AVANTEFLY has insisted that its recently launched mobile app will aid private jet operators who are partners in the system to reduce the influence of brokers who profiteer off private charter airlines in the industry.
This is coming against the backdrop of complains by many private charter operators who say they are been ripped-off by the middle-man or what can be described as brokers who most times hire aircraft without AOCs to do charter operations thereby taking the business away from genuine operators who pay 5% Ticket Sales Charge to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Chief Executive Officer of Avantefly, Engineer Bria Okonkwo who made this known last week expressed conviction that the newly launched application would checkmate activities of brokers stating that the company believes that the investor should not be short-changed especially as they bought the asset and will also be the ones to bear the cost of charges anywhere they fly to.
She said,”I want you to think of an analogy, like 20 years ago,how did you send an information to your brother in America? You use the post office, where are the post offices now? You don’t use that now you send a WhatsApp, now we are in the tech age whether you like it or not.
“You do not need a broker to get a private jet, you go online today, click private jets, UK, you see a list of companies, you click on their website, order a jet, pay online. Your plane is right there. The honest truth is unfortunately for the brokers, they cant really stay too long.
She added, “A lot of money is wasted because these operators pay for international fee and you cancel, who bears the brunt of that cost? Not the broker but the operator, so lets not try to make some people happy and others unhappy, its about being fair on the investor and being fair is being fair to the operator who has spent money to purchase an asset and not the broker, unfortunately. So if we sit here are talk about brokers, we not being fair to the operator.
“In saying that, we consider they are part of us and Avantefly actually has a program for the affiliate member which is specifically built for the brokers. The affiliates can see the bookings on their back end and see what goes into their accounts, so what we have done is make the work easy. They will be on the platform and you don’t have to call 10 times a day: ” Are you sure of the plane, confirm the plane or another person has booked the plane…and a world of disappointment,’ she explained.
She also highlighted that the mobile app offers different services beyond just private airline charter that makes it different and better suited for luxury travel.
“You cannot compare us a brokers because we don’t offer one service on our app,its like saying booking.com is a broker, they are making hotels available to the common man at the click of a button, we are a technological innovator, that’s who we are. we are not trying to get the lion share, we are there to ease marketing and processing for the private operators for him to do his job get the plane and fly.
