VistaJet and Craft are, at the surface, comparable. Both companies specialize in supplying wealthy travelers with access to private aviation. The way they go about it, however, is quite different, both in terms of the level of accessibility and the way the services collect and use your money.
VistaJet operates like a traditional jet card or plane chartering service, while Craft has a much more unique and potentially more favorable investment structure. Neither service is objectively better than the other, but they vary significantly in how they are able to meet your needs.
In this article, we take a comparative look at both services based on how they operate and on how they are able to meet your needs for international travel specifically.
VistaJet Overview
VistaJet provides traditional jet card access. Basically, it’s a subscription to a plane chartering service. You put a certain amount of money in, and it buys you a membership to their fleet. You’re able to vary your financial input based on your ideal plane requirements, the amount of travel time you want, the destination—for example, international or domestic—and so on.
VistaJet has access to a wide range of different kinds of planes, making it a user-friendly choice for people looking for a lot of different options.
VistaJet Fleet and Aircraft Type
VistaJet has a large fleet of several hundred branded vehicles ranging both in size and cabin accommodations. This level of flexibility provides you with several benefits. For one thing, the larger a fleet, the shorter the lead time typically is. In other words, it’s easy to book on short notice with VistaJet even during peak periods.
The actual lead time will vary based on your plan, but can typically land somewhere between 24 to 72 hours, particularly during non-peak travel periods. The range of planes also makes it easier to accommodate a variety of different travel requirements. For example, VistaJet has planes that are designed for short sprints as well as long 17-hour non-stop international flights. This variety ensures that you’ll never have a hard time booking the flight that you require.
VistaJet Fee Structure
VistaJet has several different membership tiers coming with different hourly rates, guaranteed availability, frameworks, and other features. Typically, though, their plans are designed for people who intend to fly approximately 20 to 50 hours per year. The occupied hourly rates will depend ultimately on the type of plane you choose, but can vary from $6,000 to $20,000 an hour depending both on the cabin type and the range.
There’s also sometimes landing, handling, and fuel surcharge taxes, particularly on longer international flights. Additionally, VistaJet, as well as any other private aviation firm, is required to apply a 6.5% federal excise tax.
Who VistaJet Is Best For
VistaJet is ideal for high-frequency international travelers, including business executives, or simply individuals who have global travel itineraries and who value consistency, quality, and access.
Craft Overview
As mentioned in the introduction, Craft features a genuinely unique investment structure that sets it apart from VistaJet as well as virtually any other fractional jet program currently on the market. With this service, you buy into an investment pod that owns a plane, giving you concierge-level access to the fleet. It’s proportionate to your investment tier.
You’re not necessarily buying into a charter service the way you would with VistaJet, nor is it a traditional fractional jet ownership arrangement, despite the fact that there is equity in the investment itself. However, because that equity is diversified in a pod that includes, but is not limited to, a plane, you are more insulated from the risk of depreciation. You also may get relief from capital gains tax.
The Craft fleet is admittedly more modest than that of VistaJet or other larger services. However, there are still a variety of options available, and from a practical standpoint, most travelers will have reasonably easy access to planes with a modest lead time.
