Private Jet Card Comparisons - Know Before You Buy
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Jet Access is merging with the Eagle Creek Aviation family of companies. On its own, Jet Access ranks as the 18th-largest U.S. operator based on charter and fractional flight hours tracked by Argus. Both companies are based in Indiana.
Charter operator Jet Edge International has used its $150 million war chest from KKR to quietly snap up 11 Bombardier Challenger 300 and 350 super-midsize jets, five Challenger 650s, and 11 large-cabin Gulfstream G450s. It is also finalizing an order for 15 to 20 new super-midsize and large jets. Deliveries will start at the end of next year.
When Wheels Up’s acquired 5th-biggest Part 135 charter operator Mountain Aviation in January, it pushed the group past Directional Aviation’s Flexjet as the second-largest for-hire private aircraft operator in the U.S. For Wheels Up founder and CEO Kenny Dichter, it was a day at the beach compared to another cold New York winter morning in early 2019. At that point, Wheels Up didn’t operate a single aircraft. Founded in 2013, its owned and leased fleet was outsourced to Gama Aviation Signature. Wheels Up was a big brand. Yet, it was merely a marketing organization selling memberships onto what was then mainly a fleet of King Air 350i turboprops.
The takeaways from the 2020 Argus TRAQPak annual review of private jet activity in the U.S. underscores two key trends: Consolidation and acceleration of what has a nearly decade-long move from full private jet ownership to fractional shares, leases, jet cards, and on-demand charter. Looking ahead, Argus analysts don’t expect the total industry to return to pre-COVID-19 numbers until the second half of 2021.