Jet Out completes 17-jet Cessna Citation CJ4 Gen2 fleet, plans further fleet and base growth
Why It MattersDay-based co-ownership programs built on local pilots and maintenance staff at each base grow by adding bases and standardized aircraft, with repositioning fees pricing members' distance from those bases.
What happened
Jet Out has completed its fleet agreement with Textron Aviation, giving it 17 Cessna Citation CJ4 Gen2 light jets, 15 of which are currently in service. CEO Matt Crivello and President Joe Wild made the announcement at the National Business Aviation Association annual convention in Las Vegas.
The company was launched in 2018 but did not expand its version of fractional ownership and jet cards, offered as co-ownership and co-leases, until the arrival of the Textron Aviation jets. The executives declined to say whether the next step will be another order for light jets or an expansion into another aircraft category.
Jet Out also plans to grow by adding bases. It has expanded from its Milwaukee home base to Miami, Scottsdale and, most recently, Fort Worth. The program is day-based and offers as-available access without guaranteed availability, although the executives say members nearly always get the access they need. Members pay repositioning fees to and from base airports if they start or end flights outside zones radiating from UES, SDL, OPF and FTW, because pilots are based locally alongside the aircraft. The executives said Jet Out sold 75% of the repositioning flights in the Midwest-South Florida cor…
Wild said the local model, with pilots, mechanics, detailers and other staff at each base, keeps the aircraft flying seven days a week, with aircraft returning to base each night when possible for checks and servicing. The company recently opened its first private lounge at Waukesha County Airport, its Milwaukee base, and sees lounges as a potential part of its future approach at its bases.
Pricing
A lease providing 20 days a year is equivalent to a 1/16th fractional share, according to Crivello. The hourly rate on all programs, before the cost of the lease or ownership, is $2,300 per hour including fuel.
The 10-day-per-year co-lease sells for $127,000, or $12,700 per day, plus the hourly rate. The executives said the current format will not change alongside their next expansion moves.
Industry impact & what to watch
A fleet built on a single light-jet type, with pilots and maintenance staff stationed at each base, ties the economics of this kind of program to local density. Each new base brings its own aircraft, crew and overnight servicing routine, and the repositioning fees that members pay outside the base zones are how that geography reaches their bills. Day-based access without guaranteed availability sits at the lower-commitment end of the fractional and jet card spectrum, which is why the model depends on members' flexibility as much as on fleet size.
The executives' refusal to say whether the next move is more light jets or a different aircraft category leaves the fleet direction open. Base additions beyond Fort Worth and the future role of private lounges, which the company sees as a potential part of its approach at its bases, are the other developments the executives pointed to.
