Bored with budget airlines? It may just be time to invest in your own personal jet. Fasten your seatbelt and sit back as the aviation industry prepares to introduce an entirely new category of high-performance executive aircraft. "Very Light Jets" (VLJs) in the jargon, are the latest in small, 400mph planes that are being hailed as the biggest trend in decades to shake up commercial flight.
That’s because, thanks to a new generation of compact, low-cost engines, the cost of ownership has fallen to as little as a few hundred thousand pounds – more, admittedly, than a one-way Ryanair fare to Treviso, but low enough to let millions of us aspire to join the personal-jet set. The planes, barely heavier than bigger sports-utility vehicles, typically seat between six and eight passengers in a cabin 5ft-wide.
But because they are so light – usually powered by a pair of small high-tech engines – they drink less fuel than a conventional private jet, can go more than 1,200 miles without stopping, and need relatively short runways. That makes them not just cheaper to fly, but able to take off and land at all sorts of under-used local airfields not a million miles from where you are sitting right now.
Best of all, the cheapest of them will cost less than £800,000 to buy outright, compared with a few million for today’s basic Learjet. Thousands of orders have already landed with manufacturers, even though the first models are unlikely to win regulatory approval before the summer. That should give you plenty of time to replenish your savings after the Christmas splurge. But let’s assume, theoretically, that one or two Times readers may still be struggling to get their hands on a spare £800,000 or so: worry not, you too can join the 41,000ft-high club.
A number of air-charter companies in Britain and the US have reserved thousands of the jets to hire out by the hour, heralding what they claim will be an affordable form of "sky taxi". If the pilot is refusing to go south of the river, you simply need to clarify whether he means the Ebro or the Nile. The companies making the planes, including Cessna, Eclipse and Embraer, foresee them revolutionising business travel, offering all the comfort of high-altitude flight at a fraction of the cost.
Because of the jets’ speed, they claim, the hourly bill may even work out cheaper than conventional business-class tickets if more than one passenger is travelling. Then there is the convenience of bypassing big-city airports and avoiding check-in queues and security hassles before you board. And boy, will the neighbours be impressed.
The aviation industry still needs to address a few troubling questions. For instance, how air-traffic control will cope with thousands of VLJs suddenly competing for airspace, and whether the small rural airports will be up to scratch where safety is concerned.
There’s also the teeny issue of environmental emissions should this become an everyday alternative to public transport. Still, until climate change eradicates the need to book the annual summer beach holiday, the VLJ has to be preferable to squeezing up with Stelios to Alicante. And if a thousand of you join me, we can each be part-owners for barely £800. Now, who fancies driving?
david.rowan@thetimes.co.uk
