The new jet card program from Volato offers some unique features, that could be very appealing for anyone willing to be flexible with their private flying, and for whom the HondaJet meets their mission requirements.
Background
Volato launched a fractional program on the HondaJet in 2021 and has rapidly grown their fleet, to have 11 planes, with 14 more on order and expected to be delivered by the end of 2023. These planes fly all over the USA from the six bases, consisting of Atlanta, Baltimore, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, San Diego and St. Augustine.
The Volato HondaJets are configured with four club seats, and while the maximum range is about 1,400nm, Volato likes to talk about a range of about 1,000nm, which is more realistic with several passengers.
The fractional program has a unique revenue share component for owners, that starts at $1,000 an hour and goes up to $1,250 per hour.
“The industry has received an influx of leisure travelers who now represent the majority of private jet card aviation usage.” said Matt Liotta, Co-Founder and CEO. “The Stretch Jet Card was designed for this growing segment of people who enjoy flexibility in their lives and rewards them for it. We anticipate strong interest from those in existing, fixed schedule programs who can secure a Stretch Jet Card for supplemental lift and potentially reduce their cost of flying by being rewarded when they or their loved ones can be flexible.”
New Jet Card
This new Stretch Jet Card program on the Volato HondaJet fleet, is priced at $5,500 per hour inclusive of fuel fees. So, 10 hours are $55,000 and 25 hours are $137,500 and there are no minimum flight times.
This is a very competitive rate in the current environment, where (larger) light jets are in the region of $8,000 an hour.
The jet card agreement is valid for 24 months and unused hours are refundable at any time.
The program has two interesting differentiators:
- There is a repositioning cost, which is unusual in a jet card program. Most other jet cards do not charge any repositioning fees. If you fly directly out of one of the six Volato bases there is no repositioning cost, but for any other starting locations you pay the standard hourly rate for getting the plane to you.
- The program offers “Stretch Credits”, which are bonus minutes that you can earn as a cardholder. There are two ways to earn these credits.
Stretch Credits
After you request a flight on your card, Volato may propose a variation of the time or location. If you are flexible and are willing to adjust your flight time you can earn 6 minutes in stretch credits for a 1/4 day adjustment, 12 minutes for a 1/2 day move and 24 minutes for a change of a full day. If you accept a different airport to your requested one, you can earn 30 minutes in stretch credits.
In addition, for each hour of repositioning time, you earn 30 minutes of stretch credits. So, while you pay the full hourly rate for the repositioning flight (as noted in 1. above) to bring the plane to your location, you get back half of this time as credits.
After you have used your paid for hours, you can then use the stretch credits for flights. Although the stretch credits cannot be used on peak days. For example, if you were flexible on your flight times and locations and say earned 90 minutes of stretch credits over the course of a ten hour card, you would end up with a total of 11.5 hours for $55,000.
Another nice, and unusual feature of the card is that there is no minimum flight time.
“The Stretch Jet Card not only rewards those that enjoy a flexible itinerary, but it also increases operational efficiency and revenue as we can allocate flights when our fractional fleet owners are not flying themselves.” Said LouAnn Gray, Sales Manager for Stretch Jet Card and Volato Charter. “As our HondaJet fractional owners receive a revenue share of every live mission, they are happy to see increased aircraft utilization without impacting their own travel schedules. It’s a win-win.”