Cheaper to Paris by private jet??

[whole diary]

[grahame]

If you want to go to Paris, flying by private jet is not the first option that would spring to mind.
But the method may no longer be the preserve merely of the rich, the famous or business executives.
For a firm is offering flights from London to Paris by private jet that can cost less than ^160 per person.
Flights on a four-seater Citation Mustang flight to Paris can be booked for between ^564 and ^627 ^ cheaper per person than a business class seat with British Airways (^336) or Eurostar (^276).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2797651/the-private-jet-paris-s-cheaper-eurostar-flying-ba-breakfast-coffee-champagne.html

In the comments, I see ...

Notice that they are quoting for Eurostar business class. I took my car to France on the Channel Tunnel for about ^50, so that would obviously be the cheapest way...

... making the classic mistake (?) or leaving out price of fuel for the drive, insurance for the continent, autoroute tolls perhaps, and other car operation costs.  Funny how people forget these little things when comparing!

[LiskeardRich]

I saw this article somewhere else about 3 months ago. That article mentioned the cheap private jet flights are frequently cancelled last minute.

They are effectively ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) moves and they sell seats to recoup costs. If the jet doesn't make the original move due to celebrity no longer wanting to get from Paris to wherever the plane won't fly from London to Paris for example first.

[Thatcham Crossing]

These are known as "empty legs" or "positioning flights" in the aviation world.

"Blink" who are on operator based at Blackbushe Airport, near Camberley, regularly sell these flights on their website, for example.

Their little (and they are little) Citation Mustangs can seat 4 and fly them about 1,000 Nautical miles non-stop (in about 2.5hrs).

Many of the "empty legs" are quite short (eg, Blackbushe to Bournemouth) and are usually one-way. But if you can round up a party of four, they are actually not badly priced, if you want to do it for the experience.

By the way, Blackbushe to Bournemouth, for example would probably be about 15-20 minutes of actual flying.

[TonyK]

49 nautical miles:



Cruise speed is 340 knots. It could be done in 10 minutes, including a climb to, and descent from, around 12,000 feet. This assumes permission for a MATZ transition by RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) Odiham (the military are normally obliging, indeed helpful, unless there is a reason for denial) and a good routing through the controlled airspace of the Solent control area, pretty much a given for a planned flight by a light jet.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Yes, it could be probably done in 10 minutes, but in reality:
- you would never climb to 12,000 ft for such a short sector (a waste of fuel)
- you wouldn't fly at 340Kts on such a trip - most private jet operators (and also the Commercial airlines) have SOP^▸ (Standard Operating Instructions)'s that dictate a 250Kt speed limit below 10,000ft (whether inside or outside of Controlled Airspace)
- I doubt it would be flown in a perfectly straight line (esp. if the winds are easterly at the arrival and departure point)
So I think my estimate of 15-20 mins is more realistic.

I once had the pleasure to fly in a Gulfstream 5 (a large, very fast, high-powered business jet, for the uninitiated) on a "positioning" flight between RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) Fairford and RAF Brize Norton - the airfields are less than 10 NM apart, but by the time we had taken off (to the west, from Fairford, extending the track miles) and landed (towards the west, at Brize, same again), the total distance flown was probably about trebled, but I wasn't complaining as it was a great experience!

[TonyK]

Yes, the operative word is "could". If I was planning this flight myself, as a VFR flight, I would head due west at first, at or below the transition altitude, until I was able to turn left, and pass west abeam Basingstoke, so missing the MATZ. I would climb reasonably gently to either FL060 or FL080, in keeping with the quadrantal rule, starting a leisurely descent abeam Winchester, reporting in around Stoney Cross, finishing with a bone-jarring landing on runway 26 before taxiing what was left of the aircraft to the apron.

[Chris from Nailsea]

... finishing with a bone-jarring landing on runway 26 before taxiing what was left of the aircraft to the apron.

It's apparently apocryphal, but I used to believe there was a quote from an RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) pilot instructor, "Now remember, Bader: any fool can fly an aeroplane - but it takes an expert to land one." 

[TonyK]

I have posted one comment made by my first flying instructor on the matter elsewhere. Here it is again, with a few more of his pearls of wisdom:

"I can't teach you to land an aircraft, but I can keep you safe whilst you learn."
"Students will learn to fly in spite of their instructors, not because of them."
"When you hear gentle snoring coming from the right-hand seat, you will know you have cracked it."
"Landing in the dark is easy. Set up your final approach, with the landing light on. If you don't like what you see, switch it off, and wait for the bump."
"Two stages of flap on finals, speed trimmed to 70 knots, aim a third of the way down the runway, and control descent with the throttle. When you get to the height of a baby dinosaur..."
(Me, on my walk-round) "The starboard fuel cap is slightly loose." (Him) "Don't fly upside down, then."
(As I was getting a final approach horribly wrong early in my lessons in landing, where everything I did to correct it was making it worse) (Him, cucumber-calm) "Have we done going around on a missed approach yet?" (Me, sweating profusely, knuckles white on the yoke) "No!" (Him) "Now seems as good a time as any..."
"If the number of landings you have done equals the number of take-offs, you're doing something right"
"You only have too much fuel on board if you are on fire"
(During a PFL - Practiced Forced Landing - as I am about 100 feet up, gliding towards a field) "Bloody hell, there's two racehorses in there! Power up, go around, I'll watch for muzzle flash!"
(Trying to catch me out on navigation up the Wye valley): "OK, you've got the chart on your knee. So where are we?" (Me, without hesitation): "Over Lindors Hotel, west abeam Mork and St Briavels, where the A466 crosses the Wye from Wales to England". (Him, amazed): "How did you know that when you haven't been checking your chart?" (Me): "I've stayed there once and eaten there two or three times. That's the only bridge for miles". Later, my wife and her sister were staying there on a girlie few days when I made my first solo flight away from Filton. I gave them a fly-past on my way home, as they were taking tea in the garden.

From the text-book (by Jeremy Pratt)
"Take-offs are optional. Landings are compulsory"
"It is better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here"
"There are two types of pilot: those who have been lost, and those who will be lost"
"The three most important