JetSmarter is now known to be the "Uber for the skies." But unlike Uber whose services are popular even for the middle-earning millennials, JetSmarter caters to only who can afford it.
It is an app that allows travelers to book a private plane or jet without hassle. Their main headquarters are currently in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with their CEO Sergey Petressov.
Recently, they were able to raise $105 million from private investors such as the Saudi Royal Family and rapper Jay-Z. Other unnamed investors also put in lots of cash on this start-up company, particularly those from the Middle East.
To enjoy the services offered by JetSmarter, you have to become a member first, and pay a "core membership" fee of $15000. After that, you will pay an annual fee of about $9000 a year.
Like Uber, JetSmarter doesn't own a fleet of planes at their disposal. Rather, they have negotiated with other airline companies and the app is mainly used for a sort of marketplace for privately chartered flights.
Their services mostly focused on these three: JetDeals, JetShuttle and JetCharter. Jetdeals are for those who want to book a private one way-flight, JetShuttle on the other hand allows travelers to get a seat from a scheduled private flight, while JetCharter is their most expensive service. With this you can customize an entire travel package and rent an entire plane.
JetSmarter isn't the first one of its kind. Other aviation start-up companies such as Beacon and BlackJet have also tried their luck, but they both folded and JetSmarter still remained on top.
When asked what their business strategy is, Petrossov said: ""We scale from the community. We use predictive maps and algorithms to find where the demand is, so that we will never over supply the market, and can just meet the amount of demand we have. Other companies would over supply and fly where they'd have 20% loads. We have zero deadhead weight on our shuttles and a 90% load factor."
Since today their market mainly focuses on the rich, Petrossov said that one of the future goals of JetSmarter is to become accessible for everyone and not just for the 1%. The money they got from their funding will be used for the expansion of their routes, improving their app, and total development of the company not just in the US, but in Asia and other continents too.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
