What is Qatar ExecutiveWhen First Class isn’t enough
There’s a ceiling on the level of luxury you can get on a regular chartered flight. For those lucky enough to have flown in first class (and I’m thinking of Etihad’s The Residence or Emirates/Singapore First), then you’ve experienced the best in the sky. Where do you go after that if your luxury travel is based on spending miles? The answer from Qatar is a private jet.
What is Qatar Executive
This is Qatar’s private jet division. It has twenty private jets, with another nine on order. The planes range from the smaller Bombardier Global 5000 and Gulstream G650ER and G700 to the Airbus Corporate A319CJ. Capacity ranges from thirteen seats on the Gulfstreams and Bombardier to nineteen on the A319CJ.
The latter is the same size jet as you’d get when flying across Europe or the US, so chartering it is going to give you a lot of space and luxury. ACJs typically have an onboard shower, bedroom, two different lounge areas, and space for the crew. The imagery on the Qatar Executive website shows a cabin with twelve lay-flat seats, a double or king-sized bed, and a front cabin with at least four more seats.
Qatar Executive isn’t well know, but it launched back in 2009. As well as having it’s own fleet it services private jets, and it owns it’s own private jet terminal, which opened in 2016.
Qatar Executive Private Jet Terminal
As you’d expect, the Private Jet Terminal from Qatar is something special. Often, private terminals look a little dated and 1980s. The logic is that you’re not going to be spending much time in there, as you’ll board the plane when you arrive. Qatar has taken the view that the terminal should be just as beautiful, if not more attractive, than their lounges.
Here’s some imagery from one of the suppliers behind the terminal:
How to earn Avios flying in a Qatar private jet
Qatar announced that Privilege Club members will earn four Avios for every 1 USD they spend with Qatar Executive.
That’s a simple earning mechanism, and given the cost of flying private, it would likely give you enough Avios to redeem for a business-class flight. Whether that’s of interest to high-net-worth individuals is questionable. Given that you can use Avios to book private jets there’s a loyalty element to the reward.
There is one more really interesting and highly valuable perk of the new partnership: Privilege Club members who fly Qatar Executive (and I’m going to assume it’s members who book the jets rather than anyone who happens to be flying on the jet) will get four complimentary tier upgrades: one platinum, and three gold which “can be offered to individuals of their choice”.
There’s no further information on how that works, but I’m going to assume that once you fly on Qatar Executive, you can then update yourself or others to a higher Privilege Club tier.
How to fly in a private jet using Avios
This is where it’s more opaque. Qatar has clearly stated that you can burn Avios on private jets:
Members will also be able to redeem their Avios in full or through Cash + Avios for Qatar Executive flights.
However that’s all we have right now. The release links to the main Qatar airways booking page (which does not reference private jets). The private jet website does not mention anything about using Avios, nor does it have a regular booking process. Getting a quote requires filling in a form.
Let’s take a wild guess at how many Avios it could cost. For ease, let’s assume that an Avios is worth 1p. To Qatar it really isn’t but this is going to be a very rough estimate. Research suggests a cost of $10,000 per hour for a VIP private jet, which means a one hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha would be equivalent to one million Avios.
That’s assuming Qatar Executive’s prices are typical of the market, and the price will be different for the smaller Bombardier vs the much larger ACJ.
It’s a ballpark, but an interesting one. Chartering a flight to London would be an astronomical 7 million Avios based on my estimate. Out of the reach of even the avid points collectors. However a regional flight is more in-reach. Right now I’m sat on just over a million points across various different cards. Would I burn them for a one-hour hop from Riyadh to Doha so that I could experience a PJ? I would seriously consider it.
