News Release

Victor reveals commercial jet charter trends and 33% YOY growth

Leading global on demand jet charter marketplace Victor has reported a 33% YOY growth in bookings for its commercial jet charter division for 2019 versus 2018, and revealed the 2019 trends in group charter and its 2020 predictions.

Victor's commercial jets team specialises in aircraft charter for groups of 18 passengers or more. Indispensable to the MICE and sporting sectors, chartering a commercial jet with Victor means complete control of schedules and routes.

Audience:

Football team charters were responsible for most of the market segment growth. In 2019, 45% of Victor's commercial jet charters were by sports teams, whilst corporate travel accounted for 35%. Completed trips included travel to the Le Mans 24 Hours sports car endurance race and an incentive event for 1,000 employees travelling from global offices spanning Montreal to Bucharest. Other requests came from private groups celebrating special occasions and groups of sports fans travelling on high-demand dates when flying privately can work out less expensive per person than flying commercial. A perennially active segment of the market was music tours, transporting some of the world's most acclaimed performers across the Americas, Europe and Oceania, expertly managed in collaboration with Victor's global touring division for entertainment.

Destinations:

March through October remained the busiest time for commercial jet bookings with experiential travel on the rise and peaking around key European sporting events including the Champions League final in Madrid, Spain, Europa League in Baku, Azerbaijan (new destination entry) and the Nations League in Porto, Portugal. Summer saw an influx in incentive trips for which the Balearic and Greek Islands were rising destinations, as well as requests from royal families for leisure. Top destinations for group charter in 2019 included Bucharest, Cairo, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Klagenfurt, Liverpool, London and Tel Aviv.

Aircraft type:

VIP airliners were the most popular aircraft type representing 40% for large group charters and continuing to increase in popularity with sports teams. The Boeing 737-300 VIP was particularly sought-after (up 19% from 2018) with its 62 business class seats, generous cabin size and luggage space, demand for which Victor expects to continue rising in 2020. Regional jet and regional turboprop aircraft were ideal for the short-haul requests of European football teams and 30% of the commercial jet bookings were narrow-body airliners, such as the Boeing 737-800 (189 seats), a cost effective option for transporting large groups sensitive to budget constraints.

“It's been a fantastic year for commercial jet charter,” comments Tom Hill, head of commercial jets at Victor. “Requests can sometimes be last minute, but we can seamlessly get a global tour off the ground with as little as 24 hours' notice. Our client base is immensely diverse in terms of travel objectives and budgets, but by taking the time to get under the skin of each request we provide the most suitable bespoke travel solutions delivered with industry-leading high-touch service. Victor's mandated 200% carbon offsetting on every flight launched in summer 2019 was warmly received by business travellers, and for 2020 I expect to see more corporates paying to opt into Victor's 800% carbon offset programme as they become increasingly conscious of their carbon footprint.”

In July 2019, Victor introduced an industry-first climate action programme which includes 200% carbon offsetting as a standard on every flight booked, at no extra cost to the customer. Jet charterers can seamlessly match Victor's contribution to UN REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) programmes to fly 400% or 800% carbon offset, an option which is proving particularly popular with corporate private fliers.