Business Travel

[astec]

Hello All,

I'm new here. Do any of you in here who have started your own business's travel a lot? I dont mean once a month. I'm talking about weekely or every few days? Do you, or have, any of you considered purchasing your own plane to travel for business rather than expensive airline tickets?


Just wondering what everyone else does.

[Evan]

I wish I had that problem, but do not.

If I were in that situation, I'd probably explore fractional airplane ownership before just buying a plane. I believe NetJets is part of the Warren Buffett clan of companies, and it seems like it could, potentially, be more economical than outright ownership.

It also depends on the distances traveled. If you frequently travel between two relatively "short" flight distances, often times the plane ticket is cheaper than any other method of transportation.

[nighthawk]

Buying a business jet will cost you $10m+, given that this is a small business forum, I very much doubt anyone here owns their own. Even chartering a jet is going to cost tens of thousands per trip.

I think until you make it into the large business category, you will probably need to stick to airline travel.

[billbenson]

I didn't see where he mentioned jet. He might just be a pilot wanting to justify buying a plane?

astec, you just have to look at the payback time. Should be a pretty simple excel sheet.

[nighthawk]

I didn't see where he mentioned jet. He might just be a pilot wanting to justify buying a plane?

astec, you just have to look at the payback time. Should be a pretty simple excel sheet.

Bill, he didnt specifically mention a Jet, but did specify it was for business travel. Most business aircraft tend to be jets, although there are a number of turboprop business aircraft available. However these will still cost a considerable sum of money to buy.

It was an assumption on my part, however a reasonable one I feel. Unless you are talking about a small light aircraft, the cost of ownership is going to be significantly large. With a light aircraft though, the problem becomes limited range, and also the fact that you would need to fly it yourself, which is hardly suitable for business travel.

[Evan]

It depends... NetJet's offers 25 hours of travel is $135,000. That IS $5,400 PER hour, but I believe that gives you access to the entire jet (aka multiple seats).

I'm certainly not saying it's going to provide you a CHEAPER option... But when you consider the cost of a first class ticket, and all of the benefits of fractional jet ownership, I don't think the price is unreasonable.

[nighthawk]

It depends... NetJet's offers 25 hours of travel is $135,000. That IS $5,400 PER hour, but I believe that gives you access to the entire jet (aka multiple seats).

I'm certainly not saying it's going to provide you a CHEAPER option... But when you consider the cost of a first class ticket, and all of the benefits of fractional jet ownership, I don't think the price is unreasonable.

It certainly isnt cheaper - a quick search for a First class ticket from Aberdeen to Providence as an example (it requires three flights, Aberdeen-London-Newark-Providence) , leaving tomorrow, works out at $8,000, although that takes 20 hours to get there. Whereas flying direct on a business jet would take just under 6 hours, at a cost of $32,600.

If there are 4 of you going, the business jet becomes a good option, as does the business jet if time is important.

[astec]

well to all who were wondering, I was talking small Piston aircraft, single engine, relatively inexpensive for the speed and availability, and beat most if not any airline cost by a hugh margin.

just a thought

[Evan]

Gavin -- that's why I said that it's good if you have others traveling with you. The other good thing is you can fly out of smaller, regional airports, so you're even closer to your destination.

I was never intending it to be the CHEAPEST option. People don't do jet ownership because it's the cheapest thing... it tends to be about convenience.

[huggytree]

Ive actually thought about buying my own airport...why wait in line...id go to my hanger...pick out which plane i want to fly today and just take off...

your in a different world than 100% of us in this website i think.

someday i hope to think of things like buying an airplane