Going solo: Why private planes point to a new era of luxury travel

Flying in a private plane can make all the difference in the world. From only having to arrive 15 minutes before the flight and not having to deal with the queues at security and the hoards of people in the airport lounge, to getting on board and chatting with like-minded individuals – the entire process is a pleasure.

But when I began flying private in 2009, I quickly came to realise that the private jet industry was very archaic. Its brick-and-mortar process of picking up the phone, waiting hours and speaking to numerous different people in order to charter a jet was outdated and inconvenient.

In 2012, I spoke to the carriers I had established relationships with and discussed how large an impact an app to charter a private plane would have on the industry. That August, I made the idea a reality and created the beta version of JetSmarter, sharing it with an exclusive group of industry experts and frequent private jet users. In March 2013, JetSmarter launched globally.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

We now have a range of different types of service, to allow people to choose precisely how private they would like their private jet experience to be.

In turn, this also allows our members to pick how "social" they want to be. That being said, we find customers really enjoy meeting people who are often in similar professions and are therefore able to extend their network and even hold business meetings at 41,000ft. With private jets, the seats tend to face each other so it immediately creates a rather social environment – if you want it to be. All members are very respectful and realise that after a long day of meetings, some people just want to get some sleep or catch up on emails.

As I see it, the future of private flight is only going to expand. We have recently launched an on-demand option for booking luxury homes through our app – JetSmarter Homes, which allows members to rent top accommodation around the world in a matter of minutes.

The old-fashioned way of travelling is being updated as a new breed of luxury travel, accommodations and services becomes available.

For more visit jetsmarter.com