NetJets Adds Lease Option

After pausing sales because of overwhelming demand for light jet fractional shares last summer, NetJets created a 25-hour-per-year lease program for individuals and businesses on a waiting list. With more aircraft and crews, the fractional provider opened the program a few months ago to those on the list and is now expanding it more broadly.

The lease provides 25 hours of flying time annually on an Embraer Phenom 300E, Cessna Citation XLS, Citation Sovereign, or Bombardier Challenger 350. Customers need to provide only 24 hours' notice to use the aircraft.

The program calls for a 36-month commitment and offers 320 days of guaranteed access annually, with 45 no-fly days and 45 peak-period days each year during which NetJets can adjust departure times by three more or fewer hours. The company didn’t disclose all costs for the deal since they vary based on the hours used. However, as an example, a 25-hour-a-year lease for a Phenom 300 would run about $250,000 annually.

The program is being made available after NetJets began a multibillion-dollar, multi-year investment in more than 175 aircraft, 80 of which are scheduled to be delivered this year. The company also hired more than 630 additional pilots and workers in 2021 and expects to add more than 450 pilots this year.