A private jet hire for a flight over Italy: comfortable and time-saving
Private jet hire, our test: from the passage at the reserved Linate airport to high-end services. Here are all the details.
The airport, known and crowded, is on the other side. Here at Linate Prime, the area of the airport reserved for private jets, you can easily enter. There are no monitors to monitor. There are no queues. No check-in. No need to worry about the baggage in the hold. It takes thirty seconds for security checks. A minute of waiting near the track. Not without stopping at the bar. Then a gentleman, in uniform, approaches, introduces himself. He is the commander. “Are you ready to take off?” Asks the German from Munich, a former military fighter pilot. It will be him, together with a colleague, to bring us over Italy for an exclusive ride.
On board
When you get on board of the private jet for hire, you will find several newspapers and magazines, both Italian and non. Next to the seats there are the playing cards, the amenity kits customized for him, for her and for the children, a tablet with specific app for onboard entertainment (run by Gogo, very famous and used in the USA), satellite phone, USB inputs and – of course – Internet connection via Wi-Fi using the SwiftBroadband network of Inmarsat satellites. The menu is selected based on passenger preferences, and personal chefs are used in the main international airports. There is also a coffee machine. Everything that can be used by managers and billionaires in various events, from the Cannes Film Festival to the Venice Film Festival, from Art Basel to the Monaco Grand Prix through the Davos Winter Forum.
A brand new jet
A few steps away from the structure and here we are – without jostling or pain for hand luggage – sitting in one of the six leather seats of this brand new Cessna Citation Latitude, a list price of around sixteen million dollars, long 19 meters, with a wingspan of 22, a maximum speed of 826 kilometers per hour and a range of just under five thousand kilometers or seven hours. Steeve Langel, 40, the co-pilot – French passport, a past in Air One, and an Italian with a strong Roman accent – explains the safety procedures and makes a briefing on the intended route. He asks to fasten the belts. So he sits next to the commander. Three minutes later, and using half of Linate’s asphalt, the jet is above Milan, then turns right, overlooking the Alps and a blue sky spring.
Private jet hire costs
The average cost of a private jet hire is around five to € 6000 per hour.
Number of private flights per year in Italy
In Italy alone, there are roughly 100,000 private flights per year, and their number is climbing. London, Paris, Rome Ciampino, Nice and Geneva are the airports with which the Milanese one has more connections. Other very used airports are those of Olbia, in Sardinia, and Naples.