NetJets Curtails Card Sales Again as Fractional Ownership Booms

NetJets restricts jet card sales amid record demand

NetJets has again curtailed sales of its popular jet cards and leases, marking the second such move in five years. The Berkshire Hathaway unit cited record retention rates and surging demand from existing fractional owners as the reason for the pause—a clear signal that capital is flowing faster than capacity can grow. Competitor Wheels Up, meanwhile, is thriving: jet card revenue jumped 14% in the first half of 2026, renewals spiked 18%, and new clients grew 55% as total revenue climbed 25%.

Fractional ownership soars past charter growth

Fractional jet departure activity exploded 11.5% in the first half of 2026, with NetJets and Flexjet—the two largest operators—each logging 11%+ growth. Fractional now represents 20.3% of all global departures (396,600 flights), up dramatically from pre-pandemic. The real disruption: fractional providers have captured 20% of all new aircraft deliveries so far in 2026, double the historical norm, as operators aggressively expand fleets to keep pace with demand. By contrast, branded charter operators softened 3.1% year-to-date as flyers increasingly see fractional or portfolio strategies—a mix of fractional cards for routine trips and on-demand charter for peak flexibility—as superior value.

Gulfstream and the $46 billion delivery queue

The business aviation OEMs are under siege with backlog. Gulfstream delivered 79 aircraft in the first six months of 2026 and is on track for 160 units full-year—keeping it the delivery leader. Bombardier and Textron (Cessna/Beechcraft) are each expected to account for roughly one-fifth of the projected 884 total industry deliveries in 2026, a 6.5% lift from 2025. That $46 billion backlog across the sector reflects both capacity constraints and a supply-demand imbalance favoring sellers.

Puerto Rico FBO boom eases Caribbean bottleneck

BlueSky has broken ground on a $54 million fixed-base operation at Luis Muñoz Marín International in San Juan, designed to relieve hangar and customs bottlenecks that have plagued the Caribbean. The facility will feature an 8,000-sq-ft executive terminal, over 60,000 sq ft of climate-controlled hangar, and 275,000 sq ft of ramp—enough to support everything from light jets to ultra-long-range aircraft. Completion is expected in 2027, and with on-site U.S. customs, it promises to streamline the final-approach logistics that have made Caribbean operations a choke point for transatlantic and southern routing.

Global flight activity up 4%, North America leads

Business jet departures worldwide rose 4% in the first half of 2026 against the prior year, according to WINGX data—1.95 million flights. North America led growth at 5%, Latin America at 4.6%. The global private jet charter services market is now valued at $27.88 billion in 2026 and is projected to skyrocket to $48.19 billion by 2034. NBAA has also welcomed recent FAA moves on radio altimeter rules and is championing government-industry collaboration on connectivity standards as LEO satellite networks reshape in-flight internet expectations.