I N N O V A T I O N
Charles Denault
CEO of SimpleCharters
The on-demand online booking platform
What’s your business model?
SimpleCharters lets anyone book private
jets in one click. Our technology leverages
hundreds of privately-operated aircraft fleets
around the world, providing customers with
a unified and instant booking experience
with no membership fees or up front costs.
What is the single biggest factor in
your success so far?
The key has been to provide a consistent
customer experience with no surprises.
The private aviation space is so saturated
with misleading models, our growth is
very much attributed to our simple, clean
user experience which extends from the
customer’s first interaction online, through to
boarding their aircraft.
Who is your typical on-demand
customer?
Most of our customers are actually
experienced, regular users of private
aviation. They typically own or have
fractional ownership of an aircraft or have
a jet card and use SimpleCharters as
a supplement.
How is on-demand disrupting the
business aviation market?
One of our largest, fastest growing
segments is in the turboprop category.
Customers, especially fractional owners,
are realizing that their average flight is less
than two hours and are looking for a more
efficient way to travel. Instead of spending
two very expensive hours in a large cabin
jet, the trip can be done in roughly the same
amount of time in a light jet or turboprop,
often arriving closer to their destination for a
fraction of the cost.
Over time, this will move a large number
of flights to the smaller, less congested
airports. We’re working on some incredible
features and tools to pull airports and FBOs
into the mix to showcase their unique value
propositions to the customer. They’re a
pivotal part of the market but seem to have
been neglected over the years.
Have you found the business aviation
sector to be resistant to change?
The business aviation sector is incredibly
archaic. In a world where nearly every
other market has been digitized, it’s
eye opening to see behind the
scenes at the major players. Broadly
speaking, every company still relies
on a manual process for all of their
bookings - even if it has a nice
online interface.
What will business aviation
look like in 2025?
Dramatically different than it is
today. Aggregation and digitization
will all but eliminate jet cards and
similar membership models. If access is
ubiquitous with no barriers to entry, there’s
simply no need to pay annual dues or buy
25 hour blocks to use the same aircraft that
our customers are already flying.
22 | BU S INE S S A I R P O RT INT E RNAT I ONA L O C TO B E R 2 0 1 9
“Most of our customers
are experienced,
regular users of
private aviation”