https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/bliss-jet-readies-scheduled-business-jet-transatlant-431771/ so there is an airline going to launch scheduled service with bizjet.... Should that be included in the game too? Although its max seat would be fewer than the LET but bizjets cost much more to operate so it shouldn't cause too many problems...but then up to what kind of airport pairs should it be allowed to operate in the current slotblocking restriction? If the restriction is only based on maximum seat count then it seems like there won't be enough premium market in all those possible pairs.....
Where do you the draw your line? Scheduled flights can be operated by Cessna 152s?
Where do you the draw your line? Scheduled flights can be operated by Cessna 152s?
but these bizjets are about the size of ERJ/CRJ
I think this is more like a 'Top 1%' flight, not commercial flights we have in AS...
First class seats in real life are also top 1% and when Lufthansa started a similar service with BBJ back in 2003 they also mentioned these products would eat into first class sales on their other aircrafts so I think that is quite related
I think if an ATC sees a Gulfstream, the first reaction is that it's a 'top 1%', not a scheduled commercial service. Actually in my memory Gulfstream always recognizes themselves as a business jet company, not regular PAX service. BBJ does work, just like British Airways London city-New York flight, but a gulfstream? i think it will be more like a charter service instead.
Yes gulfstream is not designed for scheduled service, and nobody have used those gulfstreams for scheduled service before (or so as it claim), that's why I am quoting the launch of this new service by this company in the link.
i think another issue is even if you do take Gulfstream into AS, the issue will be these aircraft are small and designed just for high demand airport pairs, so you might have issues to restrict these flight because it becomes either player uses them too often (w/o restriction case) or can't use it at all (w/ current restriction case). Since Banff said the idea i (and also one of the team member) came up with is not feasible, it would be a very hard situation to deal with.
BAs A318 are more like normal planes with many standard business seats with no BBJ perks. And Lufthansa private air long haul flights are just narrow bodies configured with long haul configurations. Both examples can be done in AS.
My idea is that:
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Since the aircraft is CRJ-sized so a CRJ-level restriction should make sense
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Since the aircraft is CRJ-sized you can’t fly them profitably with 19 economy class seat (max allowed number of seats on them), those aircrafts must use premium configurations
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And since you can only profit from the premium market and premium market in most routes are limited in demand, they can’t fly too often without running into losses?
- Delta's private jet would be a comparable service, which although that is not a scheduled services, Delta's frequent flyers can upgrade their tickets with a few hundred dollars to fly on those private jets they have.
Notee: I just watched the AS Convention LEJ 2016 presentation video and saw the mention of bizjet there, but that is for charter flight while my suggestion is more about putting regular seats onto bizjet.
Notee: I just watched the AS Convention LEJ 2016 presentation video and saw the mention of bizjet there, but that is for charter flight while my suggestion is more about putting regular seats onto bizjet.
At what use? They are not particularly profitable mainly due to the large price tag. The only tempting part would be getting a low capacity long range aircraft like the Global 7000 but I still see it quite useless.
Mainly that would be interesting?At what use? They are not particularly profitable mainly due to the large price tag. The only tempting part would be getting a low capacity long range aircraft like the Global 7000 but I still see it quite useless.
Mainly that would be interesting?
Yes. Sometime you will find a route of 8000km with 50pax per day. If you are big enough, the main concern is more points, not profit. So if the cost per flight of Global 7000 is less than 767, it is a choice.
Actually.... according to wikipedia, PC-12 is a business aircraft, although not a jet.. and that is already in the game...
Actually.... according to wikipedia, PC-12 is a business aircraft, although not a jet.. and that is already in the game...
Pilatus is marketing the PC-12 as a versatile prop. Meaning that although its main target is indeed business aviation, it may fit with a variety of other purposes, among which serving as a commuter aircraft.
This seating configuration is offered by the manufacturer, the aircraft is designed for that purpose. It is used for that purpose on commercial scheduled service by a few commuter airlines, such as Sounds Air in New Zealand or Wasaya Airways in Canada.
That's all the difference with true business aircraft, which offer basically business-only cabins, and are designed for a significantly lower passenger load (allowing to fit more fuel and fly longer distances). Using a business aircraft for commercial purposes, on scheduled service, is nowhere to be seen for me.
Pilatus is marketing the PC-12 as a versatile prop. Meaning that although its main target is indeed business aviation, it may fit with a variety of other purposes, among which serving as a commuter aircraft.
This seating configuration is offered by the manufacturer, the aircraft is designed for that purpose. It is used for that purpose on commercial scheduled service by a few commuter airlines, such as Sounds Air in New Zealand or Wasaya Airways in Canada.
That’s all the difference with true business aircraft, which offer basically business-only cabins, and are designed for a significantly lower passenger load (allowing to fit more fuel and fly longer distances). Using a business aircraft for commercial purposes, on scheduled service, is nowhere to be seen for me.
That is why I quote the service offered by Bliss jet whoch do exactly that
Honestly, regardless of that that airline could be doing, I wouldn’t support adding such a feature to AS.
This is because basically, that would probably require a new travel class as the prices for such private jets are nowhere close to first class, consequently reaching a totally different category of passengers. Then, you have to add the aircrafts, which is a considerable amount of work to get all specs right (provided that people will always complain if some are missing).
All this for a niche market, which is IMO far outside of the main target of AS. I would argue that there are other far more important features missing from AS to dedicate such a high level of effort for a feature that would only be used by a handful of people.
The airline claim it is to be done with first class fare. Lets see how they would be doing it in real life.
And even if it is more luxurious oriented than general first class, the multiple passenger type come with advanced booking class update should make that more easily achievable.