Charter flights in demand now?

With the current ban on international flights and limited domestic operations, charter flights have seen an instant  boost in both interest and demand. Private aviation expert Kanika Tekriwal, CEO & Founder, JetSetGo Aviation, helps  decode the changing dynamics of the industry and where it is headed

Manas Dwivedi

Q What has made the charter flight demand surge?

Due to the pandemic, people today are more mindful and cautious when choosing their travel option. Whether it’s health concerns or just getting where they need to be, people and companies that have the means to fly privately, but had previously eschewed it, will now be looking at the option due to its safety, hygiene and convenience. Furthermore, whilst flying private, the various touchpoints throughout the journey also reduce, making this mode favourable.

Q What are some of the requests you’ve received?

For the first time, we are seeing requests coming from people like never before, from people who weren’t necessarily wealthy or would not necessarily travel on Business or First Class. Mainly, new customers are reaching out to us. We are getting close to 20 enquires a day with 70 per cent of it from new customers.

We are also seeing a lot of requests coming from parents whose children are stuck in colleges or schools in different countries or within India, as well as from families stuck elsewhere, not in their homeland. A lot of requests from Singapore, London and Australia were observed as many Indians send their kids to study in these countries. Looking at the current circumstances, our guests prefer six or seven-seater flights, as they attract lower risk due to
lower capacity.

Q What do you think the future holds for this segment?

People will now be using it out of necessity and there will be more customers considering it. We also anticipate that both leisure and business travel will decrease, considering the rise in usage of video calls and conferencing in the last two months, because of which the number of trips people take will reduce. So, existing customers may not travel as much as they used to. However, business travel will rebound ahead of leisure travel.

Q Do you get customers through travel agents?

Yes, we do receive requests from the agents. Usually, they engage with us by taking a quote from us and sharing it with the guest after adding their percentage. Our team is connected with various agents all over the country to fulfil any query that comes to us via various mediums.