Traveling to Tertiary Airports: A Commercial/Private Air Travel Comparison

One of the biggest inconveniences to traveling is the time factor. In the U.S. alone, passenger flight delays are estimated to cost airlines $65.43 a minute and billions of dollars total for passengers each and every year.

As problematic as these delays and cancellations are, they are also a common part of modern travel. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, almost one quarter of commercial airline flights experience delays in a typical year.

Delays aren’t the only time waster when it comes to commercial flying either. Many travelers end up needing to reach a smaller airport at some point in their trip, which can present quite a problem. In this situation, they’re faced with either waiting for a specialized connecting flight (even small commercial flights might have trouble with the short runways of smaller airports) or even being forced to rent a car just to reach their destination.

The alternative to simply accepting all this wasted time as being necessary is chartering a private jet. Doing so opens up an enormous number of options when it comes to travel, from flying directly from point A to point B (no plane switching of commercial airlines) to flexible travel arrangements.

This study looks at the benefits and drawbacks of chartering a private jet for your entire trip from start to finish, as opposed to using traditional commercial airlines and then traveling to a tertiary airport through other means.

Commercial Air Travel

Sticking to commercial air travel, even when the final destination is at a tertiary airport that’s unreachable by conventional commercial aviation, has both benefits and drawbacks for travelers.

Benefits

• Typically cheaper airfare when flying alone and in economy class.
• Hub airports tend to offer more amenities before reaching the final destination (e.g. bathrooms, restaurants, shops, etc.)
• Using the car rental at hub airports gives you a significant amount of freedom when traveling to tertiary airports, letting you see the sights in between.

Drawbacks

• Many commercial airlines don’t offer direct routes to smaller airports since the facilities may not be equipped to handle larger plane sizes. Even smaller commercial aircraft can have difficulty accommodating shorter runway lengths. In fact, there are about five hundred commercial airstrips in the U.S. whereas there are more than five thousand private.
• Wastes a significant amount of time. The average flight delay in 2014 was 1 minutes for every flight. Cancellations are also particularly troublesome and happen for 1.5% of flights. Onboarding and off-boarding also typically add an extra 30-40 minutes to the process.
• Car rental fees can add a significant amount to your overall trip costs. Depending where you are located, even the cheapest vehicle can still end up costing you over $100 a day, and that’s if you have a reservation.
• You are at the airline’s mercy. Flight times are planned based on their schedules, not yours.

Private Air Travel

Using private air travel to travel directly to your destination opens up a wide range of benefits that commercial airlines just can’t match.

Benefits

• Private jets end up saving you time. By chartering a private jet, you have a lot more freedom when it comes to direct routes since private jets are cleared to use ten times as many airstrips than commercial jets. You’ll get from point A to point B much more effectively.
• Compare that to wasting time with everything involved in taking a commercial flight: traveling to a hub airport, waiting for an insufferable period on the tarmac, wasting an enormous amount of time deplaning, finding the rental car counter, and driving to the final destination.
• Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. Chartering a private jet lets you choose what travel time works best for you. Rather than waiting around for your plane to finally arrive or getting up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight, you have the last word in when to start your journey.
• Comfort is one of the main draws for chartering your own private jet. Many of these aircraft will give you access to in-flight amenities that most commercial flights simply can’t offer.

It’s no wonder more and more travelers are choosing to book a charter jet to make their travel plans more flexible, less of a hassle, and surprisingly cheap!

For more information about private jet charter, or to book your private jet today, download our mobile app or contact Jettly now. We’re your source for easy air travel that works around your schedule.