European Summer Charter Interest Heat Up

Luxaviation has reported that charter inquiries have surpassed the 1,000-per-day mark as clients seek to travel to popular summer destinations around the Mediterranean, mainland Greece, Portugal, and Spain.

In June and July, inquiries ranged between 800 and 1,050 per day, Luxaviation said, noting that in the two months prior, its UK charter office had received up to 400 per day.

“Inquiries are off the scale—we’ve never experienced such a busy period,” said George Galanopoulos, CEO of Luxaviation UK and head of charter sales Europe for the Luxaviation Group. “This is partly due to post-pandemic new users choosing to fly privately and safely, but also new users who want to avoid the current airport and airline chaos of delays and cancellations.”

He added that the approach to travel is evolving this summer as well. “Typically, we are seeing extended families who regularly fly with us, now traveling with an additional two or three families, enabling them to help spread the cost, travel safely, and avoid lengthy queues at airports,” he said.

Luxaviation is managing this uptick with its broad fleet, but it also has begun encouraging regular clients to consider buying aircraft to offset their charter overhead and ensure availability.

“The private aviation industry is navigating its way through a lack of capacity, due to a shortage of new and preowned aircraft, following the boom in business aviation during and after the pandemic,” Galanopoulos said, adding that for certain regular travelers, buying aircraft “makes good business sense, especially for those clients who need to travel with their families at specific times of the year and who may struggle to get availability otherwise.”