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How Much Does a Private Jet Card Cost
One of the newest innovations in the private jet industry is the jet card program. It was first developed about ten years ago by Marquis Jet Partners in a joint effort with NetJets. In a nutshell, the program allowed customers to purchase flight time in 25-hour blocks to be used on any NetJets flights. NetJets benefited with this program by being able to take advantage of empty seats and idle time on the many planes in its fractional ownership fleet. For travellers, the jet card is a less expensive way to fly private.
So how much does a private jet card cost?
The answer to that depends on the company you are dealing with. What jet cards all have in common is a system of pre-paid flight time. In other words, this is not pay-as-you-go. Instead, you purchase a set amount of flight time on your jet card which then gets deducted every time you take a flight. Some companies, like OneSky Jets may seem to be on the expensive side with a minimum required deposit of $100,000. Your deposit is refundable, and it's placed in an interest-bearing savings account, by the way, so it's still working for you while you wait to use it. But compare that with Marquis's minimum deposit of $115,900 and it doesn't look so bad.
So how much does a private jet card cost?
When you consider the alternatives of fractional ownership and on-demand charter, the cost of jet card programs starts to look more reasonable. Especially given the fact that jet card programs give you access to almost all of the flights your charter company offers during the course of the year. The flexibility of the jet card makes it an attractive option for executives who travel alone and not more than 50 hours or so per year.
If the $100,000 price tag still scares you, there's an even more affordable single-flyer option. It is a pay-as-you-go program called shared-ride. What this program does is make available to the general traveller the empty seats on a corporate or charter jet heading to a given destination. The plane's owner or chartering organization wants to help defray the costs of air travel so empty seats will be offered for sale through shared-ride. Many shared-ride programs claim savings of up to 90% off retail private jet travel.
While Marquis Jet started the jet card program, and continues today as the industry leader, it seems that everyone from single jet owners to fractional ownership groups to charter brokers is trying to get a piece of the action. This means competitive pricing for the consumer, but it also means you need to do your homework. You need to know if flight time is deducted from your card at a constant rate or if it varies according to the flight. You need to know if there are refund policies in place, and what to do if there are conflicts. You need to know about insurance coverage and personal liability.
Simply knowing how much a jet card costs is just the tip of the iceberg; in all likelihood there's a jet card program right for you, but you'll have to ask a lot more questions.
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