Sellers of fixed and capped-rate jet cards with guaranteed availability increased pricing in the second quarter of 2024. However, they continued to make using hours easier with fewer peak days, lower daily minimums and reduced lead time to book flights. According to an analysis of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a buyer's guide to private aviation flight programmes that tracks over 80 jet card and fractional providers and more than 1,000 programmes, the average hourly rate increased 0.8 per cent from Q1 of 2024, when rates increased by one per cent.

“It's a good news, bad news situation,” says president and editor-in-chief Doug Gollan. “After declining from their 2022 highs in 2023, jet card pricing has now stabilised and is inching back up.”

The average hourly jet card price at the end of Q2 2024 was $10,953, 6.8 per cent less than Q4 2022 but still 30.3 per cent higher than Q4 2020, when the CARES Act waived the 7.5 per cent Federal Excise Tax. Jet card rates are 23.6 per cent higher than Q4 2019 pre-COVID.

Turboprop (+37.2 per cent), light (+32.7 per cent), and very light (+32.6 per cent) jets have seen the biggest increases over the past five years. Hourly pricing for ultra-long-haul jets by comparison is just 12.2 per cent higher than Q4 2019.

At the same time, jet card sellers have been reducing daily minimums, the minimum flight time charged per day, which impacts shorter flights. Light jet daily minimums dropped 14.6 per cent from Q1 to Q2 to 66.7 minutes, down from a high of 87.9 minutes in Q4 2021 and lower than in Q4 2019 when they stood at 78.1 minutes. Daily minimums for midsize and super-midsize jets also dropped.

“Short flights to avoid connecting in airline hubs or long drives are a popular reason to use private jets, so the decrease in daily minimums is important for those customers,” Gollan says.

As an example, a 50 minute light jet flight that would have cost $10,690 in Q4 2022 would now be $8,885, a saving of $1,805, or 16.9 per cent. At the same time, the number of peak days continued to edge downwards.

Surcharges range up to 50 per cent on peak days, there are longer lead times to book and cancel flights, and providers can typically shift departures by three hours in either direction for operational reasons, so it can often seem like they are in a different programme for members.

At the end of Q2 2024, average annual peak days were down to 46.4 dates from 55.7 in Q4 2022. Still, they are more than double the 22.8 average in Q4 2019.

For non-peak callouts, the lead time to book at contracted pricing also dipped to 64.5 hours from 69.2 hours in Q1. This is still three times longer than in 2019 when the average lead time was just 23.2 hours before departure.

“Operators are seeing increased costs via pilot and maintenance tech salaries; they face higher costs for parts; and aircraft stay grounded for longer due to supply chain issues. At the same time, with demand down from COVID peaks, even if they are holding published rates, flight providers are hunting for business, which means more room to negotiate. That's good for buyers,” Gollan concludes.