What your procurement process needs to cover before committing $500,000–$2 million to a private aviation program. The due diligence most corporate buyers skip — and the questions operators hope you don't ask.
Corporate travel managers evaluating private aviation programs face a market with a structural problem: almost every information source has a financial relationship with the operators being evaluated. Brokers earn commissions. Comparison sites are funded by operators. Industry publications rely on advertising from the programs they cover.
This matters because the decisions involved are significant. A mid-market company committing to a fractional share or enterprise jet card program may be spending $500,000–$2 million annually. The contract terms, deposit structure, and total cost model have material implications for the company — and most corporate procurement processes aren't designed to evaluate them properly.
This guide is written for the travel manager or CFO who wants to do this properly.
If your company uses an aviation broker or consultant to evaluate programs, ask directly: what commission do you earn from each program you're recommending, and what programs did you consider and not recommend? If they can't answer both questions fully and in writing, find a different advisor. An advisor who earns 8% commission on a NetJets contract and 5% on a Flexjet contract has a financial incentive that may not align with your company's interests.
On-demand charter is right for companies with under 100 hours per year of executive flying, highly variable routes, and no predictable flying pattern. No upfront commitment, market-rate pricing, maximum flexibility. The risk is cost variability and availability on short notice.
Jet cards are right for 100–400 hours per year with moderately predictable patterns. Fixed hourly rates provide budget certainty. The risk is expiring hours, peak-day surcharges, and deposit exposure if the operator encounters financial difficulties.
Fractional ownership is right for 400+ hours per year with consistent cabin size requirements. You own an asset with resale value. Management fees and acquisition costs are significant, but total cost per hour can be lower than jet cards at high utilisation. The risk is residual value uncertainty and the complexity of exit.
Whole aircraft ownership warrants consideration at 600+ hours per year or when security, confidentiality, and customisation requirements are paramount. Capital-intensive, operationally complex, but maximum control.
The headline hourly rate is the starting point, not the ending point. Corporate procurement must model total annual cost including all of the following:
| Cost component | Typical range | Procurement notes |
|---|---|---|
Hourly flight rate | $5,500–$18,000/hr | Varies by cabin class and program. Headline figure in all marketing. |
Federal Excise Tax | +7.5% | Non-negotiable. Applied to all domestic flights. Not in headline rates. |
Fuel surcharge | +5–15% | Variable, often indexed to Jet-A price. Check adjustment mechanism in contract. |
Peak-day surcharge | +15–40% | Critical for companies with predictable travel patterns around holidays and events. |
Daily minimums | 1.0–2.0 hrs/day | Significant on short routes. Model against actual itinerary, not average flight time. |
Repositioning fees | $0–$20,000/flight | Varies significantly. VistaJet charges none. Others vary by route and availability. |
Annual membership fee | $0–$17,500/yr | Wheels Up charges $8,500–$17,500/yr. Others: $0. Pure overhead cost. |
Catering | $200–$2,000/flight | Sometimes included, sometimes charged separately. Confirm in contract. |
Handling/landing fees | $500–$5,000/flight | Often passed through at cost. Higher at congested or premium FBOs. |
Before signing any program, model the last 12 months of your company's actual executive travel against each shortlisted program's full fee structure — not average costs, but specific flights on specific dates with the actual all-in calculation. This exercise almost always reveals a 25–40% gap between the quoted headline rate and what you would actually have paid.
These are the contract terms that corporate procurement most commonly misses. All should be confirmed in writing before signing:
Request references from the operator — but don't limit your due diligence to references they provide. Ask the program's sales contact for names of three long-standing corporate clients, then independently seek out corporate travel managers in your industry network who use that program. The references an operator provides have been pre-selected. The ones they don't provide will tell you more.
Under 200 hours/year, domestic US, cost-sensitive: Nicholas Air or Sentient Jet. No peak surcharges (Nicholas Air), non-expiring hours, ARGUS Platinum safety. Significantly lower total cost than major fractional programs at this utilisation level.
200–400 hours/year, domestic US, reliability-critical: NetJets or Flexjet. Fleet depth provides peak-day reliability that matters at this flying volume. NetJets' Berkshire Hathaway backing is the strongest counterparty protection in the market.
Significant international routing: VistaJet. No repositioning fees globally makes VistaJet materially more cost-effective on international routes than domestic-focused programs. Fleet of Global 8000s entering service December 2026.
Under 100 hours/year, variable routing: On-demand charter through a certified broker with ARGUS Platinum network requirements. No upfront commitment, market pricing, maximum flexibility.
Use the BizAv Insider Program Matcher as a starting point — it scores the six major programs against your specific flying profile and provides a ranked recommendation with full methodology.