Can Someone who is familiar with executive jet travel answer my question?
I see these adds for $2200 for a single seat on a 12 seat executive jet for one way from Vegas to Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles (includes limousine). I know that is a lot higher than Business Select for $160 each way on Southwest Airlines. --------------------- I believe that the builders of the Desert Express high speed train from Vegas to Victorville (186 miles in 84 minutes) for $100 are planning to have an executive service It is 65 miles from Downtown Los Angeles helipad to Victorville train station (that's about 25 minutes) with an efficient 10 minute transfer that would make it from Downtown office block to Vegas in less than 2 hours. I figure it would be about $1K round trip. Not a poor man's way to travel, but a fairly efficient way to get the kind of gambler that will run $50K-$100K through a table in an afternoon. With a 12 seat helicopter like the kind that takes people from Manhattan to JFK, they might be able to get 100 mid-high rollers a day from downtown Los Angeles to Vegas a day. ------------------------------ Does this make sense? ------------------------------ I see that a (Sikorsky S-76C++) capacity: 12 passengers maximum speed of 155 knots and a ferry range: (345 nmi w/ 30 minute reserve) could make the entire 192 nm from downtown Los Angeles to the Vegas Executive Airport in Henderson. Does this make any sense financially (i.e. could you do this trip for $1000 round trip). I see that they charge about $300 one way for a helo trip from downtown to LAX (10.5 nm) so it seems like travelling by helo all the way to Las Vegas would be closer to $2K (and not the most comfortable). Can I get a sanity check?
Aircraft - 4 Answers
People's Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
i did this before in an arrow and it cost about $250 each way to klas. i took 3 people and we split the cost so it was reasonable. i dont know anything about helicopters but the r22 near me costs 200 an hour and that only has 2 seats.
Answer 2 :
You need to figure a lot more costs, more importantly the amount of time it will take to get the FAA operating certificate you will need, hire the appropriate people (Director of Operations, Maintenance and Chief Pilot), leases for the the airports, comply with the DHS/TSA security crap, and what you're going to do when the Santa Anna's blow and your choppers ground speed goes to 25 mph and trucks are passing on the highway. Oh yeah, SW doesn't have a business class; they do cattle car.
Answer 3 :
The operating cost per trip of an S76 is going to be much higher than a 12 passenger bizjet, so without another source of revenue to offset the higher cost, there is no way it's going to be competitive financially. The high speed train will be tied up in environmental permits for a decade, so trying to figure out its competitive financials is a waste of time. Helicopters make sense only on short point to point or airport to off-airport operations where the value of time is an issue.
Answer 4 :
i have a grand san that travels Avery day with those jet and some times 2 times.is the Ned to be at the sed place a certain time and the big co do not care how much money will cost
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