Since beginning an ambitious growth plan in 2024, Jet Out has completed the fleet agreement with Textron Aviation.
That gives it 17 Cessna Citation CJ4 Gen2 light jets.
Fifteen are currently in service, according to CEO Matt Crivello and President Joe Wild.
Speaking at the National Business Aviation Association annual convention here in Las Vegas, the duo said the next step is decisions on the fleet, with 15 currently operating.
The company was launched in 2018 but didn’t expand its version of fractional ownership and jet cards – co-ownership and co-leases – until the arrival of the Textron Aviation light jets.
The two executives declined to say whether the future will bring another order for light jets or expansion into another category; however, they confirmed the fleet will continue to grow.
With average fleet age under three years, they said the program is particularly attractive to flyers who want the most modern aircraft.
Jet Out bases
Jet Out will grow by adding new bases.
So far, it has expanded from its Milwaukee home by adding Miami, Scottsdale, and most recently Fort Worth.
The program offers relatively low hourly rates with trade-offs.
It’s a day-based program, so it is most efficient for longer flights and multiple flights in the same day.
It is also as-available, so members don’t get guaranteed availability, although executives say members nearly always get the access they need.
You also pay repositioning fees to and from base airports if you start or end your flights outside zones radiating out from UES, SDL, OPF, and FTW.
There is always repositioning back to the base airport, so if you fly from FXE to St. Louis, you wouldn’t pay the ferry fee from OPF to FXE, but you could have to pay the empty flight from St. Louis back to OPF even though the Wisconsin base is closer.
That’s because pilots are based locally alongside the aircraft.
That said, the executives said Jet Out sold 75% of the repositioning flights in the Midwest-South Florida corridor last year.
They also try to coordinate member flights to reduce empty legs.
Lastly, they say their near-new light jets make them an attractive option for ad hoc charters.
Revenue from selling those flights reduces the additional repositioning costs their program clients would pay if the airplanes fly empty.
Local approach
The operational model, says Wild, with local pilots, mechanics, detailers, and other staff keeps the airplanes flying “seven days a week.”
By returning to the home base every night when possible, “aircraft can be checked and serviced when they return, with support available again the next morning.”
It recently opened its first private lounge at Waukesha County Airport, its Milwaukee base, and the company sees the lounge as a potential part of its future approach at its bases.
Jet Out pricing
Jet Out’s co-ownership and co-lease offering is based on travel days.
A lease that provides 20 days a year is equivalent to a 1/16th share in fractional ownership, Crivello says.
The entry-point is a 10-day option.
While many flyers want guaranteed availability, Crivello and Wild say not having it is part of Jet Out’s competitive model.
Operators that guarantee availability and fixed rates, particularly nationally or for large regions, can lose money on flights that carry a contractual obligation.
The hourly rate on all of its programs, before the cost of the lease or ownership, is a slim $2,300 per hour, including fuel.
The 10-day-per-year co-lease program sells for $127,000, meaning you pay $12,700 per day, plus the hourly rate.
Crivello and Wild say that, alongside their next expansion moves, the current format won’t change, which they describe as giving customers more ways to travel while retaining a model built around shared aircraft use, flexible availability, and managing repositioning costs.
So far, the company has been true to its press statements.
Last year, Crivello said his fleet would more than double to its current size by the end of 2026, and he achieved that with two months to spare.
