FEATURE STORY

Travel like Tiger: Private planes
put the fairway
beside the runway

By Chris Traber,
Staff Writer

TORONTO (March 1, 2004) -- Around the time Wilbur Wright piloted the first powered flight over the dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903, the one-piece rubber-cored ball and grooved club faces were fresh golf advents. North America's first golf course, Royal Montreal, celebrated its 30th year; the United States Golf Association was nine years old; and the U.S. Professional Golfers' Association was still 13 years from formation.

In the century since, both flight and golf have evolved exponentially, thanks in no small part to a symbiotic partnership. Thousands continue to employ the former to indulge in the latter. As such, the measureless majority who fly to golf destinations do so on commercial carriers. With the new age of security alerts and preemptive screening procedures, in tandem with the inherent quandaries, traditional air travel is now more arduous and time consuming than a rain delay.

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For those fatigued of having to hurry up and wait there is an alternative in the sleek form of private aircraft charters, the winged equivalent of a limousine with all the luxurious perks, pleasures and price premiums of their more gravity challenged four-wheeled counterparts.

Since Bill Lear popularized the private jet with the introduction of his Learjet 23 some 40 years ago, flights for hire abound. Currently North America's 500 jet-charter companies have about 3,000 planes available at any given time. Private jet fleets have doubled in the past decade and as supply outstrips demand charter firms have become increasingly competitive and creative in marketing their services to those business and leisure travelers who value time and convenience over commercial fares and delays.

Just as special occasions call for chauffeured livery around town, golfers can splurge on a private air charter to garnish a special holiday. The options are dizzying.

Fly Niagara offers an all-in, one-day return jaunt out of Buttonville Airport, north of Toronto, to Niagara Falls' municipal Whirlpool Golf Course for $459 a head. (All prices in Canadian dollars unless specified.) This couldn't be classified as a private jet junket as they fly small single props.

If you dream large and have the budget to match, consider Golfahoy's Wednesday to Sunday luxury package to golf's Valhalla. For $22,400 (U.S) each, based on 12 travelers, their Gulfstream IV jet takes you from JFK in New York to an all inclusive, helicopter-linked playing tour of the most hallowed courses in the British Isles. They include the Old Course of Ballybunion, the Old Course of St. Andrews, Kingsbarns Golf Links, Royal Dornoch Golf Club and the Ailsa Course at Turnberry. Caddie fees are included. Taxes are not.

Flightexec, an air charter service operating from Ontario bases in London and Buttonville, specializes in business, leisure and medical evacuation jet services. In partnership with Toronto's Golf-Away Tours, the company tailors golf getaways worldwide. While ferrying high-flying golfers represents a single-digit percentile of their business, it's a growing sector, says Flightexec sales and logistics manager Philip Babbitt.

"Flying by charter differs from scheduled aviation in many ways, but from the point of view of the customer it can be summarized in three words: efficiency, privacy and flexibility," he says. "Golfers book for the same reasons as executives. With us it's park and embark. It's your chosen departure schedule. You're in a private terminal and you're in the air in 15 minutes. Many of our golf destinations are remote but have either small airports nearby or their own landing strips. It's door to door, something commercial flights can't do."

Typically, private jets are rented by the hour. A six-passenger short-haul Cheyenne III twin jet-prop that clocks 260 mph goes for $1,600 an hour. A 16-seat Falcon 900 runs $6,500 an hour, but gets you further twice as fast. Flightexec has nine flight crews available on one hour's notice and always has a two-pilot crew. Supplemental charges include taxes, airline transportation security charges, overnight charges from $500 to $1,000 plus crew accommodation expenses.

A Cheyenne III for six golfers, Friday to Sunday, from Buttonville to Deerhurst Resort's private landing strip in Muskoka north of Toronto runs $3,900. From take-off to tee off, it's 25 minutes compared to a three-hour drive. Add $800 per person for two nights in a luxury Pavilion room at the resort and rounds, with cart, at Deerhurst Highlands, Taboo and Bigwin Island. Excluding taxes and meals, you can weekend like a PGA pro for about $1,450.

For perspective, compare a similar weekend outing from Ontario to British Columbia on a commercial versus private jet. Air Canada takes you there and back for approximately $2,200. Flightexec's seven-place Falcon 10 can be engaged for about thirty grand. That's $4,285 a golfer.

Is the squeeze worth the juice?

It is if your destination, for example, is the splendid Borgata Lodge at Quail Ridge in the Okanagan Valley. Commercially, you will endure a full day. Privately, it's a four-hour flight, landing at the Okanagan Airport, 10 minutes from the Lodge, instead of a five-hour drive from Vancouver Airport. Golf packages start at $1,050 with three nights' accommodations in a loft or one-bedroom suite (based on double occupancy), three rounds of golf with cart on Quail Ridge, The Bear, and Predator Ridge, all championship caliber tracks.

No longer the exclusive purview of the privileged, private jet usage is on the rise, according to Alexandre Monnier, general manager of Bombardier Skyjet. "Private jet charter volume in Canada is up across the board, both leisure and business," he says. "Golf and ski destinations are the most popular types of leisure trips, although of course it's seasonal. People very often combine business and leisure so it's difficult to estimate leisure trips, or specifically golf trips, as a portion of total trip volume."

He notes that private aircraft configured to seat from six to 15 passengers give flyers 10 times the destination options. In North America there are 580 airports serving commercial airliners while there are 5,400 airfields suitable for smaller planes. He sites one of Skyjet's most favored golf spots, Pebble Beach, Calif., which is 90 minutes from San Jose and a two-hour drive from San Francisco. Only small private craft can touch down at Monterey Peninsula Airport, minutes away.

Adam Webster, an aviation industry consultant and founder of AirWebster, a jet brokerage with operation centers in Montreal, Toronto and Brunswick, Maine, sees golfers as a growing demographic within the leisure category.

"The fastest growing segment will be more average business and leisure travelers as private jet services becomes more affordable," he says. "Golf charters account for roughly five percent of our total trips but it's a niche that's growing within an industry that's valued at about two billion dollars U.S. annually."

Of course, once the private bird has bitten you, owning one might be in order. Is $35 million for a new Falcon 900 off budget? Consider, then, fractional ownership. Airsprint Inc. based in Calgary, Alta., will sell you an eighth of a Swiss-engineered Pilatus PC12 turboprop for $425,000 plus a $4,500 monthly fee to defray pilot, hangar and insurance expenses. The acquisition entitles you to 100 annual hours at a rate of $Cdn 825 per.

Clearly, if you want your fairway close to the runway, the sky's the limit.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.