London - If you want to go to Paris, flying by private jet is not the first option that would spring to mind. But the method may no longer be the preserve merely of the rich, the famous or business executives.
For a firm is offering flights from London to Paris by private jet that can cost less than £160 (R2 804) per person.
Flights on a four-seater Citation Mustang flight to Paris can be booked for between £564 and £627 – cheaper per person than a business class seat with British Airways (£336) or Eurostar (£276).
The only catch is that the trip is one-way, with no guarantee you can use the same method for the return journey.
The price is relatively low because the aircraft would otherwise be flying empty to Paris.
They take off from London Biggin Hill. At 19.3km out, the Kent airfield is closer to the centre of London than Heathrow or Gatwick. They land at Paris Le Bourget airport, just 6.4km from the city centre.
By contrast, commercial flights land at Charles de Gaulle airport, 25.7km from Paris.
For your money, you get continental breakfast, coffee and Champagne – plus a view out of the front windows. The seats are leather and no one nags you about seatbelts, or electronic devices.
The service is the idea of Sergey Petrossov, founder of JetSmarter, an app launched last year for booking private jets via smartphones.
According to Petrossov, 30 percent of private jets travel empty – they are on their way to pick a client up or are returning to base after dropping them off.
His app provides a “live access marketplace” so potential travellers can see which of the 3 000 jets has seats available.
Catching a private jet means travellers skip check-in and security, and can arrive five minutes before their flight takes off. Passports are checked in advance and, as with the Paris flight, private jets tend to use smaller airports, which can be closer to your destination.
Bernhard Fragner, the chief executive of GlobeAir, which owns the Mustang, says customers on a hunting trip can take their own rifles.
Until now, private jets have catered primarily for wealthy business travellers, footballers and celebrities.
The typical flyer, according to Fragner, has a net income of more than £1 million a year. One GlobeAir client booked a jet to fly a cat to Dubai for Valentine’s Day
. The most extravagant jet to rent via the JetSmarter app is a Boeing 767, the type a head of state might use. – Daily Mail