming from in the private jet market in 2018?
Who is chartering private jets nowadays? Who is your typical client? According to WealthX, the average jet owner is around 60 years old and male. However, in Air Partner’s experience, the new breed of charter client is far younger than the typical jet owner, just as likely to be male or female, and is after a personalised service, something exclusive and unique in an increasing vanilla and commoditised world. The charter brokers who can really deliver on the service expectations of this new key demographic are best placed to benefit for these changing attitudes in 2017-18. Is the emergence of online brokers challenging the traditional broker? Challenging may not be the right word, but online brokers are certainly changing the way some traditional brokers think about their online engagement with clients and prospective clients. However, it is important to put this into perspective: there is no fully automated or on online ‘turnkey’ solution available for private jets - all bookings require a certain degree of human involvement. The biggest differentiator is client service - you simply just can’t provide the same personalised and bespoke service via the web that you can with a client relationship. Clients like to know who is looking after them and that their needs will be fully catered for as soon as they place a request. Furthermore, in Europe many charter brokers will be specifically acting as an agent for a specific carrier (for the carrier’s benefit, not the charterer), or solely as an intermediary, responsible only for passing on information between the charterer and the carrier to facilitate the trip. In either scenario, the broker has no legal obligation to ensure that you actually get the flight you paid for in an AOG (Aircraft On Ground) situation. At Air Partner, however, our CharterPLUS contract guarantees our European clients that we will contribute up to 150% of the original charter cost to replace an unserviceable aircraft in such circumstances, making sure the same (or better) standard replacement aircraft is made available in the quickest possible timeframe. In addition, we offer a further $100 million combined single limit insurance, over and above that provided by the carrier themselves, to ensure our clients’ peace of mind.
Where do you see Air Partner in five years' time? That is a very difficult question to answer in our industry as things move on so quickly. However, our objective is to build a world class aviation services group which delivers comprehensive aviation solutions to our global client base. The majority of our revenue continues to come from our Broking operations but it is our aim to create a balanced business mix between two market-leading divisions of Broking and Consulting & Training. In line with this strategy, we recently announced the acquisition of SafeSkys Limited, a leading Environmental and Air Traffic Control services provider to UK and International airports, to further bolster our focus on aviation safety. The business sits in our Consulting & Training division alongside our industry-leading aviation safety consultancy Baines Simmons and fatigue risk management consultancy Clockwork Research, and we expect to see strong cross-selling opportunities here. There is still a significant amount of hard work to be done across the Group in the months and years ahead to achieve our long-term objectives but I am confident we have the right framework in place from which to grow.
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