Private Flight Services Look To Travel Agents To Broaden The Market

The idea of flying on a chartered plane out of a private jet terminal may still seem out of reach to anyone who isn’t a confirmed one-percenter. But the rise of more affordable private options, combined with frustration over the hassles of commercial airline travel, is boosting interest among consumers as well as travel agents, according to David Zipkin, founder and vice president of Tradewind Aviation, which operates private flights in the Northeast and the Caribbean.

“People are looking for alternative ways of traveling,” said Zipkin, who started up the company in 2002 as an aircraft charterer based in Connecticut. 

Tradewind was among the first companies to offer a “private shuttle,” which mimics some aspects of commercial airline service, such as a regular flight schedule, but adds some of the perks of the jet charter lifestyle, like flying out of a private terminal that’s free of noisy crowds and TSA queues.  

Tradewind flies out of smaller airports, in places like Stowe, VT, as well as private terminals at commercial airports like Boston Logan and White Plains. It also has a Caribbean operation, ferrying passengers from commercial hubs like San Juan to smaller airfields in Nevis or St. Barth’s.

While it doesn’t fly lavishly appointed Gulfstreams or Learjets—its fleet consists of eight-seat Pilatus PC-12s, a Swiss-made turbo prop plane—Tradewind does offer something fliers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for: the experience of flying private at a price that’s close to an undiscounted air fare.

For example, Tradewind’s one-way fares for short shuttle flights generally range from $400 to $600, and volume discounts are available for those purchasing ticket books. In general, though, the costs of flying private are closer to first-class fares, so the total pay for agents he works with is well worth it, Zipkin said. Travel agencies earn a “starting commission rate” of 5%, and “it goes up from there.” 

Tradewind sells flights in all major GDS systems: Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo, he said, and works with many luxury and corporate agencies, including American Express and Carlson Wagonlit, as well as Fischer Travel, Tzell, Altour, Frosch, Valerie Wilson and others. And he’s booked flights for a number of Virtuoso and Signature agents even though Tradewind isn’t a member of either consortium.

While Tradewind also lists flights on OTAs like Expedia, Zipkin noted that when dealing with private aviation clients, a high level of service is essential. “This is a market where the kind of service agents provide is critical,” he said.

While a number of entrepreneurs have entered the field in recent years, rolling out apps that promise to “hail” a jet with a tap of a Smartphone, Zipkin said clients should be wary of something that seems too easy.

“The self-serve pendulum has swung too far the other way,” he said, noting that Ubair failed in its attempt to become the Uber of the skies, and membership clubs like Beacon and Black Star fared poorly and shut down.

Then there’s the fact that private operators aren’t as closely regulated by government safety watchdogs as their scheduled counterparts.  “We take safety very seriously,” Zipkin said.  “We guarantee two pilots for each flight—that’s two for eight people. That’s above what the government requires, but we wouldn’t do it any other way.”