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Were I ever to seek a divorce from Mr Moneypenny (not something, I
am pleased to say, that I am planning imminently), I would not be
able to get my hands on his private jet for the simple reason that
he doesn’t have one. This contrasts strongly with recent divorce
cases in the United States. When Jack Welch’s wife, Jane, sued for
divorce in 2002 she forced the disclosure of his generous
post-retirement settlement with GEC, the company he had worked at
for 41 years and been chairman of for 21 years. This included
unlimited use of the company’s private jet, a Boeing 737. More
recently, it was reported that Harrison Ford’s ex-wife had won, as
part of her divorce settlement from the Raiders of the Lost Ark
actor, the right to use his Gulfstream jet whenever she wished. It
has even been claimed that a woman who was divorcing one of
California’s richest men required, as part of her child support
agreement, her daughter have access to her father’s private Boeing
737, which apparently had a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and
seats for 21 passengers. It would seem that this mode of
transportation should come with a health warning – it is highly
addictive.
This kind of publicity reinforces the mistaken notion that private
jets are the exclusive preserve of the fabulously wealthy. After
all, it costs $US40 million to buy a Gulfstream jet, and although
maintenance of new planes is minimal, the employment of crew and
their expenses can soon add up. Pilots alone earn, on average, about
US$110,000. Even for those of us who don’t need the capacity of a
Gulfstream and can make do with a lower capacity jet such as the
Lear Jet, the figures still make for uncomfortable digestion. US$8m
to buy, and that is before you even leave the ground – and have to
put any fuel in.
Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and not a man known for
corporate excess, famously called his plane the Indefensible. He has
since got rid of it and instead bought a whole company, NetJets,
which has championed the concept of fractional ownership. This
sounds promising – like a racehorse, or a flat in a Mediterranean
resort that you might only use twice a year. You don’t buy the whole
plane, but a part of it, expressed in so many hours per year.
NetJets promise that you can have your hours at minimal notice and
they will guarantee to make your plane available – something they
can deliver because they have so many of them. Indeed, they must
think that demand is going to increase because it was recently
reported that they ordered a staggering 58 more planes with options
for an additional 50 in the last quarter of 2003.
You do have to pay a considerable upfront acquisition fee (or a
lease cost, paid monthly) and then a monthly management charge, and
in effect are tied in to a minimum participation of two years. This
means that if you fly the full fifty hours, and use the smallest
aircraft they offer, you would still be up for about EU 200,000 or
so per annum. You also have to account for the resale of your share,
which could theoretically be much less than the original acquisition
cost. This still sounds very expensive, especially in these days of
the proliferation of low-cost airlines.
Another solution is proposed for those who find the NetJets
fractional ownership idea astonishingly expensive – for anyone other
than incredibly rich people or those running companies owned by
faceless shareholders who don’t see itemised expenses. Marquis Jet
offers a solution for the lower (but regular) user of private jets.
One up-front fee – of between Euro 109,000 and 258,000 depending
upon what type of plane you select – buys you 25 occupied hours on
the NetJet’s fleet. It does all start to resemble a collection of
Russian dolls, where every time you take one apart, there is another
one underneath. The fact remains that it is still a lot of money to
shell out up front, so what about the final option?
What of those of us without unlimited access to public company funds
or a personal fortune made from starring in Hollywood blockbusters?
Time is still a very valuable commodity to us and the benefits of
using private jets are compelling. Private jets use smaller airports
with easier parking, and passport clearance can be done well in
advance. Advantages can be seen in leisure travel just as much as
business. Take Mr Moneypenny’s annual golf trips with his friends to
the south of France. They all work, and want to minimise the time
taken as holiday, so they jet out on a Friday night after work at a
time of their choosing, arrive in plenty of time for dinner and
avoid the usual hassle of checking in the golf clubs as outsize
luggage that is necessary when flying commercial. After playing 36
holes on both Saturday and Sunday they fly back on Sunday night to
Farnborough where their cars are five minutes from the plane and
there is no requirement to walk miles through a terminal, wait
around for luggage and then find their way to the long term parking
(or get their long-suffering wives to collect them).
They use one of the state-of-the-art Lear Jet 45’s in the fleet of
Gold Air International. This quintessentially British charter
airline operates to the same exacting standards offered by the
fractional ownership companies, with regular simulator training for
its crews and the commitment to operating only new technology
aircraft, making the company at least level with fractional
ownership quality benchmark. The good news is that there is no
up-front fee or minimum number of flying hours required. Whilst Gold
Air does offer hours packages for a discount, chartering requires no
up-front costs and the service has to be exemplary every time to
ensure customer loyalty. There is no contract locking you in –
simply call up, book the plane and pay by credit card over the
telephone. A Lear Jet 45 can take up to nine of them, golf clubs and
all, to Nice and back for less than if they had all travelled BA on
a restricted business class fare.
The possibilities are endless, and not just for multi-millionaires.
A group of us, and our children, recently hired a house near
Florence for half term and went there and back by private jet, which
not only saved a lot of time but eliminated the hassle of children
in airports. It’s easy, there’s no massive financial commitment and
you pay for it on your American Express card. So, even if your
divorce settlement is not as generous as that of Mrs Harrison Ford,
don’t worry – private jets are still within your reach.
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