When they start banning liquids, it's time to consider flying private. As airports become chaotic mosh pits of surly travelers, time-pressured business travelers and the well-heeled are skipping check-in counters in favor of their own private flight -- regardless of whether they charter, fractionally own, jet share or pay-as-they-go.
The four most popular models break down as follows:
Chartering: If you travel less than 25 hours annually, chartering is the best option: This is the old-school method for one-off trips.
Jet Card Programs: If you fly more than 25 hours a year, consider a membership program. These pay-as-you-go programs allow you to put money down up front and then charge flying hours against it like a debit card.
Fractional Ownership: If you fly more than 50 hours per year, a fractional jet ownership is the most appropriate. Similar to buying a time share and chipping in for its maintenance, you purchase anywhere from a 16th to half of a plane. This gets you anywhere from 50 to 400 hours.
Jet Sharing: If you don't mind sharing your jet with other like-minded travelers, then jet share is ideal. An annual membership fee and a per-leg cost entitle you to a seat on a private jet.
See our slideshow of private jet firms.
According to James Butler, founder and CEO of Bethesda, Maryland-based Shaircraft Solutions, a company that advises clients on private air travel, "Those flying less than 50 hours per year should look more toward a jet card program or an on-demand charter," he says, referring to the likes of Marquis Jet Card and companies such as U.K.-based Air Partner. "If you're flying more than 400 hours per year, you may be better served by owning your own aircraft. In between, fractional may be the way to go."
"The benefits of private jet travel are akin to taking a taxi where you want to go, rather than a bus where it goes," says longtime aviation observer Craig Jenks, president of Airline/Aircraft Projects Inc., a New York City-based consulting firm.
Which is perhaps why Sentient Jet, another jet card program and one of dozens of firms plying the market for business travelers, has seen a sudden spike in customers for their unique -- and egalitarian -- pay-as-you-fly program. "We have experienced a 60 percent increase in membership just in the past year," says Steven Hankin, the company's CEO.
"The world opens up when you fly privately," says Butler, the Shaircraft Solutions CEO. "Private jets can fly into over 5,500 airports in the United States alone, compared to only 500 airports by commercial air travel. Perhaps even more interesting is that 80 percent of all commercial airline flights use only 50 airports [in the U.S.]," he says.
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Aerion, a Reno-based aeronautical engineering firm, has announced plans to build what it hopes will be the world's first supersonic business jet, complete with delta wings, à la Concorde. At Mach 1.5, the sleek aircraft would cut the travel time between Paris and New York to just four hours, pacing a Gulfstream V by three hours; a one-stop hop from New York to Tokyo would last just nine-and-a-half hours.
And then there are the players in the burgeoning air-taxi industry, including Magnum Jet and DayJet, which, come December, plans to operate Eclipse Aviation's Eclipse 500 light jet as a taxi service first in Florida and then in the Southeast. That craft is just one of a handful of so-called very light jets (VLJs) that are now hitting the market to join the ranks of Premier 1 and Diamond D-Jet, all of which cost a fraction of what normal private jets usually retail for.
All this bodes well for an industry that has finally matured in earnest -- with part-time ownership schemes and pay-as-you-fly programs that are as easy to decipher as they are attractive to join. But if you're considering any of these, says Butler, beware. "It's great having so many options, but if you choose the wrong one, your mistake can cost you hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars."
And Butler also reminds his clients that private jet travel is an investment -- one that provides maximum flight time on safe and well-maintained aircraft at minimum cost. "Frankly, the service sells itself. Once you've flown this way, it's really hard to go back to the Delta counter," he says.