Buying a jet is a big and exciting decision. There are many factors to consider, an important one being to understand the purpose of why you are buying a private jet to begin with. You need to have an idea of how you want and need to use it. Buying too much or too little aircraft for what you intend to do is a common. Answering a few quick questions about your current and intended use can help refine your search to a few good models.
Range: What trip do you plan on taking most frequently? Do you go from London to Nice? Or are you going to be flying longer legs such as Frankfurt to Chicago? Are your longer trips only once or twice per year or are they more frequent? Knowing your average range needed will help you narrow your field of choice considerably. Importantly, don’t feel compelled to buy a plane that will be capable of flying every possible trip – this often results in too big of a purchase and a far higher ownership cost. Buying a jet for the most common 80% of your trips is a cost effective way of keeping operational budgets in line with other methods of private travel, such as charter of fractional ownership.
The Citation Excel models (Excel, XLS & XLS+) have a range of 1700+ nautical miles – great for most flights throughout Europe.
Passengers: Is the purpose of your jet to fly you and your five managers to your offices around Europe? Or are you planning on primarily flying your family of 3 to your second home in Italy? Jets that seat 10+ passengers are great, but they come at a price upfront and operationally. If you don’t necessarily need a jet that size and your average passenger load will be from 3-5 people, you may want to keep your search to the light or mid-cabin range. However, keep in mind that having 5 passengers in a cabin that seats 5 or 6 will be a tight fit. If your budget allows, looking at jets that are slightly bigger than your need could be a decision to look at.
Airport: Some airports have unique runways. They may be shorter than average or between mountains or other factors that will prohibit certain jets from landing there. If there is a runway that you know you will need to use, you need to make sure the jets in your search will have the capability of landing there. For example, London City Airport requires aircraft to have what is called “Steep Approach Capability” because of a higher than standard approach descent gradient. As another example, the runway in Cannes, France is short and certain large cabin aircraft cannot land there.
Tricky runways through mountain passes can prove to be a problem for some jets.
Think about your average trip and number of passengers and work from there. Your aircraft broker is highly experienced in tailoring an aircraft search to fit around your needs and desires and can provide you with options to consider. Remember, this should be an enjoyable process and there are many fantastic jets out there to consider in all cabin sizes, ranges and prices.
Blogs are written from real world experience by Colibri Aircraft’s individuals. If you have any questions or comments about the topic of this blog, please feel free to contact us at enquiries@colibriaircraft.com
