Your private air travel options are growing

By Blair Watson

updated 2:07 p.m. ET April 16, 2008
With the advent of very light jets (VLJs), people in the United States have more choice in terms of private air travel than ever before.

Travelers can fly to thousands of airports in aircraft that accommodate as few as three passengers (in the case of some VLJs) or as many as 80 passengers (in corporate versions of airliners). Options include air taxi, jet card, and charter services, and fractional, shared and full aircraft ownership.

Hailing an air cab
Air taxi services are relatively new and operate small airplanes such as the Eclipse 500, a 6-seat VLJ or piston aircraft such as the 4-seat Cirrus SR22. Air taxi airplanes fly up to 1,450 miles, usually between smaller airports where there is little or no scheduled airline service.

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According to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), there are approximately 4,800 airports in the U.S. not served by the airlines, many of which are closer to the locations that travelers need to visit, such as regional offices or client facilities.

People who use air taxi services typically book online, picking their destinations and travel dates and times. The more flexible a traveler is with his or her departure time, the lower the fare because the air taxi company can fly more than one person to the same destination. Prices start at a modest premium to full-fare coach airfare.

Jet cards
Jet-card companies sell blocks of flight time on private, turbine airplanes — in 25-hour increments in most cases — which are “loaded” on a plastic card. As the customer uses the service, time is deducted from the balance. Prices for 25 hours start at approximately $120,000. The aircraft used by jet card companies carry between six and 14 passengers and fly as far as 7,700 miles (New York to Tokyo).

Some operators such as Bombardier Flexjet and Citation Shares have jet-card programs involving airplanes in their fractional ownership fleet, while others like Sentient Jet do not have a fleet and sell hours on their business partners’ aircraft.

A jet card “allows people to buy hours on the airplane without making the capital investment of buying the share of the airplane as our owners do,” said Jean Kelly a senior vice president at CitationShares.

In most cases, fractional owners buy one-sixteenth, one-eighth or one-quarter of an aircraft, depending on the number of flight hours they need annually, starting at 50 hours.

Aircraft charter — plenty of choice
“Nationwide, there are more than 2,500 air charter operators," according to the NBAA Web site. "These charter operators are required to hold an Air Carrier or Commercial Operating Certificate issued by the FAA and Operations Specifications that contain company names, authorizations and limitations. This certificate allows charter operators to conduct on-demand operations under FAR [Federal Aviation Regulation] Part 135 for most business aircraft."

Chartering an airplane or helicopter is a straightforward process done over the telephone or online. A great variety of aircraft can be chartered, from small piston airplanes to large jets that can carry more than 400 passengers or up to 550,000 pounds of cargo.

According to the NBAA, the rule-of-thumb for hiring aircraft on a ‘straight charter’ basis is an annual requirement of 50 flight hours or less. Between 50 and 100 hours, companies often use ‘block chartering’ to take advantage of discount pricing. They pay up front for the hours and the aircraft operator invests the funds.

Part or all of the ‘bird’
In the 100-to-150-hour range, many companies and individuals participate in a fractional aircraft ownership program. Celebrities who own part of an airplane include Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tiger Woods.

According to Dan Hubbard, NBAA Vice President of Communications, companies with personnel who fly between 150 and 250 hours per year may want to consider shared aircraft ownership, which involves one other owner.

When the annual flying requirement reaches 250 hours, full aircraft ownership is often recommended, depending on destinations, financial resources and other factors.

There are consulting firms that analyze clients’ travel requirements to help them determine which type of air transportation is best for them.

The NBAA, which has 8,000 member companies, publishes materials on its Web site to help interested parties educate themselves about private air travel options. As new technologies emerge, the choices will surely increase.