February 7, 2024
It’s 2017. Virtually every time I am on a domestic airline flight, there seems to be WiFi. Private jets must have WiFi, right? Well, not really. Some do, some don’t. What it means is with a handful of exceptions, while some jet card providers offer internet connectivity guarantees, it is mostly specific programs, for specific aircraft or as an add-on for a higher fee.
Delta Private Jets, Wheels Up, VistaJet and JetSuite are the exceptions. All have guaranteed WiFi availability for all their jet card programs, however, JetSuite doesn’t offer guaranteed availability so you could find yourself in a situation where they don’t have an aircraft for you. That sort of takes away one of the best benefits of prepaid programs, although it has other redeeming features to its offering.
Wheels Up and VistaJet both own their fleets, so it makes sense they have control over their product offerings, and both, therefore, can guarantee WiFi service across their membership programs. Delta Private Jets operates a managed fleet and a couple years ago had the foresight to work with owners so all of its aircraft are WiFi equipped.
XOJET mixes jet card programs on its own fleet of Challenger 300 and Citation X with using chartered jets. It guarantees WiFi on its own planes. Nicholas Air, which owns all of its aircraft, only guarantees WiFi on the Citation Latitude. SilverHawk Aviation, a regional jet card provider based in Nebraska, guarantees WiFi on its Citation V and Citation Excel programs.
Clay Lacy, Expert Jet, Jet Linx Aviation, JetSet Group, Magellan Jets, Private Jet Services Group, Star Jets International and Wholesale Jet Club all offer guaranteed WiFi on custom quotes for an additional fee. Magellan, which has a very clever site that enables you to customize your own jet card offers the ability to pay for a WiFi guarantee. For a 25-hour card on a Mid-Size jet, WiFi costs an additional $930 per hour. From its build your own jet card function, it only offers a Hawker 400XP in the Light Jet category. WiFi shows as free. Hourly rate is $5,348.
Sentient Jet told us in August it is planning to launch a Guaranteed WiFi jet card in August.
