A side by side price comparison of popular jet cards in the private aviation market.
Private jet clients have an extensive variety of private jet card membership programs to choose from, including PBJ’s own Paramount Jet Card Program. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but choosing the right option for your needs can mean significant savings.
First, identify the program that offers the most attractive options. Some companies design their membership programs around using a fixed fleet only available to their jet card members, which in addition to exclusivity also provides consistent aircraft types, interior amenities and fleet age. One key disadvantage is that clients are limited to those common options.
Others design their programs around using multiple operators, which offer greater flexibility but also more varied aircraft types and in-flight accoutrements. There may be significant variance in the amenities, interiors, and the age of the aircraft. Clients do have the option to specify their preferred aircraft age and approve aircraft interiors on a per-trip basis – but the variance will still be there.
Some programs also offer fixed hourly rates, while others offer dynamic pricing based on market demand. A fixed-rate allows for consistent budgeting – you always know what the cost will be – but clients typically pay close to twice the charter market rate per hour for the same model of aircraft. That is because the fixed-rate model must still account for market-driven costs that may be variable for the operator, but not the customer.
Why the Paramount Jet Card Program is the fairest and most cost-effective
In 2010, Paramount Business Jets was the first to offer a fully transparent pricing model for jet card memberships with the Paramount Jet Card Program. From safety standards to aircraft specifics and operator ratings, every detail of the flight – including broker markup and operator wholesale price to the broker – is entirely transparent to the client.
Under this program, Paramount Business Jets functions as an extension to the client and works directly for them. In other words, the client’s and broker’s interests are one and the same: to find the best, safest, and most cost-conscious option for the client’s travel needs.
Cost Savings with the Paramount Membership Program
The cost savings of the Paramount Jet Card Membership program are The cost savings of the Paramount Jet Card Membership program are significant when compared to other popular jet card membership programs. Here is the side-by-side comparison of private jet card membership prices, in U.S. Dollars:
| Aircraft Category | Magellan | Marquis | Sentient | Delta | Paramount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light | 5,780 | 6,236 | 5,891 | 5,500 | 4,697 |
| Midsize | 7,750 | 8,316 | 7,850 | 7,150 | 5,628 |
| Super Midsize | 9,985 | 11,316 | 9,971 | 9,950 | 7,542 |
| Large | 13,412 | 14,996 | 14,013 | 13,500 | 7,826 |
*Paramount’s average hourly rates are based on the last 150 jet card member flights and include any and all repositioning fees, surcharges, taxes, and all other fees.
As you can see below, the cost savings from using the same aircraft type with the Paramount Jet Card can be as much as 48%!
| Savings over Competition | Magellan | Marquis | Sentient | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light | 19% | 25% | 20% | 15% |
| Midsize | 27% | 32% | 28% | 21% |
| Super Midsize | 24% | 33% | 24% | 24% |
| Large | 42% | 48% | 44% | 42% |
As mentioned before, every program has its benefits and its tradeoffs. The main disadvantage of using the Paramount Jet Card membership is that aircraft type, age, and interior amenities will vary. Our clients review the interior and exterior pictures as well as the specifications of aircraft options prior to booking flights but the variance will still be there.
To address this drawback, over the past 10 years PBJ has handpicked over 4,000 of the world’s safest and finest certified private jets, and these are the preferred aircraft we offer to our clients. The Paramount Preferred Aircraft include ARGUS, Wyvern, and ISBAO rated aircraft, as well as aircraft positively reviewed by our clients over the years.
The average age of the aircraft offered by Paramount is 10 years or younger, and most interiors are six years or less. Clients may request a newer aircraft, which may cost slightly more – but again, under PBJ’s transparent business model, we’ll be honest about whether we can accommodate such a request and what the additional cost will be.
We have also calculated the average hourly rates by aircraft type that our members have paid on their flights. This information uses average prices over the last 150 jet card member flights.
View the average private jet card hourly prices by aircraft types.
