The Luxembourg company Jetfly is positioned on the niche of Swiss planes Pilatus, with propeller or jet. To limit the environmental impact, Jetfly offers to buy lasting fuels and, if possible, to share flights.
Belgium is a country rather open to business planes. There are a small hundred devices, generally used by companies and individuals – often entrepreneurs – who appreciate the flexibility of this means of transport avoiding overcrowded terminals and long queues. Half an hour after parking the car, the private plane takes off from the general aviation area of Zaventem, Antwerpen-Durne, Kortrijk-Wevelgem or Brussels South Charleroi Airport.
Since last October, a Luxembourg company, Jetfly, has offered shared ownership planes on the Belgian market. “We already had some customers managed from Luxembourg,” says Jean-Baptiste Fabbricatore, who has been developing the Belgian market since the end of 2024. Jetfly has 14 customers in Belgium, out of a total of 550 customers for the group.
The propeller Pilatus, the most used business aircraft
The Jetfly company focused on business aircraft manufactured by Switzerland Pilatus. The manufacturer, known for his training planes capable of landing on glaciers, made a great success with small business planes. A niche in which Jetfly rushed. The best-selling model is the Mono Turbine PC-12, which can transport six to eight passengers at more than 500 km/h over a distance which can exceed 2,000 km. For those who want to go faster, Jetfly offers a Pilatus PC-24 eight-seat sweater, flying at more than 800 km/h, up to 3,300 km.
We are far from transatlantic business planes, Falcon and Gulfstream which generally illustrate the articles and TV reports on this type of aircraft.
These planes actually cover a good part of the needs. In Belgium as in Europe, the most used business plane, according to the European Association of the Sector (EBAA), is the Mono Turbine Pilatus PC-12. It is therefore not a jet, but a propeller plane at a reasonable cost, which can land on budding tracks. It only takes 650 meters of lawn to land, which allows it to land in places inaccessible to private jets: aeroclub, Altiport de Courchevel or Spa La Sauvenière. “This allows him to reach places far from airports, explains Marion Fabiani, sales director For France and Monaco. We have customers who have teams of motorcycles or cars, who can then land very close to the race circuits. Distribution entrepreneurs can go around, over a day, several locations located in areas without nearby airports. ”
Shared property, user manual
The formula developed by Jetfly, since its creation in 2009, is the shared property. “We offer shares on a plane, from 1/16e“, Specifies Jean-Baptiste Fabbricatore. For a PC-12, this represents an investment of $ 500,000. There are then management fees that include insurance, maintenance and repairs, proportional to the number of hours of annual flight subscribed. For a part of 1/16ethis can range from 15 to 35 hours of flight. The flights are reserved up to 24 hours in advance, and it remains to pay the fees of pilot and flight (4,500 to 5,000 euros/hour for a PC-12).
“We offer shares on an aircraft, from 1/16th. For a PC-12, this represents an investment of $ 500,000, without management costs.” -Jean-Baptiste Fabbricatore, director of Jetfly for Belgium
Jetfly commands the plane and sells the shares before delivery. The contract relates over 10 years, after which the plane is sold. “The PC-12 keeps their value rather well: 40 and 50% of the purchase value after 10 years,” says Jean-Baptiste Fabbricatore. It is possible to resell the share after five years.
Customers are directly (CO) owners of the plane. It does not appear in the Jetfly assessment, which provides the service since the purchase, the sale of aircraft, their maintenance, their operation and the management of flights. Being in condominiums, planes are not customizable by customers. But there is no shortage of cachet, since their interior and the livery were designed by Philippe Starck.
Customers do not necessarily travel with “their” plane. Jetfly attributes the nearest plane to the co -owner for the day of booking.
The approach of shared property is very popular in the United States, where Netjets dominates the market with jet planes and is also active in Europe. Jetfly, which employs 500 people, including 250 drivers, and achieves an annual turnover of 200 million euros, focused on Europe and the Pilatus. It ensures the maintenance and training of pilots and manages the largest business fleet in Europe, with 25 PC-12 and 12 PC-24 in co-ownership. The most frequent flights in Belgium go to Le Bourget (Paris), Geneva, Nice or Cannes-Mandelieu. Many flights are short (Luxembourg).
Jetfly is led by a French tandem, Cédric Lescop and Maxime Bouchard, respectively CEO and CFO. The majority shareholder is Jean-Pierre Millet, descendant of the founder of the Millet sportswear, and founder of Carlyle in Europe. In addition to co -ownership aircraft, the company also manages Pilatus aircraft on behalf of owners 100%.
Sustainable fuel
Customers can opt for the purchase of sustainable fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel or SAF), and thus reduce flight emissions, a delicate subject in the world of private planes. Plans can fly with a maximum of 50% of SAF, manufactured by Neste in Rotterdam, based on frying oil and animal waste, thus reducing CO emissions up to 80%2.
As this fuel is more expensive than kerosene, it is necessary to add 175 euros from the flight time for a Pilatus PC-12, or 190 euros for a PC-24 jet. Buying 100% SAF costs 345 euros per hour for a PC-12. The customer’s flight will not necessarily be made with SAF, but the quantity acquired will be purchased and used by other Jetfly planes.
Free vacuum flights
The prospects for seeing zero emission planes, steering wheel with hydrogen or electric motorization, are still hypothetical. The Belgian ASL company has just announced the purchase of a microliner (manufactured by Væridon), a business airplane at nine places traveling 300 to 400 kilometers. The first flight of the prototype is scheduled in 2027, and its commissioning could take place in 2030. Jetfly is still behind this kind of project which must still prove itself.
The PC-12 remains one of the cleanest business planes. Jetfly estimates to reduce emissions (and costs) by limiting the repositioning of planes between two reserved flights and promoting the use of vacuum flights. “Customers can take advantage of free of charge for them or people they designate,” says Jean-Baptiste Fabbricatore. They can also agree to share the cost of a flight by offering seats on a flight they have booked.
