Wall Street Journal Online -The Wealth Report, Robert Frank looks at the lives and culture of the wealthy
What’s the jet set planning for their jets in 2007?
Elite Traveler recently released a report on the top five trends in private-jet travel. Normally, I’m leery of talking about “trends” in small, rarified markets. But with more than 10,000 private jets now buzzing the skies in the U.S., the jet market is becoming big business. So here is the Elite Traveler Top Five:
1. The Rich Man’s Taxi. Very light jets, which are also very cheap, will become like the car service of the future, especially for the rich, the magazine says. They will allow fliers to hop from their country villa to a nearby city for dinner and be back by midnight. Granted, these promises have been around for years, but 2007 may see the first such planes come into operation.
2. Bigger Is Better. Private jets are getting bigger as people order planes larger than a 737. As my column two weeks ago pointed out, some billionaires are even placing orders for 747-800s, and one buyer has plans to buy an Airbus A380 — the largest passenger jet in the sky.
3. Dinner and a View. Well-known chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, David Bouley and David Burke (pictured, courtesy of DBD Restaurant) are creating menus for private-jet companies. Fractional-jet companies and charters are often teaming up with local restaurants, while private owners are opting to bring along their personal chefs. So long, salted peanuts and Coke.
4. Gift Cards. Tired of getting Best Buy and Amazon gift cards for Christmas? Think about asking for a private-jet card, which gives the bearer a certain number of hours of jet use. More people are buying them as gifts, the magazine says.
5. Sports Travel. More and more of the super-wealthy are taking jets to sports events, such as the Super Bowl and big golfing events. (I don’t know why this is new, but hey, it’s their list).
To the Elite list, I would add one more trend:
6. Going Green. As the wealthy try to become more environmentally friendly (or at least give the appearance that they are), more jet companies are going to follow the lead of companies such as Silverjet and Executive Charter Services by announcing plans to offset their carbon emissions with environmental programs. But the efforts are likely to be largely cosmetic. After all, even Al Gore is reluctant to give up the joys of flying private.
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/02/27/jet-trends/
“Tackling the environmental issues on a global scale can be intimidating and off-putting. We are offering an easy solution and real opportunity to help our clients be good global citizens.” explains Kevin Godlewski, President of Executive Charter Services. “While private jet travel is an essential part of the corporate climate, we must work together to protect our most important resource.”
