It seats 600 normally, but because of all the additions added there is limited seating.  Have you ever heard of a plane having an on-board garage?  It would be nice to be able to drive right off a plane and on to the mainland.  I’ve heard of boats being able to hold cars but not private jets!  There are 5 master suites with king-size beds and up to 20 sleepers that are the equivalent of first class.  Have you ever heard of a plane that had an elevator?  Well this one has a cylindrical elevator that comes out of the bottom of the plane. As if that wasn’t enough, the plane has 3 floors with various amenities.  One floor is a concert hall that seats 10 and has a baby grand piano!  The plane also has a boardroom and a full-size steam room.

One of the coolest features is in the “Wellbeing Room”.  It has a projected image across the bottom of the floor that shows exactly what you’re flying over.  I assume this is similar to what a glass bottom boat might look like.

It almost seems as if this guy purposely wanted to make this the most over-the-top plane just because he could.  By comparison a Boeing Business Jet starts at $42 million.  The price tag for the prince’s plane is right around $488 million.

• Are the images produced by the full-body scanners too revealing?

• Are they safe? What about excess radiation?

• Do the alternative pat-down screenings violate a person’s right to privacy?

A protest was even planned for the day before Thanksgiving, the busiest day of the year, with some activists encouraging travelers to “opt out” of the full-body scan and submit to the pat-down instead, thus creating delays for all. The TSA responded by staffing additional personnel at airport checkpoints and launching a concerted media campaign to convince the public that the screening procedures were safe. In the end, the planned protest did not get off the ground, with only a small percentage of travelers “opting out” of the full-body scan. Travelers that day generally reported no extra inconvenience, and the uproar has since died down.

However, the questions about the security procedures have still not been fully addressed to everyone’s satisfaction. Many people remain concerned about the invasive nature of the screenings and the safety of the scanning machines. Traveling on commercial airlines was already fraught with stress and hassle, and these questionable screening procedures have added even more anxiety to the process for many.

But not for private jet travel. Flying on a private charter has long been the choice of those preferring the convenience and efficiency of point-to-point transport. These benefits are now even more pronounced: no TSA security screening. While customs clearance and inspections are of course required whenever crossing international boundaries, regardless of whether you’re on a private plane or a commercial flight, Emtjets customers are not subject to the strict policies and procedures required by the TSA before boarding. Our customers simply show up at the airport and board.

As a provider of personalized air service to the discriminating traveler, Emtjets makes safety and security a priority. Our clients know that we pay extra attention to their needs during travel, and we ensure the same care is used in maintaining our service providers’ fleet of aircraft. Emtjet’s clients get the best of both worlds: a top-of-the-line experience in comfortable and  convenient travel, without the hassle and personal intrusion of the invasive screening processes that are the common experience of anyone flying on a commercial carrier.

i)  Avoiding the finances that are required in purchasing new planes. Leasing out a plane is a better option for companies that do not have enough resources to purchase a private plane that they want. Planes require quite an amount to purchase, thus leasing them would be the more sensible option.

ii)  It poses as an option for excessive air travel for travelers who have the capacity to travel with private jets.   This provides a better option for employees from having to fly commercially at airports that constantly are jammed with passengers.

There are two types of leases that are available in the market right now.

1. Wet Lease

When we speak of a wet lease, we will consider the share of responsibility that is given to the lessee as compared to what the owner of the plane provides. Here, the plane owner is responsible for the provision of fuel, airport fees, taxes that are involved in the flying process and the duties thereof. The lessee therefore provides the cabin crew, maintenance, the insurance that is required and also the pilot. It is usually used in the peak traveling seasons and usually lasts as short as two years.

2. Dry Lease

The dry lease usually lasts for a longer time than wet lease. In this type of a lease, the lessee takes care of more than what he does in the wet lease. The condition of the plane is subject to the maintaining power of the lessee, while at his hands. This type of lease is therefore useful for long term plans that involve big companies like airline companies, governments and banks.

The Learjet was the first small jet to be used in air charter by such operators as Hop-a-jet. Such companies as these simply managed these aircrafts. They did not buy them from the manufacturers. This helped them to sustain higher profits from this business that was evidently becoming popular with the higher earning Americans of the time. This would for one reason or the other start sparking differences between plane owners and subsequent managers of the planes, due to “operational control” wrangles between the two entities. It would take the FAA to sit down and make some regulatory specifications in order to clear up this mess, since the business seemed to favor one party over the other.

Options Related to flying privately

The private jet industry then became increasingly popular as those with the financial means saw the benefits – some of these options include:

On-demand travel: This is a travel option that gives the user of the private jet the option of paying as he is in need of the charter. It is the most popular form of travel. Here the user pays only for the trip he wishes to travel.

Shared Ride Service: This is a system that affords the user to share a trip with another of the same destination. Contrary to common commercial flights, the trip taken avoids the use of airports as bays for the plane, instead making use of private airports. It is therefore less onerous as compared to public air transportation. The use of helicopters with a carrying capacity of 4 to 12 passengers has often been associated with this kind of traveling option.

Hoovers.com reports that domestic passenger travel makes up 50 percent of the air charter industry’s revenue, followed by international passengers (15 percent), domestic air freight (10 percent) and international air freight (five percent).

So who is chartering jets? Large corporations do so that their top managers and executives can save time by skipping lines and restrictions on commercial airlines. Wealthy people get a private charter for the same reason: convenience. Sports teams, the U.S. military and government agencies also charter private planes.

In addition, chartering a plane also gives people and corporations a lot more options. Hoovers.com (citing the General Aviation Manufacturers Association) writes that “air charter planes have access to over 4,000 general aviation airports; scheduled commercial aircraft are restricted to the 500 U.S. commercial airports.”

Those who charter planes have a true wealth of types, capacity and amenities from which to choose. Need a helicopter? Charter it. Prefer turboprop? You got it! Want to fly to Istanbul in a multi-engine jet airliner with 200 of your best friends? It’s available.

Most chartered planes (85 percent) are fixed-wing aircraft while 15 percent are helicopters. Turboprop planes offer passengers a pressurized cabin, one or two pilots and the capacity to carry up to eight passengers. These planes will fly about 200 miles per hour and have a range of about 1,000 miles.

If those who wish to charter a plane need to go farther and faster, pressurized heavy jets have a range of up to 8,000 miles and can fly at 500 miles per hour. These aircraft can carry up to 18 passengers and can sport such amenities as a full bathroom and flight attendants.

Chartering a private jet makes sense for a business on several levels. Here are a few:

Time: No longer will your team members have to arrive at an airport terminal the recommended two hours before a flight in order to get through security and check-in. Instead, one of your executives simply arrives at the airport, boards the plane, and leaves. In addition, your executive won’t have to wait in a terminal for a connection between legs of her flight because most private jet charter companies offer businesses non-stop flights to cities throughout the U.S., Europe and the world.

Group travel: A company’s executives often travel to the same destination for conferences or business meetings. Hire a private business jet and your executives may travel together, allowing them to prepare presentations as a team. In addition, many private jet charter companies equip their aircraft with many business tools, such as fax machines, Internet and phone service and more. Your team can get a lot of work done while en route.

Schedule flights on your timetable: Charter a private jet and you won’t have to worry if an airline’s flight schedule will get you to a meeting across country that’s been scheduled at the last minute. Instead, you tell the company where you want to go and when. If by chance your flight needs to be delayed due to weather or equipment problems, you’ll be notified immediately and the jet charter company will work diligently to make other arrangements to make sure you arrive at your destination when you want. Just ask a public airline to do the same!