Making the Best Choice in Private Flight
After missing one too many commercial flights, many executives and others with tight schedules start to consider private flight options. After all, time wasted with travel hassles translates to lost productivity. Still, many people become overwhelmed by the alternatives, and they fear making a costly mistake. How can a first-time private flier make the best choice?
Count Your Hours
Many people who are interested in private flight are unaware of the many possibilities available. Therefore, they unwittingly narrow their options by only requesting brochures from jet charter card programs, for instance, when a fractional jet ownership arrangement might be more appropriate for their travel profiles.
Before researching private flight options in-depth, it would be wise to thoroughly assess your travel habits. Ask yourself, “How many hours do I spend in the air each year?” and calculate an honest answer.
Generally speaking, experts in the travel industry advise that if your total annual flight time is less than 50 hours, then purchasing a jet card or booking travel with a jet charter company would be the most cost-effective and convenient alternative to flying commercial airlines. (A jet card includes 25 hours of flight at a set rate, and a jet charter flight is designed around customers with similar flight preferences.) Customers who fly between 50 and 400 hours annually are the best candidates for fractional jet ownership, which involves purchasing 1/8th or so of a jet and sharing maintenance and operating expenses. Those who fly more than 400 hours annually would probably be better off owning an entire aircraft.
Consider Your Flight Habits
Calculating your annual flight time is an important step when choosing among private flight options. However, a simple count of flight hours alone can be misleading. Some other travel questions to answer include:
- To where do I fly? – Private flight organizations maintain prime service areas. If your primary flight paths fall outside of prime service areas, then you will probably incur ferry fees and other extra charges. These could offset the advantages of a fractional jet ownership program.
- How long are my flights? – If cost is a consideration, then fractional jet programs and jet card programs are not advisable for trips that involve fewer than 30 minutes in the air. This is because travelers generally pay for a minimum of one hour at a time. For short flights, they could pay for 50% more time than they actually use.
- Do I tend to fly during peak hours? – People who frequently fly on peak days and during peak hours might become impatient waiting for part of a private fleet to become available. (However, this has become less of an issue in a tight economy; many corporations have scaled back their use of private jets.) On the other hand, charter jet companies might have blackout dates. Fractional jet cards could be the best option.
Fractional Jet Cards Explained
Fractional jet cards are recommended primarily to travelers who fly for approximately 25 hours every year. Jet cards entitle buyers to 25 hours of flight at a fixed hourly rate.
What are the advantages of jet cards? Unlike fractional jet ownership, they do not require a considerable long-term investment. Still, jet cards have their drawbacks. For instance, in exchange for not purchasing part of the jet, the traveler pays a higher price per flight.
Compared with charter flight operators, jet card flight providers have the advantage of offering consistency. Charter jet flight companies may draw from a variety of independent fleets, but jet card companies maintain their own fleets. This helps ensure uniformity of service in terms of safety procedures, pilot experience, and aircraft quality.
Choosing an Aircraft
Once you’ve determined which type of program best suits your travel profile, then the next step will be deciding what sort of aircraft you’d like to have available. To make this decision, it is first important to consider how many people will ideally be able to travel on the jet. Their potential luggage should also be taken into account; it could be crucial that the craft accommodates medical equipment, sports equipment, musical instruments, baby strollers, or other large items.
After ascertaining the carrying capacity needed, prospective customers might also want to consider aircrafts’ interior designs. Those seeking ultra-luxurious purchases may be interested in cabins featuring Jacuzzi tubs, full baths, conference rooms, and/or sleeping quarters. For most travelers, however, standard private jets will more than suffice.
Whichever private flight option you pursue, you’ll find that photos of relevant aircraft are readily available online and in jet companies’ brochures.