Aircraft & Fleet

JetCard features a full aircraft market with real-world types, operating costs based on manufacturer data, and a lifecycle from purchase through operation to resale.

Aircraft Categories

Aircraft Market

Browse available aircraft on the Aircraft Market page. The market maintains approximately 350 listings across all categories — a mix of factory-new and pre-owned aircraft.

• Factory new — one permanent listing per type, full condition, no broker fee
• Pre-owned — rotating listings with varying hours, condition, and pricing. Sold through brokers with a fee based on your reputation tier

Click the info icon on any aircraft to view the full detail page with specifications, operating economics, condition assessment, and provenance history.

Buying Aircraft

Select an aircraft and click Buy to purchase. You’ll register a tail number with a country-appropriate format (N for US, G- for UK, etc.) and optionally assign it to a pilot on your roster.

The purchase price deducts from your operator’s balance. Broker fees apply to pre-owned aircraft only — rates improve as your reputation grows:

• Rep 0+: 8-10% broker fee
• Rep 40+: 5-7%
• Rep 60+: 3-4%

Leasing Aircraft

Can’t afford to buy outright? Lease an aircraft with weekly payments. Leases require JetCard Care enrollment (mandatory maintenance coverage). When the lease is fully paid, the aircraft transfers to your operator permanently. See Banking & Finance for payment details.

Operating Costs

Every flight incurs real costs based on the aircraft type:

• Fuel — calculated from real GPH burn rates at $6.00/gal Jet-A, multiplied by flight hours
• FBO fees — flat rate by category (see table above)
• JetCard Care — hourly maintenance rate if enrolled

Condition & Maintenance

Aircraft condition degrades at 0.33% per flight hour — roughly aligned with real-world A-check intervals. A brand-new aircraft at 100% condition will drop to the 50% dispatch floor after approximately 150 hours of flying. Below 50%, the aircraft is grounded and cannot be dispatched until repaired.

As an aircraft accumulates total airframe hours, its maximum condition ceiling also decreases — a high-time airframe can never be restored to factory-new condition, just as in real life. This ceiling drops gradually based on total hours and bottoms out at 10%.

Maximum Condition Ceiling

As an aircraft accumulates total airframe hours, its maximum restorable condition decreases permanently. No amount of maintenance — JetCard Care or manual repair — can push condition above this ceiling. It reflects the real-world reality that aging airframes require progressively more invasive maintenance while delivering diminishing returns.

The rate of ceiling decay depends on the aircraft’s airframe life — a design-hours value that varies by type:

The grounding threshold is the point where the max condition ceiling hits the 50% dispatch floor — beyond this, the aircraft is permanently grounded regardless of maintenance. The formula is the same for all types: the ceiling drops from 100% to 40% over the aircraft’s airframe life, reaching the 50% floor at roughly 83% of total life.

Condition ceiling at key milestones (as % of airframe life):

⚠ Warning: Approaching Grounding Threshold

When your aircraft crosses 75% of its airframe life, the max condition ceiling is down to 55% — just 5 points above the dispatch floor. Every hour flown brings you closer to a permanently grounded aircraft. No repair or JetCard Care enrollment can restore it above the ceiling.

Plan your exit before this point. Sell the aircraft while it still has dispatchable life and resale value. A Very Light Jet hits the danger zone at ~3,750 hours; a Gulfstream doesn’t get there until ~12,000. Know your aircraft’s limits.

You have two options for managing condition: JetCard Care (predictable, automatic) or manual repair (cheaper sometimes, expensive others).

JetCard Care

JetCard Care is JetCard’s version of a real-world hourly maintenance program — similar to programs like Pratt & Whitney’s Eagle Service Plan, Rolls-Royce CorporateCare, or JSSI’s hourly cost programs. These programs let operators pay a fixed hourly rate into a maintenance fund in exchange for predictable, covered maintenance events. No surprise invoices, no grounded aircraft waiting on parts quotes.

In JetCard, enrolling in JetCard Care means:

• A fixed hourly rate is charged automatically every flight, based on aircraft type
• Condition is restored to the aircraft’s maximum ceiling after every trip — no gaps, no grounding
• Enrollment is mandatory on all leased aircraft
• You can enroll or unenroll owned aircraft at any time from the Company Fleet page

JetCard Care rates by category:

The tradeoff is straightforward: you pay every hour you fly, but you never get grounded and you never get a surprise repair bill.

Manual Repair

Without JetCard Care, condition degrades flight by flight until you decide to repair. You request a repair quote from the Company Fleet page, and the system generates a cost based on:

1. The JCC hourly rate for that aircraft type (used as the cost basis)
2. The condition deficit — how far below maximum the aircraft has fallen
3. Estimated deferred maintenance hours — derived from the deficit and total airframe time
4. A randomized multiplier between 0.5x and 2.5x, skewed higher for high-hour airframes

The quote is persistent — it never decreases. If you fly the aircraft again before repairing, the next quote can only go up. This simulates the reality that deferred maintenance gets more expensive the longer you wait.

Repair restores the aircraft to its maximum condition ceiling (not necessarily 100% — that depends on total airframe hours).

Cost Comparison: Citation Latitude

Here’s what maintenance looks like on a Cessna Citation Latitude (Super Midsize, JCC rate $500/hr) over a realistic operating schedule:

Scenario: 10 hours of flying per week

The lucky manual repair pilot saved $45,500 over 14 weeks. The unlucky one paid $3,500 more than JetCard Care — and both risked getting grounded at 50% if they’d pushed one more week.

The Gamble

Manual repair is a bet. The randomization means you might save 50% compared to JetCard Care — or you might pay double. The variables that push costs higher:

• More deferred hours — the longer you wait, the bigger the base cost
• Higher airframe time — the multiplier range skews upward on high-hour aircraft (a 500-hour airframe rolls 0.5x–1.5x; a 10,000-hour airframe rolls 1.0x–2.5x)
• Flying after quoting — the quote never decreases, only recalculates upward if you fly again before repairing

JetCard Care removes the gamble entirely. For operators running multiple aircraft on tight schedules, the predictability is worth the premium. For a single-aircraft owner flying light hours, rolling the dice on manual repair can pay off — if you’re willing to accept the risk of a bad quote or a grounded aircraft at the wrong time.

Depreciation

Every flight hour reduces your aircraft’s current value. Depreciation is financial only — it affects what the aircraft is worth on paper and at resale, but it doesn’t affect performance or operations. A $19M aircraft with 2,000 hours on the books flies exactly the same as one fresh off the lot — it’s just worth less.

Each aircraft type has a depreciation rate applied per flight hour. The value floors at 10% of the original purchase price — no aircraft depreciates to zero.

Depreciation by Example: Citation Latitude

Purchase price: $19,000,000 · Depreciation rate: 0.0075% per hour

Smaller aircraft depreciate faster in percentage terms. A Very Light Jet at 0.015% per hour loses half its value in roughly 3,300 hours, while an Ultra Long Range jet at 0.0047% per hour holds value much longer — reflecting the real-world market where larger, more capable aircraft retain value better.

Depreciation as a Business Decision

Depreciation is the hidden cost of ownership. A profitable charter route that covers fuel, FBO fees, and maintenance might still be losing you money if the aircraft is depreciating faster than you’re earning. The Financials tab in the Dispatch Module shows your pre-flight cost estimate — but depreciation isn’t included there, because it’s a long-term erosion, not a per-flight expense. Smart operators track their fleet value on the Company Fleet page and factor depreciation into their route planning.

Selling Aircraft

Sell aircraft from the Company Fleet page. The sale price is the aircraft’s current depreciated value, minus a broker’s sell-side fee deducted from your proceeds. The aircraft returns to the NPC market with its tail number and flight history preserved — the next buyer sees its provenance.

Broker Sell Fees

Just as with buying, your reputation determines which brokers you work with — and higher-tier brokers take a smaller cut on the sell side too:

Sale Example: Citation Latitude at 2,500 Hours

Current value: $15,437,500

The difference between a starter broker and an elite broker on this sale is over $1 million. On high-value aircraft, building reputation before selling can save you more than several charters’ worth of revenue.

When to Sell

There’s no right answer — it depends on your operation. Some things to consider:

• The 75% airframe life warning — once an aircraft crosses 75% of its airframe life, you’re inside the danger zone. The max condition ceiling is down to 55% and falling fast. For a Light Jet that’s ~4,500 hours; for a Gulfstream it’s ~12,000. Sell before the ceiling hits the dispatch floor. An aircraft with room above 50% still has resale value — one past the grounding threshold is worthless
• Depreciation curve — aircraft lose value fastest in the early hours. Selling early preserves more capital; selling late maximizes the flying you got out of it
• Condition — selling a low-condition aircraft means the buyer gets a cheaper deal, but you avoided the repair cost. Selling after a JetCard Care flight means the aircraft goes to market at peak condition
• Broker timing — if you’re close to a reputation tier that unlocks better sell fees, it may be worth flying a few more charters before listing. The difference between an 8% Skyline fee and a 1% Vanguard fee on a $15M aircraft is over $1 million
• Fleet strategy — selling a depreciated aircraft to fund a newer, higher-category replacement is a common progression for growing operators. A well-timed sell at 3,000–4,000 hours lets you recover 60–70% of the purchase price while the aircraft still has strong resale appeal

Ferry Flights

Reposition aircraft between airports:

• Pilot Ferry — fly the repositioning leg yourself. Earns flight time and logbook entry. Blocked if distance exceeds aircraft range.
• AI Ferry — instant repositioning with a 15% surcharge. If beyond range, FBO fees double to cover a simulated tech stop.

Ferry costs (fuel + FBO + surcharge) are charged to the operator’s balance. Both types post to your company’s Operations Desk.