Unity Jets Kevin Diemar on why dynamic pricing beats fixed-rate jet cards and how personal touch helps private flyers optimize the experience.
Fifteen years after launching Unity Jets, CEO Kevin Diemar says he still has no intention of launching an instant booking app or offering a guaranteed-price, guaranteed-availability jet card.
That’s despite cutting his teeth selling the Marquis Jet product before opening his own brokerage.
Marquis Jet offered fixed hourly rates.
It fulfilled flights for its jet card via an exclusive agreement with NetJets, using NetJets’ fleet.
However, Diemar said that on peak days, NetJets, like many fleet operators, would use third-party operators when demand exceeded what they could handle on their own airplanes.
Diemar said he went to the airport to see his clients off.
He had a chance to look at the airplanes and talk to the pilots.
“These were really nice airplanes, and they were experienced pilots,” Diemar recalls.
He said, “If these operators are good enough for NetJets to fly their customers on peak days, they should be good enough for anyone to use the rest of the year.”
Diemar says those experiences broadened his perspective, showing him that there were many high-quality charter operators.
Today, he says, there are only a couple of operator jet card programs that don’t go off-fleet extensively.
“Essentially, they are brokering,” Diemar says, adding, “They may have a fleet, but half the time you are on somebody else’s airplane.”
Diemar says this raises the question of which pricing model works best.
He claims guaranteed rates mean a broker is “not aligned with the customer.”
He says, “You’re selling the customer something at a fixed hourly rate, which is probably a little higher than market rates for the guarantee, but then your goal is to go into the market and find the cheapest option that fits that category for your customer, because that allows you to make a margin.”
Diemar says, “Your goal as the broker when you’re selling a guaranteed rate card is to get something that fits the category but is priced as well as possible.”
Dynamic pricing, Diemar says, aligns what the customer wants with the market, “instead of just the airplane your card company wants to give you.”
He says that in many cases, a larger aircraft could be available for a marginally higher price.
Diemar compares dynamic pricing like “made to measure…it fits you.”
In addition to picking the type of airplane you want, Diemar lists off reasons flyers often prefer to be able to choose their airplane.
“If you like a specific aircraft type, the Phenom 300, a Challenger 350, if you want a specific configuration, if you need more space for baggage or oversize luggage, if you have a specific vintage, if there are particular operators you prefer, if there is an operator you want to avoid, if you want Starlink WiFi, if you need flexible cancelation terms, if you are looking for best price, but you also want reliability, these are the types of requests we are accommodating,” Diemar says.
He adds, while some brokers boast about access to 7,000 or 20,000 charter aircraft, “It’s not about who you use, it’s who you don’t use.”
Diemar says Unity Jets focuses its volume on select operators that have proven reliable and best fit customer demands.
He says the relationship with operators is critical.
Unity Jets sends a steady stream of customers to a core group of operators.
Diemar says that volume and those relationships help when operational issues arise.
It’s not just fixed-rate jet cards that Diemar doesn’t believe in.
Unity Jets doesn’t have an app and isn’t planning to offer instant booking of charter prices.
Diemar says brokers at Unity Jets have an average tenure of over 10 years.
He compares their role to that of wealth advisors.
“Most wealthy people have professional wealth advisors,” he says, adding, “They want somebody who knows more than they do.”
Diemar says:
‘The average client doesn’t necessarily know that a Hawker 800 XP has no belly or exterior luggage. It’s only the large closet when you walk in, so it’s not good if you have skis or sporting equipment. Online chartering booking websites – these charter platforms essentially spam operators with thousands of quote requests. We have a 50% close ratio, so when we go out to operators, they know we have customers ready to book.’
Diemar believes that by understanding trip flexibility, dynamic pricing often yields better aircraft and lower prices.
Under a current promotion, Unity Jets is offering three bonus levels based on deposit:
Deposit funds can be used for flights, catering, transfers, post-flight charges such as deicing, and mechanical recovery insurance.
Unused funds are refundable at any time.
In the case of a refund, bonuses revert to the level of funds spent.
Diemar says, “We know some clients like to put funds on account.”
The offer applies to funds placed through July 31, 2026.
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