Podcast: Catching a jet flight to Croatia for a fraction of the price is a win, says pilot and entrepreneur Richard Santus

For people who make really big money, saving time is key. And this creates space for the business of private flights.

The guest of the new episode of the Cesty Zdopravy.cz podcast is pilot and owner of Aeropartner Richard Santus. At the beginning of this year, he filled the media in the Czech Republic with his incredible pilot stunt, when he flew to the Czech Republic from Australia in a historic Aero 145 airplane.

Aeropartner operates a fleet of private jets and also provides an air ambulance. It operates a total of nine aircraft and employs 70 people. Clients include celebrities, businessmen rushing to a meeting, and billionaires. Or, for example, car companies that, rather than stopping the entire line because of missing parts, prefer to send a plane until a truck arrives on the ground.

“Sometimes there’s no other way and you have to buy a private flight because you’re in a hurry or there’s no other way to get there. For people who make really big money, saving time is key. And that creates space for our type of business,” says Richard Santus.

We thoroughly analyze how the business model actually works when a billionaire decides to buy his own plane. What risks does he face so that owning a jet doesn’t make him just a millionaire.

Aeropartner is also an air ambulance operator. It flies with patients for emergency operations or with organs for transplantation. For the time being, it always modifies its regular planes to transport patients. “We cannot afford a purely ambulance plane, but it is our strategic goal,” he says of his plans for Santus.

In the podcast, we can’t miss Santus’ recent flight with the historic Aero 145 airplane from 1960 from Australia to the Czech Republic. Why did he set out to get him, how did the journey go and why was he arrested in some places immediately after landing? “One must not be an adventurer when doing air transport. And he can’t be an adventurer, even if he’s flying such an old plane.” Richard Santus opposes this designation. The airship he flew with can be seen in the museum in Podhořany.

Santus is very passionate about the period of the Second World War and the deployment of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) at that time. He has expressed great respect many times to the Czechoslovak airmen who fought in the British Air Force at the time. After all, Aeropartner pilots have blue uniforms inspired by those worn by the aviators of the time.

Richard Santus is also behind the development of an application where companies such as Aeropartner offer free capacity for uncongested overflights of private business jets. Through it, basically anyone can order a trip by private jet for a fraction of the real price. “Thanks to this application, out of thirty percent of unsold flights, twelve are suddenly in the peak season, which is a major improvement,” adds Richard Santus in the podcast.

He also talks about regional airports. “Tearing down an airport is easy, but rebuilding it is impossible.” he says.

You can listen to the podcast here on the site or subscribe to it on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Podcast Addict.

Selected topics by time
6th minute: How the sale of free capacity works on uncongested private jet flights
9th minute: How covid has affected the business of companies offering private jet flights
13th minute: How to choose a private jet and what all those interested in a private jet need to take into account
22nd minute: How does an air ambulance in the form of Aeropartner work and what priority do planes with a patient on board have in air traffic
29th minute: How far is the preparation of Aeropartner’s own maintenance base in Pardubice
31st minute: What Aeropartner’s business strategy looks like for the next years
36th minute: Why General Perina’s World War II uniform became the model for Richard Santus’ airline uniforms
40th minute: How to obtain a permit for a more than 60-year-old Aerovka to travel from Australia to the Czech Republic
48th minute: What stories do the airplanes from the museum in Podhořany have, and can museum visitors take a flight with the historic Aerovka, which traveled from Australia to the Czech Republic with Richard Santus at the turn of the year?

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