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Donald Trump’s
inauguration is set to attract a smaller audience
than President Obama’s, at least in the private jet
sector, according to private jet booking platform
Stratajet.
Ahead of tomorrow’s (Friday, January 20) ceremony,
Washington D.C. is expecting fewer flights into its
airports than when Barack Obama was sworn in as the
44th President of the United States of America.
Over the
corresponding weekend in 2009, despite private
aviation suffering the downturn of the 2008 credit
crunch, Washington D.C. airports received more than
600 private jet flights. While a higher-than-average
influx of private jets is expected into the Capital
this weekend, the number of expected flights is set
to be dwarfed by that of eight years ago. A
spokesperson from Washington Dulles Airport
Operations commented that they were “anticipating a
minimum of 400 aircraft staying over the period of
the weekend.”
While Stratajet
has received high volumes of traffic since its
launch in the United States in October 2016,
underwhelming numbers of searches for flights in and
out of Washington D.C. airports ahead of this
weekend support low private jet flight expectations.
These prospective
ceremony attendance figures correlate to the fact
that a large percentage of Trump’s supporters are
from middle- and working-class backgrounds, while
those making $100,000 or more were largely opposed
to his appointment. It has, however, been largely
suggested that Donald Trump’s victory will be
positive for the private jet industry, as the
President Elect is himself a private jet owner.
Jonny Nicol,
Founder & CEO of Stratajet, commented: “The 400
private jets arriving into the Captial this weekend
demonstrate that there is still an appeal to be at
the heart of the inauguration ball and gala scene.
This number is still a considerable logistical
challenge for the airports and FBOs but it is
interesting to note that there will be fewer
aircraft than eight years ago and how this relates
to searches for flights to Washinton D.C. conducted
via our automated booking platform. That said, we
are delighted with the numbers we are generating
through the platform since launch in the United
States.”
Low search figures
for this weekend’s inauguration are in contrast to
the success of the Stratajet platform, which has
seen 40% month on month growth since its U.S,
launch. In just three months, the unique platform
has generating an unprecedented 30,000 accurate
flight searches in real-time via its online search
engine, giving passengers instant access to the
private jet market across the country. |
