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Members Only
Mary Lou Pickel
07/01/2004
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Three years ago Bob Cuillo, a long-time business jet owner, decided to let
someone else worry about his plane for a change. After years of flying in his
own Cessna Citation 2, this entrepreneur and Broadway producer was all too
familiar with the costs and obligations associated with aircraft ownership. When
his plane was idle, he recalls, he still had to pay the pilots, insurance and
hangar fees. “It’s like owning a horse,” he says. “It always eats.”
Current
business activities occasionally call him away from his home in New York to
Tuscany, where he owns two wineries and a bed and breakfast. But Cuillo, who is
in his 60s, no longer travels enough to justify aircraft ownership.
When he
finally decided to relinquish his Cessna, he considered fractional ownership,
but shied away from the risks associated with the resale of fractional shares,
particularly during a recession. “A lot of guys who went fractional not only
lost their equity in their planes, they lost a lot of money,” he says.
He
turned instead to jet card membership, a relatively new aircraft option offered
by many leading fractional and charter services. For $189,500 in up-front
membership fees, Cuillo joined the Premier Fleet Jet Membership Program offered
by Bombardier Skyjet, a large aircraft charter program manager. He contracted
for 50 flight hours at the set rate of $1,550 per hour, and is guaranteed
service on a midsize Learjet 60. The program allows unlimited one-way travel,
which in a standard charter contract would significantly increase fees. “I
thought this was a great idea,” he says. “I can fly not only when I want, I can
fly what I want.”
Those of us who own planes, either fully or fractionally,
enjoy unprecedented convenience, comfort and flexibility as we travel. Yet
ownership certainly has its burdens, principally the administrative obligations
and financial risks that accompany these assets. While the traditional
alternative to ownership, aircraft charter, frees us from these challenges, it
may also deliver an inconsistent user experience.
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