Bespoke on-demand charter from Simply Jet

The origins

“Everything began in the wake of Summer 2014, a few weeks before our graduation from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, considered one of the very best hospitality management school in the world,” remember the founders. “We (Patrick, Matthieu and Yann) discovered a passion for private aviation during our studies. We knew we wanted to do things differently. At that time, a furious arms race was already raging between long established players and up and coming start-ups in the industry. Every other week, we would read about a breakthrough app being developed, a new seat-sharing concept being unveiled, or instant-booking solutions made available.

“These so-called innovations shared common elements such as requiring heavy investment rounds – raising record-breaking amounts that have no link with actual business needs – and the use of somewhat hollow sounding marketing buzzwords emphasizing disruption and technology. The benefits for the end-user were not always clear and a handful of these companies have come and gone since then. This analysis led us to define the foundations of our project.”

“These so-called innovations shared common elements such as requiring heavy investment rounds – raising record-breaking amounts that have no link with actual business needs – and the use of somewhat hollow sounding marketing buzzwords emphasizing disruption and technology.”

Total liberty.

“We wanted to steer clear of investors and banks, therefore we worked hard to afford enough initial capital for launching during EBACE 2016, while fine-tuning our product offering. To date, we remain the sole owners of our business. This allows us to provide our customers with an incredible level of flexibility in terms of service because we do not have to comply with any form of external agenda. It also means we are a very agile structure when it comes to decision-making and we can easily and swiftly adapt to market evolutions.”

Core values

“Contrary to prevailing trends in the luxury services industry, we do not believe that digitalization should be a charter broker’s main focus,” they continue. “We put personal relationships at the forefront of everything we do, not only from our clients’ perspective but also internally. We recruit organically with great care so that each team member brings something unique to the table while genuinely cherishing our team spirit.

In keeping with our Swiss heritage and our education, we attach a great importance to excellence, punctuality and reliability, crafting each flight like fine watchmakers to provide a unique experience every single time. This remains true outside of the office as we each love to cook, host, and cater to our guests’ desires; in essence bring joy to others.

Today the private jet market trend is shifting from ownership towards rental, not only because of the fear of being stuck with a depreciating asset but also because of the ever-growing legal complexity of aircraft management, fractional ownership and jet card contracts. We offer ready-to-book, 100% personalised on-demand private jet charter.

We created Simply Jet, a name we chose because of the simplicity with which you hop on board with us, with these core values in mind and never looked back or deviated from them. Two years later, our exponential growth as well as our clients’ feedback, seem to prove that we were right.”

Continuing expansion

Gaétan Drossart joined the company in April as Chief Marketing Officer and Stéphanie Pastorek was hired in August as Head of Business Development. The team moved into larger premises in the centre of Lausanne to accommodate this continuing expansion. They all very much look forward to the upcoming months.

“There is an innumerable set of online brokers willing to cut down prices whose sole competitive argument appears to be that they are the cheapest available. We struggle to understand how this serves the passengers since any price slashing invariably entails some behind the scene cost cutting, whether that be an old aircraft, a less than reputable operator or a catering that leaves much to be desired. The flight experience often ends up prejudiced as a whole.”

Millennials

“A Michelin-starred restaurant, upscale hotel or designer clothes are not selected on face value only. Trust, safety, personal relationships and ease of use are key decision-making factors. This is how we work at Simply Jet. We help people. We appreciate finding what they really need, at any time, anywhere in the world. We pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t hesitate to walk out of some projects because we feel that there is a discrepancy between a customer’s approach to private jet charter and our philosophy.

Millennials will soon be a large proportion of the private jet users’ population and they are even more sensitive than their elder counterparts to these aspects. Having a responsive website or cutting-edge online tools, such as our smartphone signature module, is necessary but not sufficient. This generation values honesty, transparency, and responsiveness, and loves to spend time with genuine people. That is who we are.”