Why two operators quote very different prices for one trip

Ask three operators for the same trip on the same day and you will usually get three different prices, and sometimes the spread is wide enough to make you wonder whether anyone has understood the request. They probably all did. They have simply answered with different aircraft, from different places, on different assumptions.

A quote is not a tariff lookup. It is an operator's own estimate of what it will cost them to do your trip with a specific aircraft, plus what they want to earn. Change the aircraft or the starting location and the honest answer changes. This article explains the four variables that account for most of the difference, so you can compare quotes on something more useful than the bottom line.

Aircraft class is the biggest single lever

The first thing to check on any two quotes is whether they are offering the same category of aircraft. Operators often propose the smallest machine that will legally and comfortably do the job, and their idea of comfortable may not match yours.

Consider six passengers going a long distance. A light jet can seat six, but on a sector that length it may need a fuel stop, which adds flying time, a landing, and handling at an intermediate airport. A heavy jet such as the Bombardier Challenger 604, with nine seats and a range of 6,956 km, does the same trip in one go. The heavy jet's hourly rate is higher. Its total trip cost may not be, once the stop and its ground costs are counted.

The reverse happens too. On a short sector a turboprop or a light jet will almost always undercut a larger aircraft, because you are paying for hours you do not need. When quotes differ sharply, look at the aircraft type and seat count first. Our overview of choosing between a jet, a turboprop and a helicopter covers how the categories behave on different sector lengths.

Where the aircraft actually sits

An operator with an aircraft already parked at your departure airport has a structural advantage over one whose nearest aircraft is several hundred kilometres away. The second operator has to fly the aeroplane to you empty, and that cost has to live somewhere.

This is why the cheapest quote on a route often comes from an operator you had not thought of. If you are flying Ahmedabad to Mumbai (444 km), an operator based in Ahmedabad is quoting a clean sector, while a Delhi-based operator is quoting a sector plus two empty legs. Both are being honest.

It also means basing can work in your favour on the return. If an operator's aircraft happens to need to be in your destination city anyway, the empty leg they were going to fly becomes your revenue leg. That is the entire logic behind empty leg availability, and it is worth asking whether anything of the sort exists around your dates.

Whether positioning is in the number or beside it

Two quotes can use the same aircraft from the same base and still look different, because one has folded positioning into a single all-in figure and the other has quoted the revenue sector only, with positioning listed separately or not at all.

This is the most common cause of an unpleasant surprise later. The quote that looked cheaper was answering a narrower question. Before comparing, establish for each quote whether the figure includes:

• The empty flight that brings the aircraft to your departure airport.
• The empty flight that returns it to base after a one-way trip.
• Ground handling and landing charges at every airport the aircraft will touch, including positioning stops.
• Night halt costs if the itinerary forces one.
• Applicable taxes, which are sometimes quoted separately.

A one-way sector such as Mumbai to Jaipur (911 km) is particularly exposed to this, because the return positioning leg is as long as the trip you are paying for. Our note on how one-way and return charter pricing differ explains why the two are rarely half of each other.

How long the price is held

A quote has a shelf life, and operators differ on how long they will stand behind one. Some hold a price for a defined window. Some hold it only until the aircraft is sold to someone else, which can be the same afternoon. Some quote subject to final confirmation of slots, parking or fuel pricing.

Two numbers with different validity are not really comparable. A firm price that is held for a stated period is worth more than a slightly lower indicative price that evaporates when you try to confirm it. If you are planning around a fixed event, ask explicitly: is this price firm, is the aircraft blocked, and until when.

The same question applies to what happens if the operator's own plans change. A quote given on an aircraft that is also being offered to several other enquirers is not the same product as a quote on an aircraft that has been held for you.

The things that should not differ

Price can legitimately vary. Some things should not. Every operator you consider should hold a valid non-scheduled operator permit, should be crewing the flight within applicable duty limits, and should be able to answer questions about the specific aircraft and the specific crew rostered for your trip. A quote that is cheaper because something in that list is being treated loosely is not a cheaper quote; it is a different and worse product.

If you are not in a position to check this yourself, that is precisely what a broker is for. We have written separately about how charter operators are vetted before their aircraft are offered, and the checks are the same regardless of how attractive the price is.

How to make the comparison fair

The practical fix is to standardise the request before you send it. Specify the exact sectors and dates, the passenger count and rough baggage, the times you actually need rather than the times you would prefer, and whether you want a one-way or a same-day return. Then ask every operator to quote all-in, including positioning, ground charges and taxes, with the aircraft type and registration named and the validity of the price stated.

Answers to that request can be laid side by side. Answers to a vague request cannot, and the spread you see will tell you more about how each operator interpreted the question than about what the trip costs.

If you would rather not run that exercise yourself, send the itinerary once and ask for a comparison on a common basis. Getting several operators to answer the same question is most of the work, and it is the part that actually determines whether the price you accept is a good one.