Ripe for disruption. Who's going to be the Uber of private jets?

While Uber and AirBnB were taking over the World and familiarizing millions with the new collaborative economy, a new wave of entrepreneurs was busy devising "the Uber of private jets". 

Startups such as California-based JetMe and Florida-based Jetsmarter aim to disrupt the executive travel marketplace by making private jet hire a lot more efficient. But, while Uber is facing lots of resistance from the incumbent (the traditional taxi drivers), these private jet apps might actually render a service to the private jet industry, whose operators find themselves often flying back empty after having fullfilled some service.

After all, it might not be the private industry that is most at risk of disruption here...the fact that, for example, JetMe is able to offer an average rate on the Los Angeles-San Francisco route of $5,000 for a Phenom 100 flight able to carry up to six passengers (that runs at $833 per person), makes it actually quite competitive with the airline's premium fares.

To be fair, even with widespread adoption, I would expect the impact of private jet apps in the airline industry to be  quite limited in numbers, but it is precisely the highest margin passengers that might be lured away from scheduled commercial flights, which, in an industry that often operates on the verge of profitability, would not be a small matter!

JetMe, whose founders moved recently from Ukraine to California, has received a $400,000 investment from private investors and claims already over 3,500 registered users in the Los Angeles-San Francisco market. It currently works with nine private jet operators, among them TWC Aviation, ClayLacy, Meridian Air and Avinode.