From the Call to the Runway: 1.5 Hours’ Notice for Flight Operations

While charter jet operators and their customers benefit from having time to plan and ensure aircraft and crew availability, time is sometimes a rare commodity, requiring urgent action by flight departments to remain flexible for business needs. Because of the prevalence of urgent requirements for flight operations, private jet operators increasingly need to have flexibility to be able to provide aircraft for prestigious opportunities business aviation can deliver. KlasJet, a well-known exclusive private and corporate jet charter company, and a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group, maintains a state of constant readiness for fast and agile responses to customer demand.

“When you are in the business of flying, you are manipulating the art of the possible, and our go-teams are ready to respond to any alert that comes in through our booking department,” Chief Commercial Officer Lukas Petrauskas said. “Our teams have built flexibility into our company, and while we are proud to have set a company record of 1.5 hours between the call to our sales office and wheels-up at the start of flight, we are always looking to improve.”

To dispatch a flight in 1.5 hours, the company had a variety of advantages. The first advantage for this flight was the location of the call, as KlasJet had already based an aircraft in the city where the client was originating their trip. In this setting, their crew were already on standby, waiting for potential activation. For this client, the route of the flight didn't require any permits that KlasJet didn't already have, which meant that while the crew began to preflight the aircraft, their dispatchers had already prepared the route of flight and were making arrangements at their destination.

"This flight demonstrated the coordination between the flight crew, our dispatchers, and our logistics support staff, as they all catered to each other's needs as efficiently as possible to respond to the mission," Petrauskas said. "The proximity of our base to the client made this all the more possible."

KlasJet in September announced the placement of a second 737 to the Middle East, joining an aircraft that was based in Dubai a year earlier. The charter company said that it had studied private aircraft flights between Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East before deciding where to base its assets.

“Our locations in the United Kingdom and the Middle East set us up for a lot of flexibility,” he said. “We chose these locations after our data analytics team examined customer behavior and determined these locations would offer proximity to some of the most popular routes in the charter business. This proximity reduces the flight and response time to get our aircraft in position for customer operations.”

KlasJet has a fleet of 13 Boeing 737 family aircraft, supplemented by a 24/7 operations centre which can dispatch flights at any time. The airline maintains a set of on-call crew that is ready to be scrambled and deployed to flight duty at a moment's notice. Petrauskas added that KlasJet has placed aircraft in strategic locations to further enable a rapid response.

As a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group, KlasJet has access to a global network of aviation companies, FBO’s maintenance facilities, and the related supply chain of aircraft parts. Petrauskas said that, combined with the Group’s resources, the charter company had earned experience catering to a variety of customers ranging from wedding guests to professional athletes, and other bespoke clientele with their own specific needs.