In the light of the recent coronavirus outbreak in China, countries across the world have implemented increased security measures, screening passengers coming to and from China. Despite the outbreak now taking international proportions, China remains a hotbed for the infection and some countries have decided to go as far as to ground flights connecting them with China.
As a result, private airlines have seen a spike of interest in charter planes. The interest might be caused by citizens looking to leave the country as well as those that were traveling for Spring Festival and now find themselves stranded in foreign countries as a result of the flight ban. It would appear that the private airlines present a viable alternative for the well-off, despite the huge costs of private planes: a ''very light jet'' (capable of flying up to four people) costing up to USD2400 per hour and a "super midsize" jet costing up to USD6000 per hour.
However, it would appear that the private airlines aren't too thrilled to offer their services flying into coronavirus hotbeds. "Many simply do not want to send their aircraft and crews into mainland China. Aside from the risk of exposure for the crews, the operational and business concern is that when they return from mainland China they will essentially be unable to work for two weeks as they will have to go into quarantine immediately.'' said Darin Voyles of the Australia-based Paramount Business Jets, speaking to the BBC.
Some, like the Singapore-based MyJet Asia would cater to the new-found demand, but simply cannot manage the logistics. "A lot of people went away for Chinese New Year and are now struggling to get back to China [...] But we are massively restricted on where we can fly to, while the airlines are not letting us charter their planes despite the money," said Logan Ravishkansar, chief executive of MyJet Asia, speaking to the BBC. Others, like chief commercial officer of VistaJet, Ian Moore, also acknowledge the effects the outbreak has had on demand, but struggle to provide as well, saying "While a large portion of the increase can be related to Chinese New Year travel, we also attribute the growth to customers preferring a private flight rather than a commercial option during a delicate time affected by the coronavirus outbreak." The situation is reminiscent of the 2003 SARS outbreak Moore added - "We also saw huge demand back then but it was a lot easier to fly in and out of countries. This time around, governments have put on more controls."
As the outbreak doesn't seem to be losing steam despite the giant efforts the Chinese government has put into containing it, over time we're likely to see more and more countries closing off their borders to air travel from China. Private airlines are thus not likely to significantly profit from the situation as the available planes and personnel willing to fly in and out of affected areas is likely to decline as the conditions worsen.