When It Comes to Private Jet Perks, the Sky’s the Limit

With competition among private aviation firms as fierce as ever, the perks available to new and existing customers keep getting bigger. Gone are the days when complimentary transfers and customized in-flight amenities moved the needle. The industry’s top providers have entered into a virtual arms race, trying to out-do one another with one splashy offering after the next.

“The partnerships with celebrity chefs, VIP access to famous vineyards and sporting events, being invited to play in golf pro-ams … these comped memberships and perks valued at tens of thousands of dollars are part of a tried and tested marketing strategy among private jet companies,” says Doug Gollan, president and editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a buyer’s guide that tracks pricing, rules, and policies for more than 80 jet card, membership, and fractional providers.

Jet cards are a way to charter a private flight by pre-paying into a company’s program; a membership requires customers to pay an annual fee to unlock private aviation services; and fractional ownership allows individuals or businesses to share the cost and use of a private jet.

Key players such as NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet, Wheels Up, and OneFlight have hospitality areas at in-demand events such as Formula 1, the Masters, and the Super Bowl, “places customers want to go, and where you want to make sure you are getting the VIP treatment because the crowds are overwhelming,” Gollan says.

Among the newest curated experiences and events for VistaJet members include a luxury cacao travel experience in Ecuador.
Courtesy of VistaJet

Though the perks don’t motivate users to pick a company, they play an important role for the jet companies, Gollan says.

“The perks don’t drive savvy [ultra-high-net-worth] consumers to choose one company over the other. However, they generate awareness of the companies via media coverage; they spark interest via partnering with luxury partner companies—fashion houses, private vacation clubs, luxury hotels, and automakers—and they allow the partners to market to each other’s clients,” he says. “They also allow executives to mix with their customers.”

This is important because there is a high cost of acquisition when it comes to finding potential clients who can afford private aviation. According to Gollum’s latest subscriber survey, around 40% said they were considering switching providers.

“That’s in line with previous years,” he says. “The perks and the personal interaction can be important in getting renewals.”

Earlier this year, flyExclusive announced that eligible customers will be granted one 12-month complimentary membership to Inspirato, which allows participants to book luxury travel experiences—including five-star vacation homes from Breckenridge, Colo., to Bordeaux, France—without paying a membership fee.

“We do see a wide variety of short-term perks offered in today’s market to win business,” says Brad Blettner, flyExclusive’s chief revenue officer. “We work to build relationships and lean into what our customers value—time, choice, and control—because every minute matters.”

Since becoming a flyExclusive client in 2020, a Delray Beach, Florida-based CEO of a software company who declined to be identified, has attended a number of private member events, from fishing trips and the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst—where flyExclusive hosted around 100 guests in a luxury suite—to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla..

“In terms of the additional stuff, it’s icing on the cake. We’ve had amazing experiences,” he says. “It’s more than just a jet card. It’s like joining a real club with events you can look forward to. The perks definitely enhance customer loyalty.”

Another provider famous for its events is Wheels Up, whose members receive an invitation to join the brand every year for the Masters. During the golf tournament, the “Wheels Up Clubhouse” offers an array of luxury hospitality, including food, beverages, and entertainment.

Sentient Jet, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, has added 12 partners—ranging from high-end hotels to luxury leather goods brands—to its latest “Exclusive Benefits Guide,” an annual premium perk available exclusively to its jet card owners.

Now in its 11th edition, the guide includes benefits across the worlds of travel, food and beverage, wellness, sporting events, and beyond. The estimated total value exceeds US$225,000, including exclusive discounts and partnerships with brands such as Auberge Resorts, Human Longevity Wellness & Medical Testing, and the Little Nell in Aspen.

“Sentient’s Exclusive Benefits Guide is like the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog, except everything is free or discounted. It’s impressive,” says Gollan of Private Jet Card Comparisons.

The provider’s best-known perk can be enjoyed every May through its partnership with the Kentucky Derby. (Sentient was the first private aviation partner of Churchill Downs beginning in 2016.) Card owners enjoy a “behind the gates” experience including access to Sentient’s private suite, where they can mingle with celebrity guests. A highlight is the annual Derby Day breakfast, a French-inspired bash in the Hotel Distil hosted by celebrity chef and Sentient Jet brand ambassador Bobby Flay. (As an extra perk for new card owners, Sentient offers a complimentary hour of flight time and a US$2,500 betting voucher.)

“Our longstanding partnership with the Kentucky Derby and Bobby Flay goes beyond a hosted breakfast—it’s a reflection of how we like to curate experiences for our card owners,” says Kirsten LaMotte, senior vice president, business development, partnerships and events at Sentient Jet. “We are proud to help our card owners focus less on the stress of getting to their events, and more on helping create unique travel memories.”

Card owners enjoy a “behind the gates” experience at the Kentucky Derby including access to Sentient’s private suite, where they can mingle with celebrity guests.
Meagan Jordan

VistaJet offers its biggest perks through its “Private World” portfolio of bespoke adventures crafted by the provider and its network of hundreds of trusted partners. In 2023, member requests more than doubled from the previous year, and 2024 is on track to surpass this, according to the company.

“We view Private World as a valuable enhancement to our members’ lives that extends beyond their time spent in the air,” says Matteo Atti, VistaJet’s chief marketing officer. “Private World is more than hedonistic; it’s a testament to our dedication to our members’ lives, in the air and on the ground.”

Notable examples include personalised wine tours, rejuvenating wellness retreats, and ultimate Formula 1 packages—a benefit of VistaJet’s partnership with Ferrari—featuring private dinners with drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

The newest curated experiences and events for VistaJet members include a luxury cacao travel experience in Ecuador, and a humpback whale helicopter safari in Mozambique.

Like most providers, VistaJet refrains from commenting on specific customers.

Nearing 25 years in business, Flexjet has introduced its “Red Label” program. Offered to super-midsize aircraft fractional owners and above, key features include flight crews assigned to a single, specific aircraft, custom cabin interiors, and exclusive experiences such as the inaugural “Chairman’s Club” event. Clients have jetted to the likes of Anguilla and Lake Como, where they’ve been hosted by Flexjet’s chairman Kenn Ricci and CEO Mike Silvestro. (The only caveat was that the owners were required to use their fractional share to travel to the destination—the rest of the trip was complimentary.)

At the Anguilla event, 12 couples enjoyed accommodations at Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel, along with golfing and spa experiences, an exclusive luncheon on a private island, and a fireworks display that concluded the extended weekend. Earlier this year, 15 couples were hosted at Lake Como’s Villa d’Este while enjoying one-of-a-kind experiences including shopping with a Vogue fashion editor and a helicopter excursion to Lake Iseo where they enjoyed a private tour of Ferretti Group’s Riva shipyard (a tour not available to the public).

Next year, Ricci and Silvestro will be hosting the next Chairman’s Club event in San Miguel, Mexico.

According to David Gitman, CEO of Monarch Air Group, a Fort Lauderdale-based private jet charter provider, the private aviation industry has been experiencing a correction following a surge of interest during the pandemic.

“As the market cools off, the consumer has many more choices now as there are more available aircraft, compared to the shortage we experienced a few years earlier. This causes charter companies to provide more perks to the consumer,” he says. “In my opinion, the main perk that is happening right now is the competition between the various private jet providers. Clients that are not locked in to an agreement are benefiting from this market correction.”

Developer efforts to convert emptying office towers into residential buildings have largely gone nowhere. That may be finally changing.

The prospect of transforming unused office space into much-needed housing seemed a logical way to resolve both issues. But few conversions moved forward because the cost of acquiring even an aging office building remained too high for the economics to pencil out.

Now that office vacancy has reached record levels, sellers are willing to take what they can. That has caused values to plunge for nothing-special buildings in second-rate locations, making the numbers on many of those properties now viable for conversions.

Seventy-three U.S. conversion projects have been completed this year, slightly up from 63 in 2023, according to real-estate services firm CBRE Group. But another 309 projects are planned or under way with about three-quarters of them office to residential. In all, about 38,000 units are in the works, CBRE said.

“The pipeline keeps replenishing itself,” said Julie Whelan , CBRE’s senior vice president of research.

In the first six months of this year, half of the $1.12 billion in Manhattan office-building purchases were by developers planning conversion projects, according to Ariel Property Advisors.

While New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., are leading the way, conversions also are popping up in Cincinnati, Phoenix, Houston and Dallas. A venture of General Motors and Bedrock announced Monday a sweeping redevelopment of Detroit’s famed Renaissance Center that includes converting one of its office buildings into apartments and a hotel.

In Cleveland, 12% of its total office inventory is either undergoing conversions or is planned for conversion. Many projects there are clustered around the city’s 10-acre Public Square. The former transit hub went through a $50 million upgrade about 10 years ago, adding fountains, an amphitheater and green paths.

“You end up with so much space that you paid so little for, that you can create amenities that you would never build if you were doing new construction,” said Daniel Neidich, chief executive of Dune Real Estate Partners, a private-equity firm that has teamed up with developer TF Cornerstone to invest $1 billion on about 20 conversion projects throughout the U.S. in the next three years.

Conversions won’t solve the office crisis, or make much of a dent in the U.S. housing shortage . And many obsolete office buildings don’t work as conversion projects because their floors are too big or due to other design issues. The 71 million square feet of conversions that are planned or under way only account for 1.7% of U.S. office inventory, CBRE said.

But city planners believe that conversions will play an important part in revitalising depressed business districts, which have been hollowed out by weak return-to-office rates in many places.

And developers are starting to find ways around longstanding obstacles in larger buildings. A venture led by GFP Real Estate is installing two light wells in a Manhattan office-conversion project at 25 Water St. to ensure that all the apartments will get sufficient light and air.

Cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Calgary, Alberta, have started to roll out new subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives to boost conversions.

The projects are breathing new life into iconic properties that no longer work as office buildings. The Flatiron Building in New York will be redeveloped into condominiums. In Cincinnati, the owner of the Union Central Life Insurance Building is converting it into more than 280 units of housing with a rooftop pool, health club and commercial space.

In the first couple of years of the pandemic, office building owners were able to hold on to their properties because of government assistance and because tenants continued to pay rent under long-term leases.

As leases matured and demand remained anaemic, landlords began to capitulate and dump buildings at enormous discounts to peak values. In Washington, D.C., for example, Post Brothers last year paid about $66 million for 2100 M Street, which had sold for as much as $150 million in 2007.

Washington, D.C., has been particularly hard hit by the office downturn because the federal government has been especially permissive in allowing employees to work from home .

“We’re able to make it work as a conversion because it was no longer priced as though it could be repositioned as office,” said Matt Pestronk , Post’s president and co-founder.

Increasingly, more deals are taking place behind the scenes as converters reach deals with creditors to buy debt on troubled office buildings and then push out the owners. GFP Real Estate reduced costs of its $240 million conversion of 25 Water Street by buying the debt at a discount and cutting deals with tenants to exit the building before their leases matured.

One of the first projects planned by the venture of Dune and TF Cornerstone likely will be the Wanamaker Building in Philadelphia. TF Cornerstone just purchased the debt on the office space in the building and is in the process of taking title.

“The banks are foreclosing and doing short sales,” said Neidich, Dune’s CEO. “There’s a ton of it going on.”

In Washington, D.C., a conversion of the old Peace Corps headquarters building near Dupont Circle is 70% leased just four months after opening, said developer Gary Cohen . Rents are higher than expected.

“If that’s the way to get people downtown, that’s what we have to do,” Cohen said.

Not all developers agree that the economics of conversions work, even at today’s low prices. Miki Naftali , who has converted more than five New York properties over the years, said he has been very actively looking at conversion candidates but hasn’t yet found a deal that works financially.

One of the issues facing converters is that even if an office building is dying, it often has a few existing tenants who would need to be relocated. Some buildings would need atriums to ensure that all the apartments have sufficient light and air.

“When you start to add everything up, if your costs get close to new construction, that’s when you get to the point that it doesn’t make financial sense,” Naftali said.

Some landlords are including clauses in leases that give them the right to evict tenants to make room for a major conversion. Others are keeping a small ownership stake when they sell buildings so that they can learn the conversion process for future buildings.

“The world is looking at these assets in a different way,” said developer William Rudin , whose company decided to learn the conversion process by keeping a stake in 55 Broad Street, a downtown New York office building it sold last year to a converter.

When It Comes to Private Jet Perks, the Sky’s the Limit

Office-to-residential conversions are gaining traction, helping revitalize depressed business districts