私人飞机挣钱新招：“空驶航段”特价出售

这两年，明星购买私人飞机的新闻不断出现，而大部分普通人只有艳羡的份儿。最近，英国一家私人飞机公司推出特价服务，向普通乘客出售私人飞机空驶航段的座位，让普通人也有机会享受私人飞机旅程。

"Empty legs" are private jet flights where there happens to be nobody on-board, at least not until you come in. Private jet charter firms, realizing that their aircraft have to return to base at some point and often do so without the human cargo they have just ferried somewhere swanky, have taken to offering these return "empty" legs for cut-price rates. They get to make some extra money out of someone's one-way trip, and the consumer gets a cut-price private jet experience – about which more later – and the flexibility to just show up 15 minutes before take-off, get right on board and fly. The one downside, of course, is that empty legs are one-way and you have to get home again

Empty legs指没有乘客在机上的私人飞机航班，即“空驶私人航班”，当然，这是在你登机之前。私人飞机承包公司发现，他们的飞机在把乘客送到某个目的地之后有时会空驶飞回基地，于是，他们决定特价出售这些空驶航段。这样，他们可以在某个大人物的单程旅途中额外挣到钱，消费者则可以特价体验一次私人飞机旅程，而且可以在飞机起飞前15分钟到达机场，上了飞机就能起飞。唯一的弊端就是，这些空驶航段都是单程的，你还得自己买票回家。

The big question, then: do you get free champagne once you are on board? Yes! Catering will be available to you as it would be to a regular charter customer. There won't be flight attendants but you will have two pilots and one of them will serve you drinks, champagne and snacks.

重点来了：享受特价私人飞机航班时有免费香槟吗？当然！你会享受到常规包机乘客一样的餐食服务。机上没有空乘人员，不过会有两名飞行员，其中一位会为你提供饮料、香槟及零食。

Result! Which leaves us with the even bigger question: if you happen to be flying on, say, Rod Stewart's private jet, will they tell you that it's his? No, they don't reveal that. Obviously, though, they do belong to famous people. (Source: Guardian)

最后，还有一个更重要的问题：如果你乘坐的碰巧是，比如Rod Stewart的私人飞机，机上人员会告诉你吗？不，他们不会透露此类信息。虽然这些私人飞机的确是属于那些名人的。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）