So it took longer than originally planned, but Virgin Charter - the site where well-heeled travelers can find and book (expensive) charter flights - has officially opened its doors to the public after almost a year-long closed beta period.
We first covered Virgin Charter this past June when it launched into private beta. The company began as an independent startup but was picked up by Richard Branson who funded it and brought it under the Virgin brand.
The site intends to make it just as easy to book charter flights as it is to book standard commercial ones. There are currently 1,000 aircraft in the system, which will be cross-promoted on Virgin America’s website and other Virgin properties in the future.
Since charter flights usually cost thousands and thousands of dollars each, and since Virgin Charter takes a cut of each ticket sold, no one should be able to blame the company for failing to identify a viable source of revenue.
But there is also the possibility that Virgin Charter will make charter flights more affordable by filling up seats that now go empty. About half of all charter flights fly with no passengers because planes need to be flown back to their base after dropping off passengers. Those empty legs are priced into the current cost of charter air travel. Earlier this evening, Virgin founder Richard Branson told a group of reporters at a media dinner in Manhattan (attended by Erick):
I wanted to call the company Empty Legs. We can put all of these empty legs on the site and people can bid on them. It will bring down the price of flying privately. When the next stage of million-dollar planes comes in, there will be hundreds of thousands of people chartering flights. Every single bum in the seat is extra revenue.
In a way, Virgin Charter is coming back full circle for Branson. Twenty-five years ago, stuck in Puerto Rico after a canceled flight to the Virgin Islands, Branson found a charter plane and went around the airport with a blackboard that advertised a charter flight for $39 per person. He filled all 50 seats, and that is how he started Virgin Atlantic. Now he is using the Web to do the same thing.
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We all have to come to the beginning at some point. Even if it is at a level higher.
Their airport database apparently hasn’t been updated to show that there hasn’t been a usable Meigs field in Chicago since about 2002. You can’t even get weather reports for downtown from the old tower anymore.
Who would of thought that the internet doesn’t cheapen a brand/concept?
cvg to hnl does not work. They need some Regex or something over there
And who is going to book these tickets
But wait!!!! if you book now, we will throw in a weekend at Necker Island for the low price of $30,000 a day…..But wait, we will also receive a set of Lee Press on Nails….
Environmentally speaking, it doesn’t save anything to have empty planes flying around but that being said, the cost per passenger (not just financial) is way higher for charters then otherwise. Financially, this will save some wealthy people a few thousand bucks off a flight and for the richer ones out there, they own their own planes themselves to the effect is negligible on the industry. I think if this vision comes true, many smaller airports will become nice profit centers and up their landing fees which are, for the most part, free.
This is a mid-tier level they are after, people too poor to own or run their own fractional ownership yet too rich to bother with the headaches of commercial travel. You can get a decent jet for under 1M now anyways, just got to make sure the engines aren’t due for a 300K rebuild within a few months of purchase
Jon
http://woodmarvels.com - Create Unique Memories
Clunky login process.
“Please enter a number, with area code, in the form +##-###-#######.”
That took me 4 tries to get right. The correct entry, in fact, was not in that form.
I like Branson’s initial name for the venture. Empty Legs is appropriate also for the amount of booze passengers will consume on the flights.
$1,500 to ride this?
https://www.virgincharter.com/empty_leg/view/416
I dunno, seems like a deal for a person who wants to appear rich.
Free ride from TETERBORO, NJ (TEB) > TETERBORO, NJ (TEB) https://www.virgincharter.com/empty_leg/view/354
It says it is repositionable with in 100 miles. Maybe you can negotiate a free 100 mile flight
‘That is how Virgin Atlantic started’ - er not quite. That business was put together by a very interesting character called Randolph Fields who brought Branson in as a partner and was subsequently bought out.
Branson has a penchant for quirky names, in his book he says he wanted to call Economy class ‘Riff Raff’ but was talked out of it…
@Raskin Please accept our humblest apologies for the inconvenience and our thanks for pointing us at the problem. Fixed.
@Scott PHNL will get you the airport you’re looking for. Your comment will get us thinking about how to do a better job getting the right airport in front of you the first time. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
@Andy Thanks for the heads up about KCGX - we’ll get this fixed ASAP.
Cheers,
Andre (on behalf of the team at Virgin Charter)
This service is currently only available for flights to and/or from the USA. International charters, are not permitted. You have to get a long way through the booking process before that is clear though. Bit of time wasted.
I don’t get it. How is the Virgin Charter experience any better than calling my broker? Based on what I have seen, I get to type everything in myself?! Has anyone actually booked on privatejets.com? Their site says they have real time availability and pricing but it sounds too good to be true.