UK-headquartered charter platform Victor reports 33 per cent year-on-year growth in bookings for its commercial jet charter division for 2019 versus 2018. Taking a look back over the past year the company reveals 2019 trends in group charter and gives its predictions for the year ahead.

The commercial jets team specialises in aircraft charter for groups of 18 passengers or more, usually within the MICE and sporting sectors, with football team charters responsible for most of the market segment growth. In 2019, 45 per cent of Victor's commercial jet charters were by sports teams, whilst corporate travel accounted for 35 per cent. Completed trips included travel to the Le Mans 24 Hours sports car endurance race and an incentive event for 1,000 employees travelling from global offices spanning Montreal to Bucharest. Other requests came from private groups celebrating special occasions and groups of sports fans travelling on high-demand dates when flying privately can work out less expensive per person than flying commercial. A perennially active segment of the market was music tours, in collaboration with the global touring division for entertainment.

As to destinations, March through October remained the busiest time with experiential travel on the rise and peaking around key European sporting events such as the Champions League final in Madrid, Spain; Europa League in Baku, Azerbaijan, a new destination entry; and the Nations League in Porto, Portugal. Summer saw an influx in incentive trips for which the Balearic and Greek Islands were rising destinations, as well as requests from royal families for leisure. Top destinations for group charter in 2019 included Bucharest, Cairo, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Klagenfurt, Liverpool, London and Tel Aviv.

VIP airliners represented 40 per cent of large group charters and continue to increase in popularity with sports teams. The Boeing 737-300 VIP was particularly sought after, with demand up 19 per cent from 2018 and expected to continue rising in 2020. Regional jet and turboprop aircraft were ideal for the short haul requests of European football teams and 30 per cent of the commercial jet bookings were narrow-body airliners such as the Boeing 737-800, a cost effective option for transporting large groups sensitive to budget constraints.

“It's been a fantastic year for commercial jet charter,” comments head of commercial jets Tom Hill. “Requests can sometimes be last minute, but we can seamlessly get a global tour off the ground with as little as 24 hours' notice. Our client base is immensely diverse in terms of travel objectives and budgets, but by taking the time to get under the skin of each request we provide the most suitable bespoke travel solutions delivered with industry-leading high touch service. Victor's mandated 200 per cent carbon offsetting on every flight, launched in summer 2019, was warmly received by business travellers, and for 2020 I expect to see more corporates paying to opt into Victor's 800 per cent carbon offset programme as they become increasingly conscious of their carbon footprint.”