VistaJet US President Leona Qi on Global Private Jet Expansion

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Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

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You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio.

**Tim Stenovec** (0:16)
Demand for private aviation just surging right now. Our Bloomberg News team reporting just last month that the Canadian business jet maker Bombardier wants to expand its manufacturing and maintenance capabilities as demand surpasses expectations and acquisitions may be part of the strategy. Bombardier announced in January that it would build a new manufacturing center near Montreal to boost production mainly for its smaller challenger models. Leona Qi understands the supply and demand when it comes to private aviation. She's president of VistaJet US. She joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. I love talking aviation and planes.
Nobody will be surprised by that if they listen or watch us regularly. We do speak to a lot of folks in private aviation. There are a lot of different models in private aviation, whether it's fractional ownership, whether it's the jet card.
Where does VistaJet fall on that spectrum?

**Leona Qi** (1:07)
We're unique in that way. We own our entire assets. We have close to 300 aircraft fleet and growing. Our flagship model is subscription-based. People buy a number of hours per year, and in return, what we're guaranteeing our members around the world is guaranteed availability on our fleet within 24-hour notice in the United States and in Europe and 48-hour notice for international flights.

**Tim Stenovec** (1:35)
Where are you seeing demand come from right now within the US and globally?

**Leona Qi** (1:39)
Within the United States. So United States traditionally and right now is still the biggest market in private aviation. The demand is literally everywhere.
The wealth creation is really fast. As you guys probably know, we're reporting all the IPOs, the creation of multi-millionaires. There's a lot of demands from the West Coast and there's energy sector and obviously financial sectors, the banks, everybody's doing so well. We've never seen demand this strong, specifically in the last two years. Internationally, there's a lot of new corridors, Asia, China, Africa demand. We actually did a report with Night Frank last year to see where people are flying. So there's a lot of new corridors between Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, China. Within Asia Pacific, there is, we see demand of 63 percent between Hong Kong and Tokyo.

**Norah Mulinda** (2:34)
So who is driving this growth and this demand? Is it still primarily the ultra wealthy or has the private flyer change? I know you all mentioned that nearly half of first time private flyers are now under 45 years old.

**Leona Qi** (2:46)
Yeah, there's definitely, there's traditional flyers. There's a next generation of flyers. There's definitely a generational shift where traditionally people really want to own the assets, right? I think a lot of people still see flying private as a luxury, but the next generation, I would say people under 45 or the tech industry, people that just created wealth really see it as a business tool. It's really a time machine where a lot of times we see family offices, the advisors and financial advisors want to go in and they advise their clients, private aviation or general aviation, business aviation really is not in the bucket of a luxury purchase, like a supercar or a yacht, rather is a management tool for productivity and mobility.

**Tim Stenovec** (3:34)
Are you seeing it more used for the growth? Are you seeing it more used for leisure and family travel versus corporate?

**Leona Qi** (3:41)
We have, so our customer base, we're seeing half about split in the middle, 50% for corporate travel, the other 50% is really owned by entrepreneurs. I think in that side, the demand is really, what they're using it for is really blended because that's your entrepreneurs, your billionaire's lifestyle. So people are traveling for, you could say it's for work, but they're managing their assets, their real estate, their business across continents. So they're really also traveling for family as well. Their family is very much part of the lifestyle.

**Tim Stenovec** (4:16)
What's just so fascinating about the level of wealth needed to do this is the difference between a domestic hour versus an international hour.
We hear about folks who say, okay, well, we'll travel private within the US, but it's just a completely different game to travel internationally on a private jet. What's sort of the cost differential there? I mean, you even have like incredibly famous examples of incredibly famous and wealthy individuals who won't fly international private because it is too expensive.

**Leona Qi** (4:49)
Correct. So there is a cost difference and they're quite big. So mainly because you're using different type of aircraft, right? So where we categorize them, so there's ultra long range and then there is the super mid, right? You mentioned Bombardier, Bombardier's flagship aircraft, Challenger 3500 We place an order of up to 160 of them were taking delivery. So those are the super regional aircraft they're flying. So if you're flying, if you look at on that aircraft type, cross country in the United States, somewhere around 50,000, 60,000 US dollars. But if you're looking at a flight from, let's say, New York to Tuscany, so that's an eight-hour flight, that will have to be on our global 6,000 or the global 8,000, which is ultra long range aircraft. So you're looking at somewhere around 150,000 to $250,000.