In a continuing sign of the growth of private aviation, Sentient reported sales have reached levels not seen since before the peak of the financial crisis in 2008. With this increase in travel and client demand, Sentient has expanded its jet card offering by adding a 25-hour Super-Mid jet card and a 25-hour Heavy jet card.
"We started to see a sharp increase in jet card sales at the beginning of the year – a trend that continued throughout the summer," said Andrew Collins, President of Sentient Jet. "We sold about 11,000 hours from May through August, equating to roughly 450 jet cards, and saw a 10% increase in total hours flown over this period last year."
With these new charter jet card offerings, Sentient now has four jet size options, allowing clients to purchase 25 hours of flight time on Super-Mid and Heavy aircraft – in addition to Light and Mid – in two age classes (Preferred and Select). The new jet card options offer more passenger room and longer flights, supporting this resurgence of private jet travel for both business and leisure. Pricing starts at $124,825 for 25 hours on a light jet and for the heavy jet preferred card is $350,325 including FET and fuel surcharge.
"As expected, the strong sales have equated to an increase in flight time among our overall client base," said Collins. "This has been our biggest flying summer in five years and we're seeing the market return to pre-financial crisis levels. This gives us confidence to make the investment in launching these two new Jet Card products and we expect private jet travel during this winter's holiday season to also return to levels not seen in many years." Collins added that about 85 percent of customers are from the U.S.
Some of their most popular summer destinations included Aspen, CO, Nantucket, MA, and Saranac Lake, NY.