How private aviation is bought — charter, jet cards, memberships, leases, and fractional

The short answer

There are five common ways to fly private: On-Demand charter, jet cards, memberships, leases, and fractional ownership. They form a ladder. The more you commit up front, the lower your cost per flight hour tends to be, and the better your access. The less you commit, the more flexibility you keep.

Most people who fly often end up using more than one. A share or lease covers the regular flying, a card or membership covers the rest, and On-Demand charter fills the gaps.

On-Demand charter

You book one trip at a time. An operator quotes the trip, you accept, and you pay for that trip only.

• Commitment: none.
• Best for: occasional flying, unusual trips, or trips your programs do not cover well.
• What to know: prices move with demand, season, and where the aircraft is. If the aircraft has to fly empty to pick you up or to get home, you usually pay for that time. This is called repositioning. How On-Demand charter works.

Jet cards

A jet card is a prepaid block of flight hours in a specific aircraft type or class, often 25, 50, 75, or 100 hours a year.

• Commitment: you pay for the hours, fuel, and federal excise tax up front. Terms run one to three years.
• Best for: predictable flying where you’ll use every hour, especially one-way trips to regions where charter is scarce and peak-day travel.
• What to know: flying a different class uses an interchange rate, such as 1.1 hours up or 0.9 down. Cards usually stay on the operator’s own fleet and carry set terms for call-outs and cancellation. How jet cards work.

Memberships

A membership is usually a funds deposit with an operator. You book flights one at a time in an aircraft class, and each flight is charged against your deposit at a set rate.

• Commitment: a deposit, often in tiers from about $100,000 to $500,000. Some deposits have a use-by date; others are open-ended.
• Best for: flexible flyers, often about 25 to 50 hours a year, who want fixed rates and guaranteed availability around peak days.
• What to know: the operator assigns the aircraft and tail, and most memberships can send your trip to another operator (off-fleet). Fuel and federal excise tax are often added on top. How memberships work.

Leases

With a lease, you lease a share of a specific aircraft for a set number of hours a year. There is no purchase price.

• Commitment: often three years or more. Some providers offer a smaller lease for about 25 hours a year. Share leases usually start at 50 hours a year.
• Best for: steady flying of 25 to 50 hours a year or more, without buying an asset.
• What to know: you get most of the access of ownership. Unused hours often roll over to the next year. Leaving early can cost you part of your deposit. Leases sit under the fractional umbrella; see how fractional works.

Fractional ownership

You buy a share of a specific aircraft. A one-sixteenth share is roughly 50 hours a year.

• Commitment: you buy the share, and contracts often run three to five years.
• Best for: 50 hours a year or more, often with short-notice or busy-holiday flying.
• What to know: you get the best access: the shortest notice and the fewest blocked days. You own an asset that the provider buys back at the end, at its value then, less a fee. You also pay a monthly fee and an hourly rate on top of the purchase. How fractional works.

The commitment ladder

Product	What you buy	Typical yearly flying	Typical term
On-Demand charter	One trip	Any	None
Jet card	Prepaid hours in a type or class	25 to 100 hours	1 to 3 years
Membership	A funds deposit and set rates by class	About 25 to 50 hours	Until funds are used, or a use-by date
25-hour lease	Leased hours on an aircraft	About 25 to 50 hours	About 3 years
Share lease	A leased share of an aircraft	50 hours or more	2 to 5 years
Fractional share	An owned share of an aircraft	50 hours or more	3 to 5 years

How many hours you fly each year is the first cut. Then look at how much notice you can give, which days you need to fly, and whether you want to own an asset.

Notice periods

Notice is how far ahead you must book. It shrinks as commitment grows. A fractional share or share lease can need only a few hours’ notice on a normal day. A card can need two days or more, and longer on busy days.

Peak days and blocked days

Providers mark their busiest days, such as holidays and big events, as peak days.

• On peak days, owners and lessees can still fly, but need more notice and may have their departure moved by a few hours.
• Card holders may pay more on peak days, or may not be able to fly at all on some of them. These are called blocked or no-fly days.
• The smaller your commitment, the more days carry limits. Always check the provider’s calendar for the dates you care about.

Minimums

Many programs charge a minimum for short flights, often one hour per flight, even if the flight is shorter. Some also bill a little extra time on every flight for moving on the ground before takeoff and after landing. For short hops, these minimums can matter more than the hourly rate.

What rolls over

• Leases and shares: unused hours usually roll over to the next year. You can often borrow some hours from next year, too.
• Jet cards: unused hours usually expire at the end of the term. Some providers let you move leftover money into another product.
• Memberships: there are no prepaid hours. Deposit funds may be open-ended or have a use-by date, depending on the program.

How to compare programs

Two programs with the same hourly rate can cost very different amounts. Compare the all-in cost per hour, not the headline rate. Look at:

• Every fee that stacks up: purchase or deposit, monthly management fee, hourly rate, fuel charge, and federal excise tax.
• Where you can fly without extra cost. Each provider has a home area. Trips outside it can carry repositioning charges.
• Swaps. Most programs let you fly a bigger or smaller aircraft than the one you hold, at a set exchange rate. Moving down is usually guaranteed. Moving up depends on what is free.
• Discounts for efficient flying. Some providers reward long flying days or same-day round trips.
• How you get out. Check the minimum term, early-exit costs, and buyback terms.

Getting current prices

Program prices change every year. This page has no prices on purpose. The FlightWiseOS tools show current published rates for memberships, jet cards, and fractional programs, and FlightWiseOS compares them against your own flying.

Compare it on your own flying

• Jet card, membership, fractional, or charter: how to decide
• Program Comparison — current jet card and membership terms side by side
• Fractional Analysis — the five-year cost of a share
• Route Estimator — every option priced on your routes