Private jets — aircraft whose price tags can easily end in “millions” — are the pinnacle of the transportation experience. Not only do they have cachet as the preferred form of travel among the very rich, but they also bestow practical rewards upon those who fly private for more pragmatic reasons: avoiding airport congestion, the convenience of using local airports, flexible scheduling, and levels of comfort and service that can leave even first class in the dust. And as increasingly creative initiatives bring private jet travel to a wider audience, you no longer have to own a jet, or even charter one, to travel as if you did. Today, there’s an active marketplace not only in jet shares but also in prepaid flight hours, and the Internet is giving individuals access to empty legs and last-minute deals, at prices that — while not entirely comparable with airline fares — do make the choice more economically viable.

“People can’t justify it when the choice is $30,000 [for a charter] versus $200 [for an airline seat]. But when it’s $3,000 vs. $1,000, it’s a different ballgame,” said ElleJet’s vice president of operations, BenSchusterman. ElleJet is one of the newest breed of companies using the Internet to track and offer available trips on private jets.

In 1986, a company named Executive Jet (now called NetJets) came up with the notion that people who didn’t need a whole jet might like to own part of one — and the concept of fractional ownership was born. Instead of paying between $4 million and $40 million for a private jet, you can pay as little as $200,000 for a 1/16th share that entitles you to 50 flying hours a year on a particular aircraft — and the price includes as many passengers as the jet can carry. (At NetJets, the starting share cost is just over $400,000 for a 1/16th interest in a Hawker 400XP, a 7-to-9-seat light jet.)

The idea caught on with both businesses and very-frequent individual flyers, leading other companies — including aircraft manufacturers such as Bombardier (maker of Learjets) — to offer fractional ownership programs. Given the popularity of fractional ownership within a limited market, it was a natural progression for businesses to develop programs for less frequent usage. For every one buyer of a fractional share, research showed three to four more who would be interested in a plan that let them travel less frequently.

Fractional cards are one version of lower-volume programs. Instead of representing a share in a particular plane, a fractional card works like a prepaid debit card. You buy the right to fly a certain number of hours a year (typically between 25 and 50 hours) on any jets available within the particular fractional-ownership company’s fleet.

For example, with a Bombardier SkyJet card, you choose the category of jet — light, super-light, midsize, large, or ultra-long-range — and a membership level — 25, 50, 100 or more hours. A 25-hour card for a light jet membership costs $94,000. (If you need to trade up or down for a particular trip, hours used are pro-rated accordingly.) For a Learjet, prices start at $101,000 for 25 hours. CitationJet’s Vector card starts at $96,000 for 20 hours in any of three jets. NetJets’ Marquis Jet Card starts at $119,900 for 25 hours in a Citation V Ultra.

CHARTERS AND CLUBS
On-demand charters have always been the primary alternative to jet ownership: You arrange with a charter operator or broker to use their aircraft to go wherever you want to go, whenever you want to go, and usually you must commit for a round-trip flight, including whatever costs are incurred for the time you’re on the ground at your destination.

Now you can buy charter cards that work like fractional cards. The idea is essentially the same, except the fleet of aircraft available to you is that of the charter operator. Massachusetts-based Sentient Jet, which recently merged with Pennsylvania-based JetDirect, has several levels of travel cards starting at $100,000. The rate, determined by membership level, establishes a bank of pre-paid hours that are deducted as they are used. OneSky’s Latitude membership program also starts at $100,000 with set hourly rates, while its under-15-hour program requires no upfront cash commitment.

Some charter-flight programs take the form of membership clubs. The Avion Private Jet Club costs $20,000 per person to join, plus $10,000 annual dues. That entitles you to a flat rate of $7,000 each way on one of the company’s eight Challenger and Gulfstream jets. Rates are discounted for couples and larger groups.

CASTING A WIDER NET
The one thing that has traditionally kept the cost of private-jet use particularly high is the issue of empty legs, or deadheading. Originally, charter operators based all fares on round-trip prices because the alternative was to have an empty aircraft return to home base. Plus, corporate and private jets typically spend a lot of time waiting, or on repositioning flights to get them where they’re needed next. (Business Week recently reported that more than 40 percent of private jets are flying empty at any given time.) Today, the ability to coordinate flight requests across larger databases, and to provide public access to unsold inventory, has helped create a more affordable one-way jet travel market.

Operators are also applying Internetbased approaches to the excess-inventory issue. Jets.com, Jet International’s Web site, offers an online auction model; input where and when you want to go, and operators bid for your itinerary. OneSky uses a search-engine approach to trawl for the least expensive available charters that go where you want to go, or for upgrades that match the cost of less deluxe jets.

Various operators take a page from the commercial airlines’ books, offering special online listings of lastminute deals. Sentient’s recent lastminute listings included a $3,125 light jet from Washington (IAD) to Farmingdale (FRG), N.Y. and a $4,400 flight from Teterboro, N.J. (TEB) to Toronto (YYZ).

Emulating the success of search aggregators is ElleJet. The company, which lists empty-leg availability for charter, corporate, fractionally owned and private jets, has been aggressively promoting its online booking service to operators and owners around the country; inventory averages between 300 and 400 empty-leg listings each day. Travelers can subscribe to email alerts that notify them when empty legs are available from their local airports, or search routes they need to fly.

FINDING WHAT WORKS
Figuring out what type of private-jet access works best for you requires some research. Start by getting an idea of charter rates for the routes you most commonly fly, then tally the number of hours you would use a private jet service.

If anticipated travel hours add up to 25 or more, look into card programs and compare their hourly rates. Don’t forget to compare by aircraft size — if you frequently travel with a group, the best way to compare prices is on a perperson basis. Also note that some card programs allow you to roll over unused hours, while others expire at year’s end.

If you’re unlikely to use a private jet enough to warrant buying a fractional ownership or joining a membership plan, keep track of services that offer empty-leg and last-minute trips, or that will solicit bids for your business. And if you’re motivated by luxury as well as convenience, most Web sites will either show or link you to images of the various jet cabins; some even offer video tours.

International Access
Fractional ownership and card programs are available in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, but genuinely international usage is rare. That’s because only the most expensive category of heavy private jets can handle an intercontinental flight.

“The charter industry here [in the United States] is mostly domestic,” said Ben Schusterman, ElleJet’s vice president of operations. “Heavy jets are already expensive; reaching far isn’t as much in demand because the economics [of charter vs. scheduled airline] are weaker.”

Instead, travelers who desire private flying on multiple continents tend to join more than one program, such as Jet International’s rent-by-the-hour plan that starts at $6,350 an hour in Europe for a jet that will seat up to seven people.

Make the Connection

Avion Private Jet Club
tel 310 281 4888
http://www.flyavion.com

Bombardier
tel 888 2SKYJET
http://www.skyjet.com

CitationShares
tel 877 832 8678
http://www.citationshares.com

ElleJets
tel 888 ELLEJET
http://www.ellejet.com

Jet International
tel 800 370 7719
http://www.jets.com

NetJets
tel 877 356 5823
http://www.netjets.com

OneSky
tel 866 663 759
http://www.onesky.com

Sentient Jet
tel 800 760 4908
http://www.sentient.com