Aside from outright purchase of a private jet, there are four formats of private aviation:

Fractional Ownership

You buy a share of a plane, with the price pro-rated from the market price of a full aircraft. As an owner, you have guaranteed access to that plane with as little as four hours notice. Your annual allotment corresponds to your share size. A 1/16th share conveys 50 hours for the life of the contract (5-7 years). At the end of the contract, you sell your share back to the company for the revised market value, less a remarketing fee. With fractional ownership plans, you pay a monthly maintenance fee for the upkeep of your plane and crew, and a separate hourly fee for your flight time. Fractional ownership providers include CitationShares, FlexJet, Flight Options, NetJets and AvantAir.

Card & Membership Programs

With card programs, you don’t own any share of the aircraft. Instead, you simply prepay as you would with a prepaid phone card. When you’ve used your allotment, you simply purchase another card.

One key distinction in card programs is the source of the planes and crew. Fractional cards provide you with access to the same aircraft and professionals that fractional owners enjoy. Charter cards draw from the wider array of charter operators. It’s incumbent on the card provider to vet and coordinate among these entities on your behalf.

Another factor is the structure of the program: the Hour/Plane model and the Debit model. In the former, you purchase a 20 or 25-hour block on a specific plane. With the debit model, you prepay $100,000 which may be applied against any of the three plane classes (light, medium, heavy) for each trip. The funds are deducted per-flight.

In exchange for your prepayment, you receive guaranteed access (as little as eight hours advance notice) and predictable pricing. By contracting with a single provider, you also receive more consistent services and support. Your account is deducted only for occupied flight hours, not for time spent positioning your plane before or after the flight.

Fractional cards are available from CitationShares, FlexJet, Flight Options and Marquis Jet. Charter card providers include Blue Star Jets, Delta AirElite, Sentient and SkyJet.

On-Demand Charter

This is the traditional charter format where you bid each trip separately. There are no guarantees on pricing or availability until you book the plane. You are also charged explicitly for all aspects of the flight (including non-occupied flights to position the plane before and after your trip). Among the formats outlined above, charter offers a price that closely represents the true operational cost of your flight. Charter can be the least or most expensive option, depending on how efficiently you fly.

Charter is separately defined by the source of the plane and crew. In some cases, a charter provider is also the owner and operator of the plane, and the full-time employer of the crew. In other cases, they’re simply a broker who matches client leads (you) with third-party charter operators. The degree of scrutiny and oversight between broker and operator varies. Defined fleet brokers restrict their sourcing to a well-defined network of charter operators. Open fleet brokers don’t; they offer a greater pool of aircraft and rely on the assurance of FAA certification or third-party ratings firms rather than a close business relationship. Understanding how your provider sources charter planes will clarify their fleet quality and safety capabilities.

Helium Report organizes the charter business in the following table, depending on the format (pre-paid card or on-demand) and how the planes and crews are sourced:

Comparing Formats

Which format is best for you? It depends on you: where you want to fly, when, with whom, even your baggage needs (golf bags & skis rule out certain planes). Certain factors dictate the underlying operational cost of the flight, regardless of provider: your typical advance notice before travel and whether the flights are one-way or round-trip with a short stay.

Your personal preferences also come into play: Is there a specific plane or floorplan you’re in love with? Are you comfortable with the market risk of owning a plane share?

The most significant factors are usually financial: the size of your wallet and your willingness to open it. One-time flights and some jet cards can be had for under $50,000, whereas ownership options can run into several million dollars.

Once you understand your needs and preferences, you can select a format and interview different providers. Many flyers choose to employ multiple formats, depending on their needs for different types of travel.

To get started, download the Decision Guide to Private Jet Travel, which explains these issues in greater detail. It also includes a list of key due diligence questions to ask potential providers.

If you’re new to private aviation and have an upcoming trip, consider a short-term commitment such as a jet card or charter program. A directory of providers is available here.

Note to Readers: Halogen Guides is the new name of Helium Report.