Corporate Leaders Predict A Buoyant Future For Business Travel

Online, July 4, 2011 (Newswire.com) - UK business leaders gave an optimistic indication of their future business travel expenditure in a recent survey by the online private jet hire platform, PrivateFly.com.

CEOs, MDs and Chairmen from some of the UK's top companies were invited to participate in the business travel study, which was undertaken by Clarity, an independent online research group. The research asked participants about their business travel movements and their intended spend levels for 2011.

The vast majority of business leaders (80 per cent) expect to spend at least as much on their own business travel in 2011 as they did in 2010, with just over a quarter (27 per cent) expecting their spend levels to increase by 10 per cent. Almost 1 in 10 respondents (8 per cent) said they intend to spend as much as 25 per cent more this year.

The research suggests the continuing significance of business travel to the UK's top executives, despite advancements in meeting technology. 39 per cent of those surveyed spent between 6 and 10 days travelling on business in an average month last year, with a further 26 per cent away for almost half of the working month or more (11+ days). 95 percent stated that face-to-face meetings are still essential for them.

Commenting on the findings, Adam Twidell, CEO of PrivateFly.com, said: "These findings are an optimistic indicator for the business travel industry and suggest a returning confidence amongst the UK's top executives - who are clearly still travelling for a significant proportion of their working hours.

"However not everything remains unchanged; there is now increased pressure to travel on business as efficiently as possible - both in terms of cost and time. Today's business leader is looking to reach their destination as seamlessly as possible, with the ability to work on the way".

The full results of the study are available in a white paper written by business journalist, Jeremy Skidmore, and can be downloaded at http://www.privatefly.com/press-releases/business-leader-travel-survey.htm

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The UK Business Leaders 2011 Travel Survey was conducted in March 2011 by Clarity UK (www.clarityuk.net), and commissioned by PrivateFly.com. 105 responses were generated from e-mail target data of UK CEOs, MDs and Chairmen of companies with £100M+ turnover and targeted social media invitations.

Notes to editors:

About PrivateFly.com:

PrivateFly is an online booking network that makes it quicker, easier and more cost effective to arrange private jet charter.

With over 2700 operators registered worldwide, PrivateFly is the only online aggregator for private jet charter in Europe.

PrivateFly combines online efficiency and transparency with offline expertise to offer a full-service VIP charter service to direct customers and partners. The bespoke software has been created in-house specifically to meet the needs of charter customers and operators. In 2010 PrivateFly launched the world's first iPhone application to provide instant private jet pricing on a mobile phone.

PrivateFly.com was recently awarded Website of The Year in Flight International's 'Webbies' awards which recognise online excellence across the whole of the aviation industry - the judges describing it as "the iTunes" of aviation. It was also announced as one of the Smarta 100 companies 2010, by a judging panel including Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden and other leading entrepreneurs, such as Bebo founder Michael Birch.

Founded in 2007, PrivateFly is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire and in 2010 secured first round investment funding to expand the business within the UK and selected international markets.

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Katrina Suppiah
Publicite Ltd
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