Fractional Aircraft Ownership has Advantages and Disadvantages.

The idea of fractional aircraft ownership has had varying results ever since, but has proven to be a way for consumers to partially own a plane or jet, and have use of it at most of the requested times for use. The idea behind fractional aircraft ownership is to have several people pay for a portion of the aircraft and get to use the craft for a specified number of hours per year. The majority of fractional aircraft ownerships are 1/8 or 1/16, with a full ownership consisting of 800 flight hours per year. So a 1/16 owner would be allowed up to 50 hours of flight time for their share, plus surcharges for fuel, hangaring, maintenance, etc...

Advantages of fractional aircraft ownership:

Saving money over purchasing your own private plane or jet would be the number one advantage of purchasing fractional ownership of a specified plane or jet. Another tremendous advantage of ownership is that you get to fly almost any time you choose, given that the time chosen was not chosen by other owners. You may also have a flight ready for you in as little as 4 hours. Saving time is probably the biggest advantage of fractional aircraft ownership, when you own your aircraft you can pretty much just drive up to it and load your luggage then take off, this even applies at many commercial airports. Smaller planes and jets can land in many, many more locations than commercial jets, so you are not nearly as restricted as to your travel destination.

Disadvantages of fractional aircraft ownership:

Monthly surcharges for maintenance, fuel, and hangaring are charged regardless of your use of the aircraft and the fuel surcharges can be close to a thousand dollars an hour for use. Although fractional aircraft ownership is cheaper than 100% ownership, you are still looking at a healthy pricetag for your share of a plane or jet. Holidays and peak seasons are extremely hard to book and negotiate between owners, so you may end up having to charter a flight even though you own a percentage of your own aircraft. When you do use your aircraft...it may not be the aircraft you own, because the one you purchased is in the shop or in use by another owner. The charter company that you have fractional aircraft ownership through will actually own several to hundreds of the same model you own, and will try to make sure that the craft you are on is identical, but this is not always the case.