With over two decades of experience setting up and developing businesses in the UK and United States, Clive Jackson prides himself on being a ‘digital disrupter’. Jackson’s focus is using technology to place the power in the hands of the customer, as he explains, his focus is on “the changing ways that business interacts with consumers, what consumers are demanding of business today and how they have to adapt to react or get left frozen out.”

Enter Victor, a service that compares private jet charter quotes, bypassing the traditional route of brokers and agents organising bookings, “I looked at private jet travel and I thought ‘Wow, this is right for disruption’. It was pretty archaic; there was no underlying platform that would empower the consumer and that just spurred me on to build a business to address that market.”

Explaining the various different ‘charter models’ currently available in the aviation market, it’s evident how varied - and therefore complicated - the choices are for access to private jets. Three categories exist, a ‘timeshare’ option such as NetJets -  which mirrors fractional ownership in the superyacht market; what Jackson describes as a “gym-membership scheme” where clients pay a joining fee and a yearly subscription to access a fleet of aircraft and “on-demand charter” where there’s no commitment or joining fee.

Jackson believes the two former options are antiquated, and sees Fly Victor as the ultimate tool to enable transparency and move away from hidden fees, unknown variables; problems that are too often encountered in our industry as well. If the client is able to see the entire spectrum of information, including price, range and popularity, they are able to make an informed and perhaps most importantly, smart decisions.

“It’s not dissimilar to the world of yacht charter at the end of the day,” Jackson says, “By having visibility about how many 32m expeditions yachts are available in the southern Med on a certain date, it will give me an idea if I should be paying full fare, over the odds or market rate. But if I can’t see that, I’m none the wiser.”

As the superyacht market is at times resistant to change, it may be a few years until we see this technology taking off in our industry, but the growing trend of customer-centric business models and disruptive practices may be one to watch for those of us on the water.

Clive Jackson will feature as a Business guest columnist in an upcoming issue of The Superyacht Report.

Images courtesy of Victor.

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