It's easy when you know how. And this article will tell you how.

Book your flight on a Tuesday at 3pm EST, seven weeks before your travel date. That’s the golden insider secret for getting the best deal on a commercial flight. You’ll have to fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday and take off early in the morning. And for an even better deal you must first fly north to travel south. Why? We have no idea. What we do know is how to get cheap private jet flights all the time. Yep, even at 9pm Pacific Time three hours before take off. Even when you’re traveling with your pet dog and want champagne to be served on board.

Cheap private jet flights are easy when you know how. And we’re going to tell you how in this article. It covers:

• The factors that influence charter jet prices
• Empty leg flights
• Using estimated pricing
• Booking single seats on private jets
• How to search for cheap private jet flights.

The Best Time To Book Commercial Flights

What if you’re busy at 3pm EST on a Tuesday seven weeks before you fly? What if you’re washing your hair at the very moment you are supposed to get the best deal? Getting the best deal on a commercial flight is complicated. And the airlines are also onto the golden insider secret. Commercial airlines want you to pay as much as you can pay, which is the polar opposite of what you are looking for. So now they push the prices up at Tuesday 3pm EST. It’s stressful just thinking about it, a cat and mouse game controlled by multi-billion dollar airlines.

The Best Time to Book Cheap Private Jet Flights

Private charters are different. There is no best time to book. There isn’t an optimal point for maximizing the time and cost benefits. So go ahead, wash your hair, do whatever you need to do and book a cheap private jet flight whenever is most convenient for you.

Does it benefit me to book a private plane in advance?

No, not really. Booking a charter flight is not like booking with commercial airlines. When you book rarely affects charter jet prices. Instead the price is based on very diverse factors that do not change if you book long in advance or one day before departure.

Booking in advance doesn’t impact the price of each individual aircraft, but it does mean more aircraft are available. More choice usually means a better deal; once the cheaper planes are booked only the more expensive remain. If your pet dog wants a vacation and you want to take off three hours from now your options are limited. So naturally it’s harder to get cheap private jet flights.

The Three Main Factors That Affect Charter Jet Prices

Choice of Aircraft and Standard Per Hour Bill

Every aircraft has a standard rate for every hour it iis in use. As you would expect, larger and more advanced aircraft will cost more than a small turboprop. Larger aircraft are more expensive to own and maintain, burn through more fuel, and require a pilot with a higher number of flight hours. So the biggest factor in charter flight costs is the jet you choose.

TIP - if you want cheap private jet flights don’t be tempted by the newest jet models. All aircraft that are available for charter must pass stringent FAA safety tests. If it’s approved by the FAA an older jet isn’t necessarily any less safe than a brand new King Air 350i.

Aircraft Location

Aircraft don’t just magically appear on a runway. They must first fly to that runway. When you search for air charters you will notice a large disparity in price between the same aircraft. This is commonly down to aircraft location. The closer the jet is to the airport you want, the lower the cost. Of course, you don’t know all the locations of the 4000+ jets that are available for charter in the United States. Airvel’s technology tracks aircraft location and builds this into its private jet charter search facility.

The Airports Being Used and Their Handling Fees

Every airport charges a fee for a plane to take off or land. It operates like many other commercial businesses - people must pay to use the facilities. Modern international airports have very advanced facilities along with a huge demand for runway space. They charge more. Small regional airports are understandably cheaper. If you want to fly private from JFK to Abu Dhabi International then it’s possible. But the costs will be astronomical and you’ll be severely limited by when you can fly. It will be cheaper and quicker to fly from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport to Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Executive Airport.

For Cheap Private Jet Flights Also Consider...

The Day and Time of Take Off

Commercial flights vary enormously in cost due to demand. Monday morning and Friday afternoon flights are expensive as they coincide with the time many business travelers are on the move. It is rare for private charter companies to change the standard per hour bill for different times of the day. Taking off a midday will cost the same as taking off at 2pm.

The charter flight industry operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For air charter businesses like Airvel it’s business-as-usual nonstop, always. However, not all airports operate every day of the week. Some airports do not operate on weekends. So you might have to find an alternative airport, something that can influence charter flight costs. The time of day can also have an impact. Many regional airports close at night and will charge an extra fee to extend their working hours.

What If I Need to Book the Day Before the Flight? Or Even the Same Day?

Simply put, you can get cheap private jet flights whenever you choose to book. Air charters companies like Airvel can be extraordinarily responsive, courtesy of our technology. We are able to find available aircraft on the ground, which means that in less than two hours we can go from booking request to getting passengers in the air.

However, the major deciding factor is availability. Ask for a private jet six weeks in advance and we’ll give you a variety of options. Ask for a last minute private jet charter and the options are limited.

Cheap Private Jet Flights - Empty Leg Flights

Empty legs have traditionally been the cheapest way to fly air charter. The concept is simple. An aircraft is chartered for a one-way flight but it must return to its home base. The return flight is empty so the airline sells the flight for a huge discount, sometimes offering 75% off. Empty leg flights always sound like a great idea but they are not straightforward.

For example Aaron is chartering a plane one-way from Boston to Miami. Brad gets a 50% discount to book the empty leg from Miami to Boston. But Aaron is delayed getting to the airport and misses the original take off time by three hours. So Brad is also delayed by three hours. Because of the delays the airport in Boston is closed when Brad wants to land. So the pilot must reroute at additional cost.

Empty Leg Flights - The Lack of Flexibility

An empty leg flight doesn’t offer the same flexibility and advantages as a normal charter flight. Offers are coming and going all the time and can be subject to last minute changes. While the deals sound good from a distance, it’s extremely hard to match an empty leg to the route and date you want to travel. Airvel is currently working on a solution to this. We’re partnering with Avmosys to pull exact pricing, availability and empty legs to create an instant book feature for empty leg flights.

As technology has improved many airlines are taking a more flexible approach to empty leg flights. Rather than fly back to base the same aircraft may make a number of new stops. So Aaron flies Boston to Miami, Jane flies Miami to Washington, then Joe charters the same plane to fly Washington back to Boston. And if you are in Washington how do you know that this aircraft needs to get to Boston and will offer a discount? You don’t. But you can use an online search engine to search over 4000 aircraft for charter. And the more jets you can search for the more your chance of getting a cheap private jet flight.

Estimated Pricing with Historical FlightAware Data

How much does it cost to charter a Cessna Citation X from Salt Lake City to Houston? It’s not a trick question. But how do you know you’re getting cheap private jet flights if you don’t first know the standard price for the route and aircraft?

A key component of Airvel’s marketplace is providing customers with the ability to estimate their cost before they fly. We’re able to provide accurate data within seconds, so customers can compare flight options without having to invest days searching for quotes. Through estimated pricing you can plan a whole year of private travel and budget accordingly, whether it’s for business or leisure use.

Airvel recently partnered with Flight Aware’s data team to project aircraft speeds across a bell curve based on the stage length of the trip. By matching the make, model, and series to the historical flight speed data provided by Flight Aware, we are able to more accurately project flight costs per aircraft and simplify the estimation of a flight. In fact, when we tested our historical median speeds against more sophisticated speed data that accounted for ascent, cruise, descent, and fueling factors, the margin of difference only varied by cents.

Booking Single Seats on Private Jets

Strict FAA regulations restrict how an aircraft is chartered. A part 135 operator isn’t able to sell individual seats or shares on their aircraft. They can only charter the aircraft in its entirety. Some air charter operators have found a way to workaround this limitation. They charter the aircraft and then sell off the seats individually, in a similar way to a commercial airline selling seats on a plane.

For a while this was all the rage in the air charter industry. This article in Forbes calls it the future, but is quick to point out the limitations. Unlike a standard private air charter you’re bound by the limitations of a commercial flight, with a definitive take off time and route.

There is another way to book single seats on private jets without forgoing any of the advantages. Airvel allows you to charter a jet and then invite other passengers to pay for their seat on the plane. You book a seat. Your friend(s) books their seat(s). Once all the seats are paid for the aircraft is ready for take off and everyone gets a cheap private jet flight. It’s your charter so you can make all the changes you wish. And if that means waiting three hours because Aaron is delayed reaching the airport then that’s what you can do.

Cheap Private Jet Flights The Easy Way - Search, Compare & Save

The more choice you have the better the deal you can find. That’s the concept behind Airvel, the world’s leading search engine for private air charters. We’ve created a responsive marketplace for on-demand air charter. It matches supply and demand, so operators can charter their planes and customers get better deals.

With Airvel you can instantly search over 4000 available aircraft and book flights anywhere in the world. Using world-leading technology Airvel gives you pricing for a wide choice of aircraft, so you can select what is best for you. There are no restrictions and no limitations, just wherever and whenever you want to fly.

Enjoy Cheap Private Jet Flights All the Time With Airvel

• Instantly search thousands of FAA-licensed jets for charter.
• On-demand availability for an unrestricted choice of aircraft models.
• Airvel is free to use and always will be.
• No memberships or prepaid jet cards required, ever.
• Book charters online, on the app, or through the Customer Experience team.
• Easily manage and modify booked trips.
• Welcome to worldwide availability and limitless possibility.