Book An Uber-Style Private Plane For Affordable Charter Flights

For anyone who loves luxury and to travel and fly around the world, but is still tied to a strict budget, this new, Uber-style private plane provider is a welcome option. Normally, one would think of private planes being only for the rich and famous. However, that has changed with KinectAir, a provider of private aviation services.

KinectAir offers on-demand charter flights by private plane

These days with climate change, the focus has been on transporting travelers via more carbon-friendly routes than flying. However, often there’s no time to catch a train and the traveler needs to get where they are going quickly.

Currently, regular travelers can make travel bookings with the touch of a button or click of a mouse. However, the higher up the luxury travel chain you go, some options are not available on your budget. However, KinectAir aims to change all this. They want to make chartered private plane flights available to everyone.

Based in Vancouver, KinectAir’s target customers are regular people like you and me, who want to experience the world of private plane flight. The company was founded in 2019 to offer short-haul private air travel in the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, starting this month, people across the US can book “empty leg” repositioning flights at relatively affordable prices. For instance, they can book quick hops for as little as $111 per person for a 48-minute flight.

A different way to travel

KinectAir’s co-CEO Katie Buss is a former US military pilot and she told CNN:

We want to change the way people think about short flights. People think it’s only for the Bill Gates and Elon Musk of the world. It’s by no means cheap, but it’s more accessible than most people think. Instead of just going to Delta, we want people to see what flying private would be like… It’s a totally different way of travel.

According to Buss, the company hopes to “revolutionize” the private flight market in a similar way to how Uber disrupted the traditional taxi service and Airbnb challenged the hotel industry. The company’s digital platform uses AI-backed software to seek available charter flight operators.

Speaking to CNN, co-CEO Ben Howard explained:

We’re letting the software do that sifting through the haystack to make it more accessible and give [customers] a better chance of putting together the trip you actually want.

Similar to Uber, Lyft, Bolt and other ride-share services, the majority of KinectAir’s low-cost bookings are made on short notice. According to its data for the summer of 2023, this is within 72 hours of departure. Meanwhile, when it comes to last-minute fares, some of KinectAir’s advertised prices even beat flying economy on a regular commercial airline.

“In many cases, last-minute flights are more expensive per seat on commercial, and that’s not even looking at first-class tickets,” said Howard. “In our case, you’ve got to fill the full aircraft, but if a family of four is flying last minute, this is a really good option. United might charge as much as a private flight.”

More convenience on charter flights with a private plane

Moreover, this kind of travel can be more convenient when bypassing the dreaded check-in queue and TSA security lines. On top of this, while many of their competitors charge membership or transaction fees for the service or bill for additional fuel used above the estimate, KinectAir guarantees the price quoted to the traveler.

“We understand statistically how likely [additional fuel costs] are to happen, have good weather models, know it’s less expensive to fly one way than the other—so KinectAir absorbs the variability,” said Howard. “We want to make private aviation work more like commercial.”

Meanwhile, the main way the company keeps its prices down is by taking advantage of the “empty leg” flights. This term references those instances where a private plane has just dropped off clients at their destination. They now have to fly back to the place of origin with empty seats onboard, so why not fill them?

Find out more about KinectAir, visit its website here, or look for an available set on its Empty Leg Marketplace portal here.