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Friday, September 5, 2014

PRIVATE JET: THE NEW WAY TO GET TO COLLEGE

Original Story: CNBC.com

Parents dropping their kids to college in a car stuffed with blankets and tinned food is a common sight on the streets of university towns across the world.

But one company is attempting to put the bling into university travel by offering a £25,000 ($41,562) package to students wanting to arrive by a private charter flight and fast cars.

Uni Baggage - an Irish charter jet company that transports student belongings across the U.K. and worldwide - has upped its game, looking to tap wealthy students who want to arrive at their new place of study in style.

"Our customers are constantly asking us for the full service. Rather than just book a shipping order they want us to look after the whole process of getting to uni, so we went the extreme and did it in luxury," Paul Stewart, founder of Uni Baggage, told CNBC by phone.

Stewart said he had already received two enquiries from students wanting to take a Rolls Royce Phantom to university since launching the service on Monday morning. He could not disclose the name of the institution the students were going to, but said the package would cost them £15,000.

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Wealthy students can also book a private jet from one part of the country to another, and then get a flash car - such as an Aston Martin or Ferrari - to their college for a £25,000 fee. Their belongings are transported separately.

In comparison, U.K. university tuition fees are around £9,000 a year and Uni Baggage's regular shipping service is £16.99 per 30 kilograms of items.

Stewart admitted that he expects demand for the luxury packages to be "very little", at around 20 users in a year, with most demand likely to come from wealthy students from China and America.

"We do a lot of shipping for Chinese and American students and they are the two international markets that spend a lot of money with us," Stewart said. "Wealthy students coming to the U.K. that land at the airport and don't want to get a taxi can arrange a luxury car with us, and we will bring their things over from the U.S. or China."

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The company currently offers an international shipping service and Stewart said it would consider requests for students wanting a private jet from abroad, but stressed the price would be a "substantially higher".

Uni Baggage also offers a helicopter trip for £20,000 and a horse-and-carriage experience for £10,000, although Stewart admitted this was for short distance journeys.