Four Private Jet Charter Apps Make Summoning a Plane Easy

With our reliance on smartphones, we expect everything at our fingertips at any given moment—you can book a house in Paris on Airbnb, get anything you want delivered to your door via Postmates (even if it’s just frozen yogurt at midnight), and use Uber to get a lift whenever you need. Seeing this, the private jet industry has gone through a huge upswing in the past few years, moving from a luxury for the very few to something much more mainstream. Thanks to new companies that have taken the Uber approach to meeting consumer demands, you can now hail a plane just as easily as you can order takeout.

Giving a fantastic alternative to commercial airlines, app-based services have made private jet travel far more accessible in recent years, especially for those traveling in a group. We’re talking about companies that connect you with jets available to charter in the same way Uber connects you with drivers when you need a ride.

The next time you’re needing a literal pick-me-up, check out these four private jet charter app services:

Beacon

For $2,000 a month (and only $1,200 extra if you want to add a family member to your account), Beacon offers its members unlimited flights in New York, the Hamptons, Boston, and Nantucket. Launched by CEO Wade Eyerly (the founder and former CEO of SurfAir) Beacon may offer small aircraft—like the Beechcraft King Air 350i and the Pilatus PC-12—but the company doesn’t actually own the planes.

Not just concerned with offering top-notch concierge service in the air and in terminals, Beacon also wants to create a new sort of social networking. People sharing a private jet trip to NYC will probably find some common ground, so Eyerly is sure that flying in this way makes it easy to create new exciting relationships.

Victor

Many of these services may be pretty new to the scene, but Victor actually started over three years ago in the UK and recently expanded to the United States. Simple to use, the free app requires you input the two locations you want to fly between and it will give you all of the jets available during that window—including aircraft details, like its age. Once you find a good one, you book the charter and get an itinerary without having to leave the app. With over 7,000 aircraft spread out across 40,000 airports, Victor certainly gives its new US customers a lot of options.

Ubair

With a name that overtly references Uber, Ubair is one of the newest apps to pop up and similar to Uber, it has varying levels of service (from UbairTaxi that offers affordable prop planes to UbairHeavy that offers larger Gulfstreams). According to its recent press release, Ubair provides “instant, bookable, one-way quotes for private air travel, eliminating membership fees and deposits, and providing unparalleled flexibility.” You are able to search for flights in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean, and are able to compare up to six jets at a time.

JetSmarter

JetSmarter launched in 2013 and now has access to over 3,000 aircraft worldwide for travelers to choose from. Not only can you search for jets based on the typical keywords, like size and departure/arrival dates, you can also create a custom travel route and then search among the best jets for your needs. A 24/7 concierge is there to help you through the app’s messaging center, allowing you to chat with a real person whenever you have a question. With the option of hopping on an empty leg flight (which is free for members), JetSmarter promises to get you in the air for up to 70 percent less than a jet charter, which is a pretty big claim. Members also get access to private events, loyalty points, and will receive a 24-karat gold membership card.

See full story on justluxe.com

Photo Credit: Victor

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