Jet Card vs Fractional Ownership: Cost, Commitment and Equity

A jet card and a fractional share both give you guaranteed access to a private jet without buying a whole aircraft. They are built very differently. A card is prepaid flying: you buy hours or a deposit and draw it down. A share is part-ownership: you buy a fraction of an aircraft, pay a monthly fee to have it managed, and pay an hourly rate when you fly.

This guide compares the two on cost structure, commitment, access and what you hold at the end, and shows where each one fits. CRAFT sells a jet card and does not sell fractional shares, so the card side uses our own published terms as the worked example.

The difference at a glance

How a jet card works

You buy a block of hours, usually 25, 50 or 100, at a fixed hourly rate for an aircraft size, or put down a deposit that is drawn down by an hourly rate. You book with a set amount of notice, the callout, and each flight is billed at the card rate. There is no aircraft to own and usually no monthly fee. The terms that change the real cost are the daily or per-leg minimums, peak-day surcharges, what the rate includes (fuel, tax, repositioning) and how long you have to use the hours. Our guide to what a jet card really costs walks through each one.

Here is what that looks like on our own card, the CRAFT Fleet Jet Card, on a Challenger 300 or 350:

How fractional ownership works

You buy a share of a specific aircraft, commonly sized in sixteenths: a 1/16 share usually carries about 50 occupied hours a year, a 1/8 share about 100. The fractional company manages the aircraft as part of a fleet, so when you fly you get an aircraft of that type, not necessarily your own tail.

You pay in three layers:

1. The share price, set by the aircraft and the share size.
2. A monthly management fee, which covers crews, hangar, insurance and maintenance planning, and is due whether you fly or not.
3. An occupied hourly rate for the time you fly, usually with a fuel charge and the 7.5% federal excise tax on top.

At the end of the contract, the company typically buys the share back at the aircraft's market value at that time, which will normally be below what you paid because aircraft depreciate. For figures by program and aircraft, see fractional jet ownership costs and NetJets fractional ownership.

Cost: how to compare them fairly

Comparing an advertised card rate with an advertised occupied hourly rate is misleading, because the fractional rate leaves out the share and the monthly fee. A fair comparison adds everything you pay over the same period and divides by the hours you actually fly:

• Jet card: card hours × card rate, plus anything the rate does not include (peak days, short-notice surcharges, minimums, taxes or fuel if they are extra).
• Fractional: share price minus the expected buyback value, plus five years of monthly fees, plus occupied hours × hourly rate, fuel and tax.

The more hours you fly every year, the more hours the fixed costs of a share are spread over. The fewer you fly, or the less predictable they are, the more a card's lack of fixed costs matters.

Commitment and flexibility

A card commits you to one block of hours. When it runs out you can buy another, change size or stop. A share commits you to a multi-year contract with a monthly fee for the whole term, and getting out early usually costs money. If your flying could change, because of a business sale, a move or a change in family plans, the shorter commitment of a card is worth a lot.

Access and aircraft

Both promise an aircraft of a set size on set notice, and both set out days that cost more, need more notice or are restricted. The terms vary widely between programs of either kind, so compare them contract against contract rather than by category. Check the callout, the peak-day list and whether the aircraft type is guaranteed, in writing, for whichever you choose.

Who each one fits

A jet card tends to fit if you:

• fly about 25 to 100 hours a year, or are not sure yet;
• do not want capital tied up in an aircraft;
• want a fixed hourly rate and one block of hours to manage;
• want to learn how you really fly before committing for years.

Fractional ownership tends to fit if you:

• fly a steady 50 hours or more every year;
• want the same aircraft type on every trip for years;
• are comfortable with a multi-year contract and a depreciating asset;
• can use the depreciation for business, on your advisor's advice.

Where CRAFT fits

CRAFT is a Part 135 operator of five Challenger 300 and 350 aircraft. We sell the Fleet Jet Card, which buys hours at published rates, fuel and FET included, on a Challenger flown by CRAFT crews, and we charter the same fleet trip by trip. We do not sell fractional shares. If you own, or plan to buy, a Challenger, Leaseback puts it on our certificate while we carry crew, maintenance and compliance.

CRAFT is also the exclusive operator for the Glidepath Exchange Fund, whose members fly the CRAFT Challenger fleet. Glidepath is offered by a separate company; CRAFT operates the flights. Read about Glidepath.

To compare jet cards from every company that publishes its rates, see the best jet cards compared and the jet card providers we track.