The biggest advantage to flying private is the check in and departure process. Domestic, you arrive 5 minutes before your flight, you drive onto the tarmac, the pilots and attendant load your bags, and you are off. Same process in reverse when you land.
I wonder how the departure process would work international? Any experience with that?
I've flown private a few times and it is pretty slick. The customs agent (there literally is usually one on call for po-dunk corporate jet airports) shows up and looks at your passport on the tarmac. You're done from the US side in 30 seconds. Some countries on arrival, you're in the same situation in less than 5 mins, others put you back in the cattle chutes with the unwashed masses.
The math on all of this stuff just doesn't work at scale (not 50 people) nor does it work for Africa flights at all. The reasons are as follows:
1.) The planes to do this at 10-12 passengers are just too expensive to fly from USA to Africa.
2.) The route that a G5 or similar has to take is a terribly slow route, usually going to Brazil, then crossing to Senegal, then to southern Africa. Slow, you need a lot of pilots for the little plane, you need refueling.
3.) Most planes like Net Jets and other leases/charters will not fly you to Africa. Uninsurable. Zimbabwe for example has failed to get their annual safety inspections of their runways, does not have working VORs, IFR technologies are screwed up, no fences around the airport, no insurance coverage against hijacking the plane in the hangers, etc. The only planes that will fly you into camps are little prop planes that are locally owned and the pilots understand they may die due to animals or rocks on the landing strip that hasn't been tended for years.
4.) So assuming you just fly to Windhoek, Harare, Bulawayo, Vic, or some other commercial airport, what the hell was the point? You've spent tens of thousands, you've saved little time, and you still need a bus/car/prop plane to get you to camp.
The people that contemplate these activities are not on this forum. The net worth and privacy concerns that justify flying private intercontinental jet to a safari exceed the finances of most Fortune 500 CEOs.
Plus, I have good employees that can hold the fort.
