March 11, 2024
Add Airshare, the 10th largest operator measured by fractional and charter hours, to the list of providers who have put a hold on selling jet cards.
The move comes as record demand has created new realities for private flyers. Airshare recently said it was increasing pay for pilots.
The Lenexa, Kansas-based operator has a jet card and fractional offering on a fleet of Phenom 300s and Phenom 100s.
“It was a hard decision, but the right one. We wanted to put our existing customers first. We fully expect to be back,” CMO Andy Tretiak tells Private Jet Card Comparisons.
“We still feel card customers are an important part of our business,” he continued, adding he is “extremely optimistic” card sales will resume in the not-too-distant future, although he declined to specify timings.
For now, Airshare isn’t renewing existing Embark cards. However, it is seeing card customers upgrade into its Phenom 300 fractional program.
Earlier this year Airshare said it would order up to 20 Challenger 350s and expects to have delivery of the first three by year’s end.
While it has not announced a fractional program for the super mid jets, Tretiak said a limited number of shares in its Phenom 300s will be freed up from owners who indicated they want to upgrade to the larger jets.
So far, Executive Jet Management, Flexjet, Jet Linx Aviation, NetJets, Priester Aviation, Sentient Jet, and Velocity Jets have halted jet card sales. Jet Aviation stopped sales of light and midsize jet cards.
Still, there are around 40 providers offering fixed-or-capped rate cards with guaranteed availability.
