Jet Card Sale Restrictions - What It Means For The Charter Industry

Recent announcements amongst the top jet card providers have halted many offerings for 25 - 50 hour jet cards in the space of private travel. Whether you are directly involved with one of these companies or not, you are being impacted by the ripple this is causing across the business aviation industry. Let’s break it down:

• Price The economic law of supply and demand strikes again… When demand goes up, supply has the upper hand and will likely drive those costs up. This relationship has been realized in the past six months with main service providers increasing their rates for their 2022 program sales. The issues realized on the supply side were derived from a perfect storm of low manufacturing rates during the last two years and a large number of operators and new aircraft owners participating in business aviation. Since we are not in the business of widgets, the amount of suitable aircraft in circulation for charter can only be adjusted (+/-) every year by a small percentage. Pair the flat line of supply with a dramatic increase in demand (COVID, wealth creation, location flexibility via work) and we are experiencing a unique environment.

• Availability The massive influx of customers to the industry has created a very different experience for those who are accustomed to being able to book an aircraft, during non-peak travel days, within a couple days of their departure date. What we are now experiencing is an advantage to those booking in advance. Although we know that cannot be accomplished for every mission, we do urge our clients to make us aware of possible flights as early as possible.

The PJC is managing these industry changes through communication and proactive effort. Please reach out to us with any questions regarding charter, how to get the most out of your jet card, or how to negotiate your jet card rates for next year.