Private Jet: Should You Buy or Rent?

The pandemic was (and continues to be) one mammoth cloud of darkness, but it's not without its silver lining. Apart from the apparent acceleration of e-commerce and related platforms and technologies, the demand for private jet charter services also grew amidst strict lockdowns, flight cancellations, and valid on-air social distancing concerns.

The Surge in Private Air Travel

A CNBC report cites a 520% increase in searches for charter travel and a 53% rise in a private aviation company's air charter membership program. The demand for private air travel is such that CNBC reports some companies have stopped selling jet cards, memberships, fractional shares, and leases for their light jets.

This is essentially what happened. The ravages of the pandemic forced people to look at options beyond commercial flights. If you can't fly public and you have to be somewhere urgently, of course, you'd look for alternatives. Air charter is that option. This led to the boom in private air travel.

The surge in demand for private jet charter is like a dam breaking. People who had the means to charter a plane but would instead fly first-class were forced to fly private. Now, they have come to realize that private air travel has a lot to recommend it — and they're no longer willing to give up the security, convenience, and efficiency of flying private.

Now, the next logical question: Should you continue to charter private jets, or should you buy your own?

Private Jet Charter versus Private Jet Purchase

Just how do chartering flights and owning a jet compare against each other?

Cost

When it comes to cost, private jet charter undoubtedly wins. Chartering a jet is more expensive than flying commercial, even first or business class, but the cost of owning a private jet trump that by a wide margin.

There's the obvious cost of purchase. A brand new jet costs somewhere between USD 2,000,000 to USD 500,000,000, says a Bankrate article. Add to that the various operating costs: the cost of renting space at a hangar, aircraft maintenance, insurance, and crew salaries.

According to Investopedia, private jet owners can expect to spend from USD 500,000 to USD 1,000,000 in operating costs every year.

Compare that to the cost of chartering a private jet. The most affordable option will let you buy a seat in a private flight (i.e., the flight sharing option) for a few hundred dollars one way. You can also subscribe to a membership program that will give you guaranteed flight hours and preferential pricing on private jet flights.

These affordable options can cost you hundreds to thousands but definitely not millions of dollars. Even if you go the traditional route, chartering a plane for a domestic flight can cost you three, four, or 10 thousand dollars, even more, but that's a bargain compared to the millions of dollars that you need to own and operate a private jet.

Convenience and Efficiency

Chartering a private jet is convenient and efficient.

You fly according to your schedule. You don't need to fly out earlier (even when you don't need to be at your destination just yet) because there's only one flight out every two days, and the next one will make you late.

You can choose your airport, too. You may not need to fly out from the big airports if you don't want to. Furthermore, you can dictate your route. You no longer need connecting flights when you can fly directly from where you are to where you need to be.

Additionally, when flying on a private jet charter, you don't have to wait long to board your flight. Certainly, you don't have to be at the airport hours before your flight just to make your check-in cut-off.

All of these conveniences are not exclusive to private jet charters. They are the conveniences of flying private, so naturally, owners of private jets enjoy them, too.

In fact, flying on a plane you own is more convenient than flying on a chartered flight. If you can choose your air charter schedule, the more you can set your schedule when you own the plane. Private jet charters can be unavailable when you need them, whereas your own private jet will always be available.

Additionally, you can outfit your aircraft according to your personal needs. If you want a bed, you can have it. If you need accessibility amenities built-in, you can have that, too.

Privacy and Security

Your own jet and a chartered jet are about the same. As long as you don't go the flight-sharing route, you will have as much privacy and security in a rented jet as in a plane you own.

Should You Buy or Rent a Jet?

Going by the above discussion, it is evident that chartering offers similar benefits as buying a plane: convenience, efficiency, privacy, and security. Naturally, it is more convenient and efficient to fly on your own plane than to fly on a chartered jet. The former will let you fly wherever and whenever, whereas there may be unavailability issues with the latter. 

Even so, the cost of buying a private jet is extremely prohibitive. If, for example, you are the CEO of a mobile connectivity solutions company and have to be in a different country every week to sign eSIM management contracts with mobile network operators, perhaps you need to buy a jet.

According to Avion Insurance, buying a private jet can be a wise investment if you fly at least 300 hours per year. Therefore, unless you're spending that much time in the air, perhaps you don't need to buy an airplane, and chartering a private jet should suffice.