Fractional vs. owned aircraft, pros and cons

[NJAowner]

Like everything else, it "depends". With my partner, we fly about 125-150 hours per year. He previously owned a jet when he needed to fly much more. I also have several friends with their own jet/jets. However, fractionals are expensive; however, they are very, very, very low headache. Other than a quick call here or there to set up a flight (most my catering is the same), I spend a few minutes per year on aviation issues and can spend the rest on business or with my family. Friends with a/c worry about hiring, firing, vacation schedules, costs, maintenance, upgrades, crews on the road, etc. Problem with the plane - not my issue (NJA brings another one); plane in for maintenance (not my problem); pilot is sick (not my problem). Do I always have the same pilots I trust - no; do I always have well qualified, well trained pilots I can trust - yes (and who will still show me pictures of their kids on their blackberry, or if no kids, their dog) Even if you are out on a 135 and charter you still need to weigh your flexibility vs. having the plane out to maximize charter revenue. Need a smaller jet (just my wife flying to see her mom) - no problem. Need a bigger jet and longer range (flying the extended family coast to coast for a holiday) - no problem. Do I have a plane on 6 hours (or less) notice when I need it even if my pilots are on vacation - yes. Can I budget for my air travel (other than a fuel variance) per year and know for sure - yes.

Do I have the ego trip of owning my own jet - no. Can I leave my favorite clothes on the plane- no. Is it decorated in my favorite color scheme - no.

Just my opinion. Please feel free to PM me.

Fly safe.

 

[NJAowner]

Owned aircraft pro: his pilots will NEVER go on strike. Ever.

But this website is littered with posts of (unprofessional pilots) who got pi$$ed at their boss or company and left them stranded somewhere and flew home. I am not taking sides or saying what their justification or rational may have been, but many of you admit (with glee) to doing it.

Fly safe.

 

[NJAowner]

See my post under "Corporate". I read it first so I posted there first.

My boss uses NJA for supplemental lift. Although they do a fine job, he prefers his own crew/own plane because "you guys just know me so I don't have to explain myself.)

Coming from an owner, not a pilot, I see "explaining myself" as the code words for "I am high maintenance". Does explaining mean I like my drink with 6 ice cubes? I serve myself. Or I like my fruit platter before my vegetable crudite -- again I serve myself. My opinion is that almost anything an owner has to tell the crew is about being waited upon, since owner services handled my catering and ground transportation requests which is the real "explaining". I generally like to leave the pilots with just flying.

Fly safe.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Owned aircraft pro: his pilots will NEVER go on strike. Ever.

But this website is littered with posts of (unprofessional pilots) who got pi$$ed at their boss or company and left them stranded somewhere and flew home. I am not taking sides or saying what their justification or rational may have been, but many of you admit (with glee) to doing it.

Fly safe.

I must have missed most of those posts, but my intent was more specific to G4G5's job. Netjets has a good product, but it's not for everyone.

 

[Rick James]

Owned aircraft pro: his pilots will NEVER go on strike. Ever.

But this website is littered with posts of (unprofessional pilots) who got pi$$ed at their boss or company and left them stranded somewhere and flew home. I am not taking sides or saying what their justification or rational may have been, but many of you admit (with glee) to doing it.

Fly safe.

I've never read of that issue, can you dig up an example?

 

[pilotviolin]

Maybe someone can correct me, but NetJets adds .2 to every leg. Our typical day is 4 legs. And on days when we have short legs with a total time of around 2 hours.
NetJets would charge .8 on top of the everything. At around 3k per hour for a light jet. Do this a couple times a week.
.8 X 2 X 52 = 83 hrs @ $3000 IS $249,000

 

[wtrav8r]

Maybe someone can correct me, but NetJets adds .2 to every leg. Our typical day is 4 legs. And on days when we have short legs with a total time of around 2 hours.
NetJets would charge .8 on top of the everything. At around 3k per hour for a light jet. Do this a couple times a week.
.8 X 2 X 52 = 83 hrs @ $3000 IS $249,000

You are correct with the .2 for every Leg (Charters as well). I have been explaining this to my Superiors for nearly 2 years now, as we a have a Fractional in addition to the Company Plane.

Our Management Fee, Operating Charge, and Fuel Charge is about 4400 hr for a light jet. (4800 in October, as the Fuel was higher).

We Operate the Company owned Plane at 400hrs a year, and the Fractional at 250hrs. Guess which one costs more? Fractional by almost 100K.

 

[jtf]

As far as individual preferences go, at least at NJA, there is an individual profile on most of our briefs that can get quite detailed- I've seen profiles that include things like "customer prefers eggs to be cooked only in iron skillets" or "customer prefers a pillow placed on seat before arrival", or even notes to have certain products removed from the aircraft for allergies or if from competing companies and even music and movie preferences. These notes are easy to add to for following crews and do allow for a bit more "personal" feel for the customers even though they may never fly with the same crew more than once. We definitely have some passengers who are higher maintenance than others, but when things have gotten too unreasonable owners have been asked to leave the program (luckily I haven't had to deal with any of them). I haven't seen a note that requested 6 ice cubes, but if I find one that does I wouldn't have a problem fullfilling that wish as long as it was before the aircraft was moving- the customers are paying a lot of money to be there and I think they should expect a little more than the airlines offer for the money they are paying.

 

[brokeflyer]

flew a rock star that wanted us to remove our uniform and wear shorts and his bands t-shirt.....which was really cool.

wish he woulda threw in groupies with that order....

 

[F/O]

NJ marketing is pretty good about finding out who owns airplanes operated in Part 91 flight departments and trying to get them to switch over to NJ. When I flew 91 the flt dept. address was different from the boss's business address. NJ hadn't figured that out though, so we got stuff in our office about once a month from them that was addressed to him. Funny thing, though---it always seemed to "accidently" get dropped in the shredder. :laugh:

 

[johnsonrod]

One big difference between owning outright and buying a fractional share: the amount of depreciation expense. Of course, it depends on the share amount, the aircraft type and the age of the aircraft. If your boss wants to shield more of his income and he has a "relatively" new airplane, he might do better with an owned airplane - the depreciation expense reduces taxable income and it could be used to pay for the entire airplane operation.

Here's my understanding of depreciation (I am not an accountant). If you own a new GV valued at $50 million and you depreciate the aircraft over 5 years you get roughly $10 million in depreciation expense per year during the 5 year period to apply toward net income. After the 5 year period the aircraft becomes less useful if it fully depreciated - at that point owners look to buy new airplanes (don't have to be brand new). Owning a quarter share of an NJI GV would only provide 1/4 of that amount per year in depreciation expense. So, the owner can shield less of his income. That is a big consideration for high net worth individuals with a lot of income...

 

[NJAowner]

Johnsonrod -- actually, generally, if you sell a plane for more than you have it on your books for (i.e., taken a lot a depreciation -- a jet is worth something after 5 years), you need to pick up the difference in ordinary income -- which is a big problem. SO at that point you can keep rolling the plane into a "tax free exchange" but you have limits on future depreciation.

JTF: my point was that most preferences are or should be told to NJA (or other fractional providers) and are known by your crew and taken care of before you get on the plane. I interpreted the comment about "my crew knows me" as meaning that owner has things that can not just be put on paper to be able to accommodate him.

Fractional is not for everyone/every company. It is one of those "it depends" issues.

Fly safe.

 

[labbutt]

CitationShares JetForth

Whole ownership of an aircraft, managed and crewed by CS. CS uses aircraft for supplemental lift instead of charter. Win-win

 

[jonjuan]

You are correct with the .2 for every Leg (Charters as well). I have been explaining this to my Superiors for nearly 2 years now, as we a have a Fractional in addition to the Company Plane.

Our Management Fee, Operating Charge, and Fuel Charge is about 4400 hr for a light jet. (4800 in October, as the Fuel was higher).

We Operate the Company owned Plane at 400hrs a year, and the Fractional at 250hrs. Guess which one costs more? Fractional by almost 100K.

What about the note on a whole aircraft versus 5/16 of a note? You have to add in ALL costs. Need 4 planes of the exact same type at the exact same time? Can't do with whole ownership. What if you absolutely need to be somewhere and your whole aircraft breaks hard out in the middle of nowhere? What if your whole aircraft F/O for the day breaks hard? What if your whole aircraft is in scheduled maint. and a must do trip pops up?

 

[T-1GUY]

Recovered a trip for a broken airplane yesterday. Crew was sitting at hotel on standby. Original airplane hard breaks, we get a call to recover. Clients leave as scheduled... Hard to beat the recovery time of a fractional with hundreds of airplanes and nearly 3,000 professionally trained pilots...