The new ‘Jetrosexual’ generation

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The luxury travel market is currently witnessing exponential growth as disposable incomes in developed countries rocket and the middle and upper classes in developing nations with booming economies start to realise their travelling potential.

Opportunities for premium travel are escalating, with airlines opening new routes and hotels opening top end properties worldwide, nowhere more so than in the Middle East, while new luxury destinations are emerging as they rapidly develop their tourism infrastructures.

As these developments take shape, the luxury traveller is becoming more demanding. They are cash rich, but time poor, and demand time saving solutions, convenience and an authentic experience.

International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) recently surveyed around 1600 VIP buyers who cited their key challenge as "staying ahead of clients' desire for the next and newest destination".

Buyers also revealed that there were no limits on clients' demands and expectations with their requirements getting increasingly extraordinary.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the aviation world, which has had to adapt rapidly to luxury travellers' wants and needs.

The industry is therefore witnessing a trend towards space travel, all-business class flights, private charters and the reinvention of flying for pleasure with new long-range aircraft, the Boeing Dreamliner and the giant Airbus 380.

Deputy chairman of The Ritz London, Andrew Love, said his guests were increasingly opting to fly in on private charters to the smaller airports in the UK, saving them time and hassle.

"Essentially, luxury is now about personal time savings as people no longer have time to enjoy the grandeur of travel; this is the greatest change in the market," he remarked.

Saving time and convenience are essential to the offering at all-business class carrier Silverjet, which will fly between Dubai and London Luton from November 19.

Check-in is just 30 minutes before departure without luggage for the hold and only 45 minutes for passengers with luggage to check in.

Passengers have the option of eating their meals before, during or after the flight, so they can maximise their time sleeping or working while flying between London and Dubai or London and New York.

This is made possible by the carrier's private terminals at Luton, Newark and Dubai (Executive Flight Services).

In addition there's a chauffeur service, porter and concierge to check you in.

"It's much more akin to arriving at a five-star hotel than at an airport," the carrier's chief of staff and international development, Katherine Gershon, told Luxury Travel News.

ILTM's co-founder Serge Dive believes a new jet-setting generation is about to emerge, triggered by the introduction of the A380, which will "re-sex" the business of flying.

"You can call them the ‘Jetrosexual generation'- where flying will involve casinos, nightclubs, bars and spas," he projected.

More prosaically, private air travel is beginning to boom worldwide, with ILTM studies revealing a 6.8% rise in this region in the past year, while America's Federal Aviation Authority predicts a 300% increase in private jet journeys in the next 10 years.

AirGuideonline.com recently reported a five-fold increase in private jet operators worldwide in five years, with prices declining to an average of US $2200 an hour in many areas, while operators such as Royal Jet are demonstrating their capabilities in this region.

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