Jetset Report: New Booking Site for Private Jet Travel

August 19, 2010 By: Meagan Drillinger

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Luxury Travel Advisor sat down yesterday with Michael Leek, founder and CEO of flyRuby.com, a site dedicated to booking private jet travel, which we think is sure to be a game changer (think a booking site similar to Orbitz or Expedia, but for private jet travel).

Leek, a former JP Morganite, tells us he got the ball rolling on the project while he was sitting in his former office two years ago. Starting with a dream to get his pilot's license, Leek dug into the air travel industry where he discovered that the private jet industry was incredibly inefficient.

The crux of the problem was that private jets would take their passengers to a destination and return back to their origin with an empty plane, wasting money on fuel and other charges, making the price for the passengers sometimes double what it actually cost to fly them. Leek's site seeks to reduce these inefficiencies by routing all of the demand for private jet travel through one site.

Translation: flyRuby.com's technology can schedule 5,000 flights in less than 10 seconds. This allows flyRuby.com to take every new trip request and determine which of the thousands of jets, that would otherwise be flown empty, are able to fulfill the requested trip.

Why we like it: In today's luxury market, with even the top-tier travelers conscious of bargains and deals, this is the best way to justify flying privately. Travelers can work in the office on Friday, hop on a private jet Friday night, enjoy the weekend in the Caribbean and be back in the office on Monday. Sure, this is more expensive than flying a commercial airline, but the convenience and the experience is worth the cost. "To get to the Caribbean on Saturday, you leave Saturday morning and get there in the evening, wasting a day of your vacation and still having to pay for the full day at your accommodations. Instead travelers can fly privately Friday night and enjoy a full extra day on their vacation," explains Leek.

Leek began marketing his product just three weeks ago and already there are 120 private jet operators on board.

Luxury travel advisors can log onto the site and create their own profile and password, through which they can book their own clients. As of now the company does not offer commission, but that is something Leek is thinking about for the future.

flyRuby.com will be officially launched Labor Day Weekend at the Hamptons Classic (where else but the Hamptons would you pitch private jet travel?).

For more information visit www.flyRuby.com.