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AN INTERVIEW WITH L’VOYAGE<br />
seeing lots of new entrants into business jets as well, especially<br />
in the leisure market. For business trips we are seeing demand for<br />
both long-haul, and some short-haul, but the increases are more<br />
leisure-related.<br />
Will demand for business aviation continue<br />
post-pandemic, especially among new<br />
clients?<br />
Business aviation in Asia is<br />
not cheap – it is actually more<br />
expensive compared to the US or<br />
Europe.”<br />
One reason is that in Europe, there are more operators and aircraft<br />
types for our clients to choose from, but in Asia, flights can range<br />
from USD$40,000 – $50,000 per trip, so this level of pricing calls<br />
for a certain type of customer. A trend we are seeing is that the<br />
clients who used to fly first class – say on Cathay Pacific Airways,<br />
Singapore Airlines, or any other airline that provides good first class<br />
service – have now acquired a taste for the private jet lifestyle and<br />
are unlikely to go back to commercial airlines. This is a trend we<br />
really like to see. While we can’t say for sure that they will always<br />
charter a private jet for every trip, it’s always going to be one of their<br />
options, depending on their schedule.<br />
Is there a shortage of charter aircraft in<br />
Asia?<br />
Yes there are. The industry has seen a decrease in aircraft in China<br />
as a lot of them were sold during the pandemic, so choices are<br />
still limited within Asia-Pacific. But overall, we aren’t seeing a big<br />
increase in aircraft numbers. In fact a lot aircraft have left, so we<br />
say that there aren’t really enough charter aircraft in the region. Over<br />
the past 12 months, we used lots of aircraft from operators outside<br />
of the region, but during the summer season it was quite busy for<br />
those operators outside of Asia, so it was a bit of a struggle to<br />
arrange flights. Luckily it’s a bit easier now. We continue to support<br />
a lot of those operators with their trips into the region, such as by<br />
providing operational support and helping with permits etc., as<br />
many of them have not visited Asia before.<br />
ASIA-PACIFIC CHARTER REPORT <strong>2022</strong> | 15
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