The first jet charter listings smartphone app in South Africa has launched. Get Jet – SA’s foremost provider of empty leg flights – hopes the mobile offering will compound its already dominant position.

Get Jet’s main offering of empty leg flights, allows travelers to make use of flights where there is no ‘primary’ client inside the jet. This is usually when a jet is flying to a client, to pick them up – or flying back after dropping them off. Get Jet lists the available empty leg flights at a greatly reduced price. An example of a common empty leg listed price is R30k from Johannesburg to Cape Town in a 6-seater Phenom jet. Because empty leg clients are not the ‘primary’ client, this means the flight departure time and date are not flexible. 

All the prices listed are for the WHOLE plane, no matter how many seats Get Jet clients require.

The company also offers 1-way full charter. With 1-way full charters (e.g. R70k from CPT to JHB in an 8-seater Learjet) Get Jet users then book as a primary client and can leave at any time or date that suits them. These full-charter flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg used to cost in the region of R120k, because the jet traditionally had to return to the other city.

Get Jet MD, William Mellor had this to say:

Traditionally – yes – the client would often be paying a bit more than just a one-way charter, because the jet was using fuel to get back. But now, through our various partners and some genius-level logistics, 1-way full-charter is possible. And the beauty of it is you can scroll through our listings on your iPhone and secure a booking right away.

So an actual booking can be made immediately?

You can ‘secure’ the booking but we wouldn’t be able to completely pay and book the plane because every flight is different. There are a lot of factors that need to be discussed, like number of people, luggage etc. But it is secured i terms of making sure that plane is being held for you!

What is so special about the app?

Besides letting you check out upcoming flights when you’re on the go, you can also set notifications to alert you when new flights are added or when a specific flight is listed – so you can grab it first.

Say you want to go to Plettenberg Bay sometime soon but you’re not stressed about when it happens. Then setup a notification for Cape Town to Plettenberg Bay and you might strike it lucky in the next few days or weeks!

A full listing can be seen at www.getjet.co.za – or better yet, get the new app!

The app has launched for Apple iPhones and the company expects the Android app to go live in the next few weeks. If you don’t have an iPhone make sure you signup for the weekly listings email here.