NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway Private Jet Membership company, is the largest Fractional Jet Ownership company in the world, with a fleet of over 650 aircraft. NetJets has partnered with Marquis Jet to offer a 25-hour card. (To see the Marquis Jet Hedging page, click here)
Program Overview
- Acquisition Cost: Members choose an aircraft and ownership increment (1/4 share, 1/8 share or 1/16 share), and purchase the share accordingly
- Monthly Management Fee: Members are committed to a 5-year monthly management fee which covers insurance, flight crew and aircraft maintenance
- Hourly Fee: Members pay an additional fee for every hour of usage to cover fuel and catering
- No Daily Flight Minimum: Members only pay for the time that they are in the air, plus 12 minutes of taxi time per leg
Because of the high acquisition cost and compulsory monthly management fee, Members who use less than their allotted hours (50 / 100 / 150 / 200) are generally advised to use their NetJets hours for all of their flight needs, since the variable hourly fee is, on a standalone basis, a good value.
Savvy Members purchase a share that is equal to less than their annual requirement and supplement the remainder on an ad-hoc basis.
Vulnerabilities to Hedging
Regent Private Jet Card Membership empowers NetJets Owners to hedge against their program when NetJets hours are overpriced
- Round Trips: Because NetJets charges the same hourly rate for one-ways as round-trips, Members who are making a brief round-trip (defined as 1.5 - 2 hours of flying for every day of travel) are generally able to realize substantial savings through Regent Jet.
- Long Flights: For one-way trips with a flight time of 3 hours or more, Regent Jet is often able to source an empty leg flight at a substantial savings.
- One-Ways to Popular Destinations: For travelers flying along high-density lanes (for example, Northeast to Florida), Regent Jet Members with schedule flexibility can often realize substantial savings.
- Interchange Fees: When a NetJets Member has a trip that does not fit their assigned aircraft, NetJets assesses an Interchange Fee that disproportionately penalizes the Member for opting out of their aircraft.
- Peak Period Days: Peak Periods have emerged as the Achilles Heel for NetJets, as their demand on these days outstrips supply. As a result, Members have very little flexibility in securing last-minute lift during peak period days. Regent Jet is almost always able to secure lift during peak period days at competitive prices.
Conversely, NetJets is often a good value for:
- One-way flights to Mexico and the Caribbean
- Short one-way flights (New York to Martha's Vineyard, Los Angeles to Las Vegas)
- Trips that originate in out-of-the-way locales (Port Angeles, WA to Bozeman, MT)
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