What are the ways to fly privately?

Four, in rough order of commitment: on-demand charter, where you pay per trip; a jet card, where you pre-pay a block of hours for guaranteed access on fixed terms; fractional ownership, where you buy a share of a specific aircraft; and whole ownership. Each suits a different volume and predictability of flying.

Which is right for me?

Broadly: under 25 hours a year, charter on demand. Between 25 and 150 hours, a jet card. Above about 200 hours on predictable missions, fractional ownership starts to work. Above roughly 400 hours, whole ownership becomes a serious conversation.

Compare

Every way to fly private, honestly compared.

Including the ones we do not sell. If a jet card is the wrong instrument for how you fly, the useful thing we can do is tell you that before you buy one.

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There are four ways to fly privately, and they differ far more in commitment than in experience. The right one is almost entirely determined by two numbers: how many hours you fly a year, and how predictable those hours are.

The ladder

Roughly where each one fits.

Ways to fly privately, by annual hours
Approach	Typical annual hours	Capital committed	Best when
On-demand charter	Under 25	None	Occasional flying, flexible timing, no desire to pre-commit
Jet card	25–150	Pre-paid, refundable with Velocity	Regular flying where guaranteed availability and fixed terms are worth pre-committing for
Fractional ownership	200+	Capital purchase plus monthly fees	High, predictable volume on consistent missions
Whole ownership	400+	The aircraft, plus crew and maintenance	Very high volume, or requirements no program can meet

These thresholds are directional and every real situation moves them. Mission consistency, how much notice you have, tax treatment and how much your own time is worth all shift the lines — sometimes substantially.

The comparisons in full.

Head to head

Velocity vs the large programs

Line for line against big fleet cards — including a full section on what they genuinely do better than us, which is a real section and not a rhetorical one.

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Card or share

Jet card vs fractional ownership

What you are actually buying, what happens to your capital, and the hours-per-year threshold where fractional starts to win clearly.

Read the comparison

Program or per-trip

Jet card vs on-demand charter

Whether you need a program at all. Three questions that settle it, and an honest answer that is often "not yet".

Read the comparison

The checklist

Nine questions to ask any provider

Take these to everyone on your list, us included. Several of them are questions large programs would prefer you did not ask.

Read the questions

Or just describe how you fly and let us tell you.

Twenty minutes, no pitch. We have told people to charter instead of buying a card, and told people to look at fractional. The conversation is worth having either way.

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Every inquiry is answered personally — 24/7, and we come back to you right away.

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