April 11, 2005

Prepaid cards simplify private jet service

Some large companies on the go still buy corporate jets, commonly through fractional ownership interests. But now the ultimate business travel perk is widely purchased by the hour with prepaid cards popularly known as "jet cards," similar in function to cards issued for other prepaid services like long-distance phone calls.

These prepaid cards for private flight service have helped carriers like Delta Air Lines attract more business. "Our revenue flight hours have tripled in the last year," said Julie Stone, a spokeswoman for Delta AirElite, the Cincinnati-based charter arm of the Atlanta-based airline.

Card-issuing private jet companies that compete with Delta AirElite include Marquis Jet and Sentient Jet, Stone said. "Jet cards are a relatively new phenomenon for everybody," which emerged as an easy alternative to owning aircraft, she said.

And with a fractional ownership, "you have to make a large outlay of cash" among other complications, she said.

Delta, which has operated private jet service accident-free since 1984, has marketed the service since September 2003 through prepaid cards. Issued in increments of 25, 50 and 100 hours of charter flight time, Delta AirElite cards are good for service on the buyer's choice of Bombardier, Cessna, Gulfstream and Learjet aircraft.

Prices for jet cards issued by Delta and other carriers start near $100,000 for 25 hours of charter flight time, or about $4,000 per hour. The hourly price per passenger can be substantially lower, however, because private charter operators often carry more than one passenger per flight without charging substantially more. Charter jet operators also may offer price discounts to encourage customers to take round trips, rather than one-way flights.

Some charter flights are sold through credit cards issued by third parties that sweeten the purchase of private jet service. In October 2004, for example, American Express started offering Platinum and Centurion card holders a selection of incentives to buy private jet service from any of six leading sources, including CitationShares, Delta AirElite, and Sentient Jet, on a single-flight or membership-card basis. American Express said the companies have aircraft seating capacity ranging from one passenger to 440 passengers.

Among other giveaways for charging private-jet purchases to their American Express accounts, Platinum card holders can get one free hour of flight time and Centurion card holders can get two hours for every 25 they buy from Greenwich, Conn.-based CitationShares, which also sells cards in increments as low as 20 hours.

Buying a Delta AirElite card with an American Express Platinum card is worth 90,000 bonus miles in the Delta SkyMiles frequent flier program (worth two first-class domestic tickets on Delta Air Lines) and with the Centurion card the customer gets a bonus of 180,000 miles (worth two first-class international tickets on Delta).

Upgrades on the ground could further boost the ascendant demand for private air travel, Carlos Bonzon, interim director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Aviation and Miami International Airport, said in a Feb. 10 speech.

"While our legacy carriers at MIA are losing customers to private jets, our general aviation airports are ideally situated to take advantage of the explosive growth," Bonzon said, referring to Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, located south of Miami International, and Opa-locka Airport, located to the north. A corporate jet service and maintenance facility recently opened at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport. Bonzon called it "the kind of investment that needs to be made." At Opa-locka Airport, he said, "we need a new tower, and we are considering a runway extension to make it a first-class general aviation airport."

MIAMI-DADE
MORE PUNCTUAL

More flights were on time at Miami International Airport than at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in February, according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The monthly report on airline customer service said 79.2 percent of the flight arrivals and 83.2 percent of the departures were on time at the Miami airport during the month.

The comparable on-time rates for the Broward County airport were 70.1 percent for arrivals and 74.2 percent for departures.

SNACKS-FOR-SALE
PROGRAMS INTRODUCED

American Eagle started selling snack boxes aboard its aircraft on April 1, and United Airlines expanded its own snack sales to more of its flights on April 3.

American Eagle now offers two snack boxes, each for $3, on most of its flights. One contains a multi-grain bar, bagel chips, cheese spread and other items; the other crackers, beef salami slices, cheddar cheese, fruit mix and cookies.

United offers four types of snack boxes for $5 each, which previously had been available only to customers of its Ted service. One of the selections comes packed with crackers, sunflower seed spread, a granola bar, fruit bowl, dried fruit and nut mix, biscotti and green tea mix.

The four snack box selections are available on United Airlines flights of 3 ½ hours to 5 hours and on Ted flights longer than 2 ½ hours.

ONE IN FOUR SUFFERS
SLEEP DEPRIVATION

One in four business travelers admitted to falling asleep in a meeting due to lack of rest and nearly one in five said they gave a bad presentation or lost business due to fatigue, a survey by British Airways and a research partner showed.

Of 1,000 business travelers surveyed, 70 percent said they felt less productive after a business trip. The survey showed the incidence of travel fatigue was greatest in four professional fields: government and politics, legal and security services, computer and software services, and banking, finance and investment.

LIGHTER BAN
BEGINNING THURSDAY

Lighters will be seized at airport security checkpoints by agents of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration starting Thursday when full enforcement of the ban is scheduled to begin. The TSA has been allowing airline passengers to carry up to two lighters in their carry-on bags.

Lighters of all types have been added to the TSA list of items prohibited beyond airport checkpoints as a result of an anti-terrorism law President Bush signed into law in December. The ban applies to butane, absorbed-fuel (or Zippo type), and electrically powered lighters.

The TSA still continues to allow an airline passenger to bring up to four books of safety matches in carry-on baggage but not in checked baggage.