Adam Twidell, pictured with ARGUS president and CEO Joe Moeggenberg, says the process of achieving ARGUS rating has raised ideas for PrivateFly’s future evolution

PrivateFly is first UK charter broker to earn ARGUS Certified Broker rating

PrivateFly has been awarded the ARGUS Certified Charter Broker rating, making it the first broker in the UK and only the second broker in Europe to gain this distinction. The programme is fully endorsed by the Baltic Air Charter Association (BACA).

“We are delighted to welcome PrivateFly as our newest ARGUS Certified Charter Broker,” says Joe Moeggenberg, president and CEO. “PrivateFly has proven itself as an exceptional brokerage based on sound business principles and a very well-trained and experienced staff. It brings ARGUS great pride to award PrivateFly with certified broker status. Also a BACA member, PrivateFly's recent certification is yet another step toward raising the standard within the charter broker industry to provide operators and consumers with charter brokers they can trust, and that are truly dedicated to providing cost-effective, secure air transportation.”

Adam Twidell, CEO of PrivateFly says: “We are proud and absolutely delighted to be one of the first brokers to receive this certification. It's a welcome validation for our whole team and the scrutiny of the audit was something we really welcomed and enjoyed.

“For years, the charter broker has been a key part of the supply chain that was not audited, so it's great to be a trailblazer in that change. Operators are highly regulated, and FBOs have the new IS-BAH standard. Now professional brokers can stand out in their field.

Data insights lift lid on business aviation customers

PrivateFly has launched a new quarterly report using its website and booking data to give insights into the booking and flying behaviour of its global charter customers. The private charter booking service, which now receives over 200,000 unique website visitors every month, says its online technology platform gives it the advantage of providing customer analytics and greater understanding.

The first edition of the infographic report, entitled Private Jet Charter Trends, reflects the period January to March 2016 (Q1) and its findings include the following:

• Average spend per charter in each aircraft category: for example customers flying on a medium jet spent an average of $22,780 per charter during the period.
• The top three aircraft chartered by PrivateFly's customers in the quarter were all Cessna models.
• Booking and flying lead times: 43 per cent of customers flew within three days of making a booking, with 29 per cent taking off within 24 hours. The most popular day and time to fly was a Thursday at 11.00 am.
• Customer demographics: 37 per cent of passengers were female and six per cent of flights had pets onboard.

Twidell comments: “PrivateFly's technology puts us in a unique position to lift the shutters on charter customers' booking behaviour. For too long business aviation has been a closed world, with assumptions and preconceptions making the headlines rather than real, data-driven customer insights. We will be building a comp- arative picture in future editions, to review seasonal differences and build a picture of changing trends.”