How Fractional Ownership of an Aircraft Works and Its Biggest Players
In early 2020, Kenn Ricci believed that Flexjet was failing in front of him. “It was the start of Covid, and our fractional business dropped from 200 to eight flights per day,” says Ricci, the principal at Directional Aviation Capital, which owns Flexjet, the second-largest fractional provider in the world. Yet Flexjet soon boomeranged, then kept expanding, as did the fractional model in general, mirroring the eventual growth the rest of business aviation experienced during the pandemic.
Fractional ownership, where individuals or corporations buy a share of the aircraft—typically ranging from one sixteenth to one quarter—for three to five years, involves greater time and financial commitments compared to jet cards and charter services. But it also guarantees availability, newer aircraft, fewer peak days, higher service standards, and the ability to move across jet types.
Another differentiator is that while the demand for charters and jet cards seems to have normalized, fractional business continues to rise. In 2024, Flexjet saw an 11 percent increase in members and, for the first time, a waiting list. “Before, friends called me looking for discounts,” says Ricci. “Now, they’re seeing if they can move up the queue.”
Competitor NetJets reported its busiest day ever this past October, when it flew more than 1,100 flights in the U.S. It then surpassed that figure on the travel weekend following Thanksgiving. Also commenting on the trend, Doug Gollan, president of Private Jet Card Comparisons—a consumer guide for purchasing jet cards and fractional shares—reported a 57.4 percent increase in the latter’s activity last August compared to 2019 levels, generally considered the best pre-Covid comparison year.
“Consumers who want more flexibility and a generally higher experience see more value in this model,” says Gollan. “Over 95 percent of our subscribers who are fractional customers rate their providers ‘excellent’ or ‘very good,’ compared to the overall average of 73.3 percent.”
Tailored travel is also a selling point. “With the great wealth transfer happening, we’re seeing younger owners in their 40s coming in,” says Andrew Collins, Flexjet’s CEO. “Many are moving from jet cards because they are often looking for larger aircraft and come in with high expectations of the fractional experience. It’s about finding a better fit for their needs.”
While NetJets and Flexjet remain fractional’s biggest players, with fleets of more than 600 and 350 aircraft, respectively, a half dozen smaller firms have also embraced the model. “We can’t beat Flexjet and NetJets on their network sizes,” says Jim Segrave, CEO of flyExclusive, which has a fleet of 90 jets. “But because we have our own paint shed and interior shop, our aircraft look newer than most of our competitors’. The aircraft-acquisition costs for our fractional members is also 20 percent less.” The North Carolina firm also saw an advantage in charging daily rates, which financially rewards long-distance fliers, rather than monthly management fees charged by the larger players.
Fly Alliance, which launched a fractional program in late 2022, also eschewed monthly management fees and found multiple takers. “Our clients wanted something more consistent than charter,” says president and cofounder Christopher Tasca.
As for the staying power of the multiple-ownership platform, Collins calls it “a stable business model with predictable revenue,” and, underscoring that, Ricci asserts that “95 percent of the customers sign up again.” That statistic and the current trajectory of the business only underline that the fractional option’s future appears decidedly solid.
