As in every field, private aviation also has myths of its own. Like de-icing and anti-icing procedures don’t apply for private jets, no security checks are required before private flight, all business jets fly faster and higher than normal commercial aircraft, owning a private jet is cheaper in the long run than renting one and commercial first class is always cheaper than flying private. The list goes on. Monarch Air Group, one of the experts in business aviation, helps us uncover these 5 myths of private flight.
Flying private is too expensive
Sure, it’s expensive when you fly alone in a plane with space for 8 passengers… A standard first class ticket from Los Angeles to Las Vegas can cost $1,500 while the same trip with a private flight operator might cost up to $5,000. Easy to say first class has the edge, right? In a commercial flight you have to pay for your seat, so if you want to bring your seven best friends to Vegas you will have to pay $12,000. On a private jet, all 8 can travel for the initial $5,000; you rent the plane and not the seat.
No de-icing needed for private jets
Snow and ice will affect plane surfaces by adding extra weight and potentially troubling it’s aerodynamics during takeoff, thus needing de-icing and anti-icing procedures to be clean and free of contaminants, especially for the wings, horizontal stabilizers and the vertical stabilizer, in order for the aircraft to maintain the appropriate flow of air potentially reducing lift. All aircraft, as stated by the FAA’s Standardized International Aircraft Ground Deice Program (SIAGDP), need to go through this process.
Buying a private jet saves you money
There is no doubt that owning a private jet is an exciting idea, but you need to know that there are strict maintenance schedules that apply, training that needs to be handed out to the pilots, you actually need to find the pilots (and pay them), and insurance and hangarage costs, just to name a few. When renting a jet, the management fees, pilot salaries, insurances and maintenance have all been paid for, including the aircraft acquisition and depreciation. It really comes down to this: how many hours a year will you use it. Normally you will need to fly between 200 and 300 hours a year to make owning an aircraft more cost-effective than actually chartering one.
Private jets are faster and fly higher than commercial airliners
It depends. Flying private is often swifter and smoother, and usually smaller jets climb quicker than commercial planes, avoiding shaky weather in less time. And although the fastest civilian plane is a private jet, the Cessna Citation X with a maximum speed of 617 mph, there is not a clear-cut winner when comparing small, mid or super-sized private jets with commercial airliners’ speed. The complete private experience is what undeniably makes a flight much shorter; no need to arrive hours prior to your flight and the possibility to land in any airport, domestic or international, within a large list of other benefits.
No security checks needed when flying private
Fiction. Even though with private flights you usually know the people who you’re flying with, you still for sure don’t know the pilots and crew and vice versa. A quick check-in procedure will still be in place; a swift security process and immigration check before you can walk to your airplane. But in no case a private jet passenger will witness the long lines of commercial aviation; not even flying in first class will save you from that.
