Key Sentence:
- You don’t get a new car – or at least the one you want. Your new sofa is custom made. It can be shipped in January. Is there a shortage of private jets?
Sentient Jet, which invented the jet card, and Jet Linx Aviation, the sixth-largest charter operator in the United States, stopped selling jet cards to new members last weekend. The announcement, made within 24 hours, follows a similar move in August by NetJets and its aircraft management manager, Jet Management.
The reasons are complex and pronounced.
The simple answer is that business is too good. In the past four weeks, private flights in the US were 14% ahead of pre-Covid levels for 2019, according to WingX. In Florida, there are 41% more private flights than two years ago. Argus TraqPak expects a record number of flights by the end of the year. As the demand for private flights has increased to unprecedented levels, fixed or limited-fare airline tickets. And membership programs with guaranteed short booking windows are under pressure to get these flights at low prices.
As the price of on-demand charter flights has increased in recent months, private airlines. That have booked travel tickets are handing out jet cards to secure their payment and ensure they can get a plane when they call.
When announcing the termination of accepting new subscribers, all providers indicated that they had first to take care of their existing customers. Customers who buy airline tickets and typically pay $50,000 to $500,000 in advance usually have the flight. They want to take in mind when sending money, executives said.
As existing members adapt to their unique travel habits, Private Jets the influx of new customers ahead of the busy holiday season discourages executives from booking those flights. Executives say that more than 90% of new customers book flights within 30 days of joining.
The agreements, often made on dozens of pages, allow customers to call and book flights only 10 to 24 hours in advance.
From August to September, many Jet card sellers have extended this reservation period. The average booking period for the more than 250 Jet card programs I tracked on my Personal Jet Card Comparison website has increased by almost 50%, from 29 hours to 44 hours.
In general, there is no price advantage between Charter on Demand and fixed-rate Jetcards, although, with the latter, you pay a lot of money upfront. The main benefit of this card is time savings – you don’t have to buy multiple brokers, compare offers, review terms and contracts. And then tie up money for each trip. It’s easier to budget and guarantee free replacement flights if the carrier can’t complete you your trip. Some card programs also include anti-icing, wifi, and catering.
However, looking at 30 scenarios over the past month, the Jet card was cheaper in 25 cases. Beating the on-demand price by an average of $5,693 per segment. That is, even though the jet card program increases tariffs by 2% month-on-month.
Now that the industry is grappling with supply chain issues affecting how quickly planes can be repaired. Lack of fuel, and air traffic control delays, the executives I spoke to are considering ways to get customers to book early or even stay home. One CEO said his company called customers and offered a 10% discount on booking their Thanksgiving and Christmas flights through next week. Another told me he was considering adding members who had agreed to join between the ages of 15.
A broker says there is good reason to be concerned. Earlier this week, he struggled to find a plane in a busy east coast corridor for late-booking customers flying from New York to North Carolina.