If you are not flying to Europe this summer but still want to experience charming towns, rich history, impressive architecture, cobblestone streets, and natural vineyards, look no further than Ontario.
02.05.2024 - 07:59 / forbes.com
After inking a revised labor agreement with its pilots last month, NetJets has signed a deal that could see it spend over $6 billion with options for up to 232 of Bombardier's Challenger 3500s.
The unit of Berkshire Hathaway already operates 88 of its predecessor, the Challenger 350.
The popular super-midsize private jet features a cabin six feet high with a flat floor.
It is typically offered in an eight-seat configuration and has a nonstop range for coast-to-coast flights.
A number of programmatic competitors, including Flexjet, VistaJet, Airshare, and Nicholas Air, feature the aircraft.
FlyExclusive recently said it would replace its large cabin Gulfstream fleet with preowned Challenger 350s.
Bombardier also confirmed that NetJets was the unnamed customer who placed a firm order for a dozen of the Challengers back in December. That deal carries a retail value of $326 million.
Bombardier President and CEO Eric Martel said, "The Challenger 3500 jet continues to impress with its ultimate combination of refined cabin experience, proven reliability, and top performance, perfectly aligning with the needs of NetJets' discerning client base."
"As we evaluate demand and overall growth within the market, we are confident the extension of our super-midsize fleet will continue to differentiate NetJets as the worldwide leader in private aviation," according to a spokesperson for the fractional operator.
The deal with Bombardier follows similar agreements last year with Textron Aviation and Brazil's Embraer.
NetJets' agreement with Textron could see it add 1,500 aircraft valued at around $30 billion over the next 15 years.
The Embraer agreement will see it add as many 250 Praetor 500 midsize jets, valued at around $5 billion.
In 2022, it was the launch customer for Bombardier’s Global 800.
NetJets, Inc., including its aircraft management unit Executive Jet Management, is the largest U.S. private jet charter/fractional flight provider.
According to Argus TraqPak, it racked up 609,515 flight hours in 2023, a 1.8% gain.
Second-place Flexjet, Inc. flew 204,836 hours last year in North America, while third-ranked Vista Global operators flew 136,511 hours.
Charter and fractional flight hours were down 4.6% last year, although they were still 28.7% higher than 2019's pre-Covid numbers.
NetJets' growth has been constrained since the pandemic surge, mainly by aircraft in its fleet.
In 2021, it was the first major provider to shut down jet card sales as consumers swarmed to private aviation. It stopped renewing existing jet card clients when their hours ran down, and its wait list for fractional customers stretched to more than a year for some of its most popular models, including the Phenom 300, its entry-level jet.
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If you are not flying to Europe this summer but still want to experience charming towns, rich history, impressive architecture, cobblestone streets, and natural vineyards, look no further than Ontario.
Much of Challengers’ runtime not spent on a tennis court goes down in a suite and lobby bar at an unnamed luxury New Rochelle hotel. (The film was shot in Boston.) While the techno-pulsing tennis piece of erotica never establishes whether or not these lodgings have a place to play on the premises, there are allusions to sports power couple Tashi and Art Donaldson’s (Zendaya and Mike Faist, respectively) preferred vacation destinations when off the clock. Considering the former’s clinging obsession with the game, and use of the latter as her proxy (she cannot play following an injury), it would be difficult to imagine tennis isn’t somehow involved.
Last night, I returned home to Miami after spending a bit longer than I had anticipated in San Diego, where I had been attending the Spring meeting of the International Aircraft Dealers Association, also known as IADA. In fact, I wasn’t supposed to be at home today.
Los Angeles, California — The United States has “serious problems” when it comes to international inbound travel that must be resolved if the country is to regain its competitive edge.That’s the assessment of the U.S. Travel Association and its leader Geoff Freeman, the organization’s president and CEO.Freeman delivered his sober take on the problems plaguing inbound travel to the United States during a press conference today in Los Angeles, California where a travel industry convention is taking place.“The United States remains the world’s most desired nation to visit, but at the end of 2019 we had 79 million visitors internationally and in 2023 we had 67 million international visitors," Freeman told the media gathered for the IPW 2024 convention. “That’s only 84 percent of pre-pandemic levels.”“When you look at travel as an export - before the pandemic we had a 12 billion [person] travel trade surplus. At end of last year we had about a 50 billion [person] travel trade deficit,” Freeman added.There's a handful of challenges that the United States currently faces when it comes to attracting international visitors and significantly ramping up inbound numbers, said Freeman. And some of those challenges are within the country’s ability to fix, while others are not.There’s not much that can be done, for instance, about the strength of the U.S. dollar, which makes this country very expensive to visit from many other parts of the world. Similarly, there’s not much U.S. officials can do about the current prohibitions surrounding flights over Russian airspace, which pose a major obstacle for airlines coming to this country from China.However, visa wait times continue to be a significant roadblock for international visitors — and that’s an issue U.S. officials can — and should — be able to fix, Freeman said.“On the visa side, I checked this morning — if you're a Columbian and want to come to the U.S. the wait times are over 600 days to get an interview at a U.S. consulate,” said Freeman. “If you’re in Mexico, the wait times are over 800 days.”By contrast, for visitors from India the wait timeline for visa interviews has recently been reduced to a somewhat more reasonable 150 to 200 days. Similarly, wait times for those visiting from Brazil have been reduced drastically — from what was once 500 days down to just 21 days, according to the U.S. Travel Association.“It shows us that it can be done. When the State Department uses their ingenuity and gets creative and puts resources in the right places, this problem can be solved,” explained Freeman. “But it’s been going on for far too long. It needs to be solved now.”
Governor Gavin Newsom and Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta just broke the news that California still retains the largest market share of tourism in the entire United States. According to new data released today, travel spending in the Golden State reached a record high of $150.4 billion in 2023, outstripping the previous record amount of $144.9 billion seen in 2019.
Did you just remember you need to book a hotel for the Paris Olympics? If so, now might be a good time to settle your lodging.
Starting today, Global Travel Advisor Day, Expedia Group is holding 16 events for travel advisors in May for members of Expedia's Travel Agent Affiliate Program.
April was another busy month for airline network planners — both at home and abroad.
With snowy winters, hot summers and plenty of indoor and outdoor activities to fit all seasons, Munich has something to appeal to visitors throughout the year.
Hard Rock International, Seminole Gaming, Royal Caribbean International, and Celebrity Cruises are joining forces in a global partnership deal that will let travelers take advantage of perks and discounts across all four of the powerhouse brands.As part of the massive deal, millions of customers who are members of each brands’ loyalty and casino rewards programs will now have access to “reciprocal benefits.” The loyalty programs include Unity by Hard Rock, Royal Caribbean’s Club Royale, and Celebrity Cruises’ Blue Chip Club. Moving forward, members of all of the programs will earn reciprocal benefits anytime they play, stay, dine, or shop at participating Hard Rock locations or sail on any Royal Caribbean or Celebrity ships.“We see this as a marriage made in heaven,” Jeff Hook, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Seminole Hard Rock Support Services, told TravelPulse during a recent interview."If you’re customer of Hard Rock, now you don’t just have benefits with Hard Rock, you also have benefits with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. And conversely if you're a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity member, you now have benefits with Hard Rock.”
Solo travel was one of the top trends to emerge from Forbes Travel Guide’s 2024 Summit.
Growing up in Tucson, Arizona , I was used to the desert.