A trip with NetJets? "You could get used to it", says our author Angelika Moeller after her first experience with a private plane from Hamburg to Aberdeen. It was an incomparable experience for them to experience the benefits of a private flight aboard NetJets' Cessna Citation Latitude.
A trip with NetJets: an experience from the start
Even the arrival modalities are impressive. The passenger is greeted by the captain at the separate business terminal. The luggage is taken off and passed through security without any intervention on your part. Now only a short passport check and you are driven in a small van directly to the plane. Everything stress-free without any waiting time. The Citation Latitude's seven-seat interior feels surprisingly spacious and extremely comfortable. In addition, wi-fi is available and i-pads can be used to control individual temperature, blinds and music. Entertainment is provided by NetJets On-Demand Inflight Entertainment or selected international magazines. A short briefing from the co-pilot on safety precautions and the altitude – which can be as high as 45 degrees.000 feet above the weather line and scheduled air traffic and- up and away!
NetJets "Fractional Ownership" – an interesting business model
On the 90-minute flight to Aberdeen, Carsten Michaelis, NetJets Director of Sales, accompanies us and tells us how the business model of this private airline is designed. The U.S.-based company offers a worldwide network of some 750 business jets, 100 of them in Europe. Co-founder and investor was Warren Buffet in 1986. In a so called. "fractional ownership, the (wealthy) customer buys an annual volume of flight hours that can be used at any time by one way or round trip. They also offer a private jet card with 25 hours of flight time, which can be used flexibly. Within 10 hours at the latest the jet is available and the customer can take as many guests as fit into the jet. Due to the size of the aircraft, even "hard-to-reach" locations are accessible.
NetJets employs its own pilots and weather specialists, who are trained in its own training camps with the same high safety standards as regular scheduled flights. After so much relevant info we enjoy a delicious breakfast with a sparkling glass of champagne and feel just "heavenly lifted".
Arriving on time after 90 minutes in Aberdeen. A van brings us to the small terminal, after the passport control was done quickly at the plane by the customs officers who rushed to us. It doesn't get more relaxed than this!
The Fife Arms Hotel – a historic residence in the Scottish Highlands
If the journey, i.e. the flight was already the goal, a hotel stay organized by Netjets until the next day completes the experience. The drive to the historic The Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar offers spectacular views of the mystical landscape of the Highlands of Scotland. Fog wafting over the meadows and the famous River Dee, the mountains emerging from the fog now and then – a perfect movie backdrop..
The Fife Arms Hotel is not only a luxurious, first-class hotel on the square, but also a historic building from 1856 with impressive antique and modern art. Queen Victoria discovered her love of Scotland and this hotel jewel here, while just a few miles away the royal summer residence Balmoral Castle was being built. Opened just last year after four years of renovation and restoration, the hotel offers comfort and history at the highest level. The antique art treasures of that time are skillfully staged in symbiosis with modern art from Picasso to Gerhard Richter., supplemented by remarkable watercolors of Queen Victoria and Prince Charles.
The return flight in the evening of the next day, this time with an Embraer Phenomen 300, was again quick in the handling and totally relaxed one could pass in his relax seat with a glass of wine and a snack the experienced "large cinema" in review.
Our author Frieda Hintze was also traveling with NetJets. However from Frankfurt to Monaco. To the field report.