The Jet Business Reuters Editorial January 2012

Buying a private jet has just become easier thanks to a new showroom in London. It's been set up by The Jet Business, an aircraft broker, which is offering its customers a world first. It's giving them the chance to see inside a luxury jet before they buy. This is a full-size replica of an Airbus 319's fuselage. A new one can cost up to 90 million dollars, so being certain before you buy is important, says Steve Vasano, the firm's founder and owner.

"I think that anybody who can afford a jet, whether it's the corporations, the high net worth individuals, or governments that are based in Africa, Europe, the CIS countries, or in the Middle East, they all come through London. So this is a place really to try to catch them when they're coming through the city," he explains.

Sales of corporate jets slowed following the global financial crisis of 2008. Credit became more difficult to get and companies were reluctant to spend, and little changed last year, according to James Lawson from lead we research. "If you look at the private jet market in terms of new sales, sales of new jets have been down about 10-11% last year. So people are looking for new ways to sell and distribute luxury goods, and the retail experience is one that many luxury brands are focusing on. How do we make the shopping environment more attractive, more engaging for the luxury consumer?"

Vasano has also installed an eight-metre computer wall. It's powered through an iPad app and contains details of the eighteen thousand private jets, new and used, available around the world. The computer finds a plane to suit the customer. "There's basically four questions that we would ask somebody who really doesn't know anything about the aircraft market. The first, of course, is price. So if we put a budget here of 30 million dollars, and then we go to the second question, how old of an airplane you'd want, and then we go into how many passengers that you'd want to carry, and of course the most important is where do you want to fly to. So let's say from here we go from London to Dubai. Prices start from one million dollars up to around 80 million depending on age and condition."

Vasano agrees it's a tight market at the moment, but he says the business doesn't need many customers to make it successful. "And if things take off as I plan, I'll open further showrooms around the world," he concludes.

— Haley Platt, Reuters