NetJets excludes peak day jet card flights, halts Classic card sales

After telling customers it is hitting record flight levels, NetJets is now pulling back on its jet card program, at least for the time being.

Effective immediately, it is eliminating peak day access on new Elite jet cards sold. Previously, there was a 25% surcharge on 45 peak days.

It is also eliminating its Classic jet card line-up. Classic cards carried a higher hourly rate but had only 30 peak days, and there was no peak day surcharge. Classic cards had a 10-hour non-peak call-out versus 24 hours for Elite cards.

The move was announced internally this afternoon. Previously, NetJets suspended sales on its Citation Latitude jet card after it sold out availablity.

A “necessary” move

“With daily flight volume returning faster than industry predictions and record-setting demand from new owners, we felt it necessary to take a major step to protect our service delivery on the busiest days of the year. With dozens more aircraft and hundreds of additional pilots and service staff arriving on property between now and year-end, we are ramping up to meet demand as fast as practical, but to ensure the high level of service that our loyal customers deserve, we had to make the difficult choice to exclude these days for future jet card customers,” NetJets president Patrick Gallagher tells Private Jet Card Comparisons.

Gallagher adds, “While we hope that the proposition of flying with the worldwide leader in private aviation the other 300+ days of the year meets the needs of prospective jet card customers, we recognize that this might not be the case for all. However, it is a choice that we are proud to make as we stand behind our unwavering values of safety and service.”

NetJets’ Corporate Angel Card continues with travel blacked out on the same 45 peak days as the Elite offering. The specialty card offers a super-midsize jet for flights over 3.5 hours and a Citation XLS for shorter flights.

Previously announced rate increases of 2%-to-8% are still scheduled to go into effect July 1.

For existing cardholders, the terms of their contracts remain unchanged. You will be able to fly per those policies for the duration of your cards. There are no changes to its shared ownership programs.

The changes are in place until further notice. It’s possible that as NetJets adds new aircraft to its fleet – and pilots – the Classic program could be restored.

Earlier today we reported NetJets is now taking delivery of over 50 new private jets this year.

Private jet flying at record levels

In January, a survey of Private Jet Card Comparisons’ subscribers found 96% of flyers who started or restarted flying privately because of Covid-19 plan to continue post-pandemic. That includes 41% who say they will use private jets regularly.

What’s more, existing private aviation users said they expect to increase private jet flying post-pandemic by a 38%-to-7% margin. More than half, 55%, say they would maintain a similar level of usage.

One broker recently issued a press release predicting jet card, and on-demand charter rates could increase up to 20%. Data from Tuvoli, a payment processing platform for charter brokers and operators, shows flight volume at second-home airports up 30% to over 100% compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels.