Private Jet Management: What Owners Pay For and What They Get

What private jet management means

Private jet management is the service an owner pays a specialist company to run their aircraft: hiring and training the crew, planning maintenance, arranging hangars, insurance and fuel, keeping records, and, if the owner wishes, flying the jet for charter customers when the owner is not using it. The owner keeps the aircraft; the management company handles the daily work of keeping it legal, airworthy and ready to fly.

Most owners of a business jet choose some form of jet management rather than running a flight department themselves. A single aircraft involves pilots, recurrent training, maintenance planning, regulatory paperwork, trip planning and a long list of suppliers. A management company spreads those overheads across a fleet and brings systems an individual owner would otherwise have to build.

This guide explains what aircraft management companies do, how aircraft management fees are usually structured, how charter revenue works when an owner's jet is flown for others, and the questions to ask before signing an agreement. We are a charter broker, not a management company: we arrange flights with licensed operators, many of which manage aircraft for owners, so we see the charter side of this arrangement every day. You can read more about how we work on the JetPriceCheck homepage.

What aircraft management companies do

The scope varies by company and by contract, but a full-service private jet management company typically covers the following.

Crew

Hiring, employing or contracting pilots and, on larger aircraft, cabin attendants. That includes recurrent training, medical certificates, duty time planning and cover for holidays and sickness. Crew is usually the largest fixed cost of operating a jet.

Maintenance and airworthiness

Tracking inspections, scheduled maintenance and airworthiness directives; arranging work with maintenance providers; managing parts and warranty claims; and keeping the aircraft's records complete. Good records protect the aircraft's value as well as its safety.

Operations and trip support

Flight planning, weather, permits, slots, handling at each airport, fuel, catering and crew hotels. For international trips this includes overflight and landing permits and customs arrangements.

Hangar, insurance and suppliers

Negotiating hangar space at the home base, placing insurance, and using the company's buying power for fuel, training and parts.

Accounting and reporting

Paying the bills, passing costs through to the owner with supporting documents, and reporting on hours flown, costs per hour and, where relevant, charter revenue.

Safety management

Running a safety management system, audits and procedures. A well-run management company will talk about its safety culture in specific terms, not general reassurances.

Owner flights and charter flights: the regulatory split

How an aircraft is flown depends on who is paying for the flight.

When the owner flies on their own aircraft, the flight is usually conducted under general operating rules; in the United States that is 14 CFR Part 91. When the aircraft is flown for paying charter customers, it must be operated by a company that holds a certificate for commercial operations. In the US that means an operator certificated under 14 CFR Part 135, and the certificate holder, not the owner, has operational control of the charter flight. The FAA explains Part 135 certification on its website. Outside the US, the equivalent is an air operator certificate issued by the national aviation authority.

This is why many aircraft management companies are also charter operators. Putting the owner's aircraft on the company's certificate lets it be chartered to the public, which can offset some of the owner's costs. It also means the aircraft, its crew and its maintenance must meet the commercial standard, which is stricter than the private one.

The line between private and commercial flying has legal consequences. Arrangements where an owner is paid for flights without the right certificate are a known problem in the industry, so owners should take specialist legal advice on how their aircraft is flown and billed. Our guide to what a charter flight is explains the passenger side of the same rules.

How aircraft management fees are usually structured

Aircraft management fees vary widely by aircraft size, base, level of service and whether the jet is on a charter certificate. We do not publish figures, because a number without the context of a specific aircraft and contract would mislead. What is useful is understanding the structure, which usually has three layers.

The management fee

A fixed monthly fee for the management company's work: oversight, administration, accounting and, often, the use of its certificate and systems. Ask exactly what the fee covers and what is billed on top.

Fixed costs passed through

Costs that arise whether or not the aircraft flies, charged to the owner at cost or with a stated markup:

• Crew salaries, benefits and training.
• Hangar rent at the home base.
• Hull and liability insurance.
• Scheduled maintenance programmes and subscriptions, such as engine or navigation database programmes.
• Software, charts and connectivity subscriptions.

Variable costs passed through

Costs that arise when the aircraft flies:

• Fuel.
• Landing, handling, parking and navigation fees.
• Crew travel, hotels and allowances.
• Catering.
• Unscheduled maintenance.

The key question for any agreement is how pass-through costs are billed. Some companies pass through at cost with invoices; others add a percentage or negotiate supplier discounts they keep. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are signing up for. Fuel is a common example: a management company with a fuel purchasing programme may achieve a lower price than an individual owner, and the contract should say who benefits.

How charter revenue works

When an owner's jet is placed on a management company's charter certificate, the company can sell flights on it when the owner is not flying. The charter customer pays the operator, and the owner receives a share of the revenue after the operator's costs and commission.

A few points shape how much this helps an owner:

• It offsets costs; it rarely covers them. Charter income can reduce the net cost of owning a jet, but owners should not expect it to make ownership profitable. Every charter hour also adds wear, maintenance reserves and crew time.
• Revenue splits and commissions vary. Agreements set out the operator's share, the owner's share, and which costs are deducted before the split. Ask for a worked example based on a real month.
• Availability matters. If the owner blocks out many days, or wants the aircraft always available, there is little room to charter it.
• The charter standard applies. Aircraft on a certificate must meet commercial maintenance and crew rules, which can add cost.
• Wear and interior condition. More hours mean more wear on seats, carpets and galley. Some owners limit charter to protect the interior.

From the charter customer's side, which is where we sit, managed aircraft are a large part of the charter fleet in many markets. When we request quotes, the operator may offer an aircraft it owns or one it manages for an owner; either way, the operator holds operational control and is responsible for the flight. Our private jet companies guide explains how operators, brokers and management companies relate to one another.

Management versus the alternatives

Full ownership with management is one of several ways to fly privately. The right choice depends on how many hours you fly, how much you want to be involved and how much capital you want to commit.

Option	What you commit	Who runs the aircraft	Best suited to
Whole aircraft, managed	Full purchase plus fixed and variable costs	Management company	High annual use, one aircraft type, desire for control
Whole aircraft, own flight department	Full purchase plus an in-house team	The owner's own staff	Large organisations with several aircraft
Fractional ownership	A share plus monthly and hourly fees	The fractional programme	Regular use without running an aircraft
Jet card	Prepaid funds or hours	The card provider's operators	Predictable rates and short-notice flying
On-demand charter	Nothing up front	The operator for each trip	Occasional or varied flying

Our fractional jet ownership guide and jet cards guide cover those options in depth. For comparison, you can see how our estimates for on-demand charter are built on the private jet cost page; the rates there come from a pricing model based on published market rates, and they are estimates, not quotes.

Questions to ask a private jet management company

Before signing, ask each company the same questions and compare the answers in writing.

1. Scope. Exactly which services are included in the management fee, and which are billed separately?
2. Pass-through billing. Are costs passed through at cost, with a markup, or at a negotiated rate? Will you see the supplier invoices?
3. Crew. Who employs the crew, how are they trained, and who covers absences?
4. Maintenance. Which maintenance providers are used, and who approves major work and its cost?
5. Safety. What safety management system and audits does the company run?
6. Charter. Will the aircraft be chartered? On what revenue terms, with what limits on hours and use, and how are charter costs separated from yours?
7. Reporting. What will you receive each month, and in what detail?
8. Termination. How can either side end the agreement, and what happens to crew, records and prepaid items?
9. Insurance. Who is named on the policies, and what are the limits?
10. Regulatory structure. How are owner flights and charter flights separated legally, and who holds operational control on each?

Tax treatment, depreciation, ownership structures and registration are questions for specialist aviation lawyers and tax advisers, and are outside the scope of this guide.

Choosing a home base and a management company

Two decisions shape the day-to-day cost and convenience of jet management more than any other: where the aircraft lives, and which company runs it.

The home base

The aircraft's base decides where the crew live, where the hangar is and how far the jet flies empty to reach you. A base close to where you usually depart cuts positioning time, which matters for your own trips and for charter, because charter customers near the base are easier to serve. Hangar availability and cost differ sharply between airports, and busy business aviation airports near large cities can have waiting lists. Our airports directory shows which airports serve business aviation in each city.

The company

Management companies range from firms running a handful of aircraft to large operators with fleets across several countries. Smaller firms often offer a more personal service and closer contact with the crew; larger ones bring purchasing power, spare crew and backup aircraft when yours is in maintenance. Ask to speak to the people who would actually manage your aircraft, not only the sales team, and ask how the company handles a day when your jet is unexpectedly unavailable.

Whichever you choose, agree the reporting format and the approval limits for spending at the start. Most disputes between owners and managers come from costs the owner did not expect, not from the flying itself.

When management is not the answer

For many people who fly privately, owning and managing an aircraft is more commitment than the flying justifies. If you fly a modest number of hours a year, or need different sizes of aircraft for different trips, on-demand charter lets you pay only for the flights you take. Our aircraft overview shows the categories available, and our private jet sizes guide helps match an aircraft to a trip. For companies, our corporate jet charter page explains how business travel is usually arranged without owning an aircraft.

Private jet management FAQ

What does a private jet management company do?

It runs the aircraft for the owner: crew, maintenance, operations, hangar, insurance, accounting and safety, and often charter sales when the owner is not flying.

How are aircraft management fees charged?

Usually as a fixed monthly management fee plus fixed and variable operating costs passed through to the owner, either at cost or with a markup. The agreement should set out which applies.

Can a managed private jet make money from charter?

Charter revenue can offset part of the cost of ownership, but it rarely covers it. Each charter hour also adds wear, maintenance and crew costs.

Who is responsible for a charter flight on a managed aircraft?

The operator that holds the commercial certificate. In the US that is a Part 135 certificate holder, which has operational control of the charter flight, not the aircraft owner.

Is aircraft management the same as fractional ownership?

No. With management you own the whole aircraft and pay a company to run it. With fractional ownership you buy a share of an aircraft in a programme that runs the fleet and schedules it across many owners.