Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Airline ticketing specialist Sabre is to make seats on chartered corporate aircraft available to business travellers in the USA, through flightserv.com's Private Seats programme.
Sabre has agreed to provide access to Private Seats through its Internet-based business travel purchasing system, used by more than 350 corporations worldwide. The deal is a major boost for flight-serv.com. It plans to launch its programme on 25 March, serving the Charlotte, North Carolina-New York Teterboro route, if a strike by US Airways staff goes ahead.
From 17 April, Private Seats will be available on flights between DeKalb-Peachtree Airport at Atlanta, Georgia, and New York, but flightserv.com plans to expand to 100 city pairs by the end of the year.
Under the programme, the Atlanta-based company will charter a corporate jet and make the seats available at a "modest premium" over the equivalent full economy airline fare. The Atlanta-New York fare will be $850, compared to $725 with Delta Air Lines.
The company has reached agreements with charter operators Avtech of Atlanta and Jet Aviation of Dallas, Texas - likely to be one of the first cities added to the Private Seats network.
"We have the aircraft we need to start the service," says flightserv.com. Agreements with other charter operators are in the final stages.
Cessna Citations, Dassault Falcons and Raytheon Hawkers are the business jets most likely to be used, the company says, "but not Bombardier Learjets, as we need more baggage space".
Flightserv.com plans to make the financial commitment to chartering an aircraft based on firm bookings for "one to three" seats. The first person to commit will establish the schedule for a flight, which will then be available to other customers.
With experience, the company expects to be able to commit to a flight based on predicted demand. Flightserv.com says it will need "five to seven" aircraft a day at Atlanta. "It doesn't take many people to fill these little jets."
US company Indigo has recently launched a scheme to sell individual seats on its own business jet flights between Chicago and New York. Other routes will be added.
• Greer, South Carolina-based AvQuotes kick-started operations in January, offering on-line quotes for aircraft maintenance and refurbishment. The service, available at www.avquotes.com, is claimed by owner Early Technologies and Services, to be the first of its kind, giving "aircraft owners the opportunity to describe their refurbishment and maintenance requirements, schedule aircraft viewings and obtain qualified, confidential quotes from multiple [registered] service centres".
Source: Flight International
