First Class or Private Jet? You Might be Closer Than you Think Private jet travel may seem like a luxury, but this is a limiting view as it can be one of the most important tools for maximizing travel efficiency

Nothing can be more exciting and challenging for a business than a period of intense growth, where new opportunities offer tremendous upside and often more complex logistics.

For many companies, expanded business travel is part and parcel of growth, as new projects and clients mean new ways of expanding a company's footprint across the country and even around the globe. But travel costs can add up quickly; that's why smart businesses are also smart managers of their own travel portfolios.

Private jet travel may seem like a luxury, but this is a limiting view—in fact, it can be one of the most important tools for maximizing travel efficiency in a growing company. Every trip is different, and the ability of commercial airlines to best service a given trip is not constant. The trick knows when to use it. The key understands that value isn't measured only in dollars, but in time, often in time spent traveling that would be better used working. Sometimes, using air charter simply offers the best overall value. Here are some ways to help identify those times:

When Waiting Around isn't an Option

No advertised commercial flight time includes the extra hours you'll spend at the airport due to the need to arrival early—typically two hours, sometimes more than three for international flights. And then there are airport delays, more and more common these days. In fact, a quick check of Google Flights will show you that many flights are now "typically' delayed by half-an-hour or more. Flying private gives you back this time — security at most FBOs is so seamless and streamlined that we recommend passengers arrive just 10-15 minutes before takeoff. What's an hour of your team's time worth? Multiply that by three hours saved and see if the number isn't impressive.

When the Nearest Airport isn't Close By

These efficiency savings on the front end of your flight can be doubled when you arrive, especially if you need to get somewhere that isn't close to a commercial airport.

Private jets can use ten times more airports than a commercial airline, meaning you can minimize ground transfers and get much closer to your destination—and they're much more likely to be able to do it without connecting.

Since many commercial airports, especially in small markets, handle limited traffic, air charter is often the best way to ensure the most direct, hassle-free route to your destination. Many private jet airports also operate 24 hours, so you're not at the mercy of airline schedules. Plus, if you finish a business meeting early, or a crucial negotiation is overrunning, it's a simple click of a button (with online platforms like PrivateFly) to delay your flight or bring it forward.

When Business Travel Means doing Business as you Travel

Given the pace at which most businesses now move, few companies have the luxury of putting the finishing touches on a plan or presentation before they get on the plane. And when work has to continue right up to deadline, a private jet allows much greater work flexibility.

Flying commercial means booking multiple business-class seats with no guarantee that team members will be able to speak directly and privately, or, if the booking is late, there will even be enough remaining seats to accommodate the whole team.

Having an entire plane to you offers the chance to maximize your work time while traveling in a relaxed, private environment that's far more conducive to focus and efficiency. Many private jets also offer wi-fi, so there's no loss of connectivity.

When you Want to be in Control of Your Travel

Gone are the days when private jet travel was shrouded in opacity and hard to access. Now, a company like PrivateFly has brought the simplicity of booking with a mobile app to the world of air charter, and backed it up with the kind of customer service that you're unlikely to find at a commercial airline. That means instant online quotes, more flexibility and choice, and transparency when it comes to pricing. The upshot is the private jet travel is more in reach than ever before and in some cases actually cheaper per person than first or business class on a commercial airline. When speed is of the essence, you can fly quickly, with PrivateFly helping one customer get airborne recently from Miami to Chicago in as little as 30 minutes from his request.

So while a growing company may not use air charter every time, those times when it does can make a tremendous difference. It might be an old saying that time is money, but nowhere is the meaning of that phrase clearer than when it comes to the benefits of flying private. Knowing when to do so is one of the smartest business moves any company can make.