Private aviation distribution platform Returnjet is turning
its attention to the managed corporate travel space. It runs a booking platform
for private jets and helps fills "empty legs"—flights in which
aircraft depart with no passengers for positioning reasons—which account for
about 40 percent of flights in private aviation and can offer attractive rates,
according to aviation director Steve Westlake. About five years old, Returnjet
has 7,500 aircraft of all sizes signed up. Those planes fly to 6,000 airports
around the world.
Via application programming interface scheduling feeds, the
platform gets real-time updates on the locations of 1,500 of those aircraft, as
well as whether they are out for maintenance or owners' use, he said. Returnjet
is working to grow that number, a challenge because the aircraft use different
operating systems, Westlake said.
Corporate Opportunity
Returnjet has developed a widget for flight search that also
can serve those with recurring travel needs, such as senior staff meetings.
Customers largely have been wholesale travel agents and small, concierge-type
companies that use private jets, but travel management companies are a ripe
target, Westlake said. The platform has not yet developed a pricing model for
TMCs, as it still is in the early stages of discussions with them.
Ultimately,
this should help corporations save on their private aviation use, he said. "Traditionally,
agents who need a private jet just Google it and speak to a broker, who finds
an aircraft and puts on 15 percent, and then the agent puts on theirs, so the
end user ends up paying a lot more than they should," Westlake said.
"This tool can be used by the agent without having to go through another
area of expertise. We want the business travel community to be able to have a
private jet at their fingertips."