An Inside Look into the World of Private Jets

An Inside Look into the World of Private Jets

Private jets are truly wonderful to experience, believe me... but the expense involved in acquiring one can be quite expensive. As for private jet cost, depending upon the make, model and size, to buy one outright, you might be looking at spending between 5 and 65 million dollars. Not too terrible, if you can afford it. Now, while owning a private jet can seem to be the most convenient form of private jet access, it can also be the most expensive. And by expensive, I'm not merely talking about money here. Allow me to explain...

With sole ownership, you are of course fully responsible for the initial purchase price, licensing, regular registration fees, hangar fees, airport fees, pilot for hire, regulations, flight logging data, fuel costs, fuel expenditure logging, maintenance and the list goes on (and on) - and remember, most of these things can represent a constant cost of quite a pretty penny indeed, even if the plane never leaves the hangar. Owning a private jet might be a dream of yours, but if you're a mite jittery about taking on the huge private jet cost in exchange for a bit of luxury, it can be pretty darned difficult to write out that very first check. Even if you've found private jets for sale at an auction, and picked one up for only a small few million, the ongoing private jet cost is the very same, and certainly without discount.

But with private jets, sale prices can vary greatly. Among the things to consider when you purchase a private jet is the factor of flying range and jet size, which can vary private jet cost considerably. For example, if you chose to purchase a light jet, perhaps a Learjet for example, which can average at about $5 million or so to buy, the plane would hold between six to eight passengers, with about a 1,500 mile flight range without refueling. You'll need to precisely understand what specific realm your needs reside in, in order to decide on the right make and model that's best for you. Charter a few short flights to get the feel for each major type. You may find medium jets are more to your liking than light jets, such as a Hawker 800, for example.

Aircraft fractional ownership of a private jet, sharing it with a single co-investor, can provide greater travel flexibility at half the cost of sole ownership, however many aviation experts warn that most aviation partnerships eventually sour. This problem can be further compounded with more owners holding shares of the plane. Aircraft fractional ownership can start at 1/16 of a share (that's 16 owners of just one plane), which may be as low as roughly about $400,000, for say, a Hawker for instance. That generally allows for about 50 hours of flying time. This would equate to be about $8,000.00 per hour of flight - on a cost per hour of flight basis, that is not much cheaper than a charter jet service at all. But aircraft fractional ownership has never been easy - why? Have you ever experienced the headaches of time-sharing a condo? Yeah, that's why.

An Inside Look into the World of Private Jets