Steve Varsano, Founder of The Jet Business: “Private aviation is going into the eVTOL, also called ‘flying cars’ or ‘passenger carrying drones.’ They will be cheaper and more efficient.”
Steve Varsano, Founder of The Jet Business: “Private aviation is going into the eVTOL, also called ‘flying cars’ or ‘passenger carrying drones.’ They will be cheaper and more efficient.”
Steve Varsano is the founder of The Jet Business, a high-flying -never better seen- brokerage based out of London that sells private jets. BASQUE LUXURY speaks with him about the past, present and future of the private jet industry, whose popularity has grown exponentially since the pandemic. If luxury is time and comfort, Varsano’s company is a leader in that concept.
You have been selling private jets since 1979. How have the buyer’s profile changed over these decades?
There’s no question that the profiles have changed. I think the biggest change is the average age of the client. So whether it’s the entrepreneur who’s leading the corporation or the individual, they are buying a special purpose vehicle. 25 years ago the average age was probably anywhere between 55 to 70. And today it’s more like 40 to 60. Also, the profile of the corporations that are buying airplanes is changing. Today it’s much more about technology, cyber, biotech or hospital care. So there’s no question that the profile of most corporations has changed.
What percentage of private aircrafts are sold to companies and how many to individuals?
That’s a big misnomer and a big unknown: there are no aircraft sold to individuals, as nobody would ever buy an airplane in their own name. The airplanes are owned by companies for corporate reasons, but some of those companies can be owned by one individual. Actually it is very rare to buy a jet for only personal use.
What is the usual process for purchasing a private jet?
The process remains the same: then and now people ask to friends who own a jet. They ask them what is the best airplane to purchase. We help future clients in that process through our own app, our own technology, to ask them a number of questions that filters out which airplanes meet their parameters and objectives. And once they do that, they find out the exact type of jet that would meet their needs. Afterwards, they start looking at the market and checking what airplane is available, so they start comparing one by one. And then when they find the aircraft they want, we just help them to go after it and acquire it. Of course, they need to do all the formal enquiries: letters of intent, purchase agreements, pre buy inspections, title searches and things like that. And in that journey we have our corporate jet brokers assisting the client.
What are the most popular aircraft models and what is the average price paid for a jet?
There’s only a half a dozen corporate jet manufacturers. It’s Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault, Falcon, Embraer, Cessna, Boeing and Airbus. So those are the only models. And depending on if you’re looking for a small or mid-sized or a large cabin airplane, the different manufacturers really focus on a different category of airplanes. So depending on the category, the answer is different. You can buy a jet anywhere that’s 20 years old for under $1,000,000 to a brand new one that can cost you close to $100 million.
How has the business of buying and selling private jets evolved since the pandemic?
Five years ago, there used to be about 230,000 ‘ultra-high net worth individuals’, which is defined as somebody worth more than 30 million USD. Today that number is just over 500,000. And the kind of person that would buy a jet is not necessarily somebody that’s worth 30 million or $1,000,000,000. It’s somebody who actually has the appreciation for an added value or quality of life. Or business enhanced time. The pandemic has pushed a lot of those people who could afford it but didn’t mentally accept the cost, so it pushed a large number of those people over the line to understand that now they should buy one for safety reasons, for health reasons and for flexibility reasons. And just because the airlines don’t fly to where they’re going, a lot less airplanes are moving in those directions. So a lot more people today are flying with corporate jets than they were before the pandemic.
Has Brexit affected your organization’s position in the aircraft trade business in the European Union?
In the aircraft sales side, no, it has not affected our position. But in aircraft charter it has affected because there’s a term called cabotage. And cabotage doesn’t let British registered airplanes take a client to the EU and then pick up another client in the EU and fly it within the EU. So those games have changed with Brexit, but not in the corporate aircraft sales.
How is the war in Ukraine affecting the business of private jet sales to Russian clients?
Well, the sale of corporate jets completely stopped to Russian clients. There are some of them that are not captured in the sanctions lists because they were born in the Soviet Union but not in the nowadays Russia. So, there’s no question that a lot of the Russian clientele have gone in hiding and are trying to be out of the public eye. And that includes owning a corporate jet.
In a world where sustainability is increasingly advocated, what role do private planes play compared to other transports?
All forms of transportation in the world contribute in a 14% to the carbon footprint problem, and that includes cars, buses, planes, trucks, everything. Inside that percentage the airlines contribute in a 2% of the 14%, and the corporate jets contribute 2% of that 2%. So, we represent 0.04% of the carbon footprint problem. It’s nothing. Even though, the industry is still taking it very seriously, coming out with sustainable aviation fuel. They’re coming out with electrified engines, hybrid engines and eventually hydrogen engines. But that will be over the coming years.
After having firmly established your business in London, your next aim for 2023-24 is to open up a showroom in Miami. What can you tell us about this project?
I’m still trying to find a location, and as soon as I find the right spot, I will start the process of designing and building the showroom.
How do you perceive private aviation in the future?
Private aviation is going into the eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) or also called ‘flying cars’ or ‘passenger carrying drones.’ And that will be much more fuel efficient. They’ll be much cheaper. It’ll be much more oriented to the normal person on the streets who will be able to enjoy flying around in these small little flying cars.
What is luxury to you?
Time and convenience. It’s that simple.
