Why you can't afford a private jet (but Rory can)
Rory McIlroy has made more than $140 million since he turned professional and if he keeps winning majors, his fortune will rocket over the next few years. It appears to be only a matter time before he buys himself a private jet, but it's an expensive piece of kit, even for a multi-millionaire.
While Tiger Woods owns a $64 million G5, McIlroy could buy himself a Bombardier Challenger 605 for around $27m, or pick up a seven year old model for about $15m. If he decides to wait until he's Tiger-wealthy, he can just stick with a fractional jet card.
RORY AND HIS ENTOURAGE: (BACK) MICHAEL BANNON (COACH), JP FITZGERALD (CADDIE), BRAD-GEORGE SIMPSON (NIKE GOLF REP), PAUL MCVEIGH (PERSONAL CHEF). (MIDDLE) HARRY DIAMOND GERRY MCILROY AND SEAN O'FLAHERTY, JET OUT OF LOUISVILLE FOR NEW YORK CITY following his win in last year's US PGA. Picture © Twitter.com/McIlroyrory
With a NetJets, or example, you can purchase an undivided interest in a specific aircraft and gain access to a fleet of more than 650 jets worldwide. The smallest share you can purchase is a 1/16 interest, which gives you 50 hours of flight time a year. Your biggest upfront cost is a one-time acquisition fee: for the Phenom 300 Platinum Edition jet, a 1/16 interest, or 50 flight hours, costs $550,000. The largest share possible is a one-half interest, or 400 hours of flight time, which costs $4.4 million.
In addition to the acquisition cost, fractional jet owners are also responsible for a monthly management fee and an occupied hourly fee, which covers fuel, maintenance, catering and landing fees. For that same jet, the monthly management fee for a 50-hour share is $9,600, while a 400-hour share costs $60,000.
It's big money but the costs of owning your own jet are also huge as Pádraig Harrington discovered when he put is jet on the market.
In a recent piece for Sherpareport.com — (The Guide for Discerning Travelers) — Nick Copely reports that cost of ownership per year of the Bombardier Challenger 605 is $3,481,595 (including market depreciation of $1,240,920) or $5,342,974 including book depreciation of $3,102,300.
That includes fixed fixed running costs per year of $724,861 made up of crew member salaries and benefits ($400,400), hangar costs ($59,900), insurance (hull $31,023, single limit liability $12,500), recurrent training ($66,800), and aircraft modernisation ($33,333). Other costs in the fixed cost figure of $724,861 include refurbishing, computer maintenance program, navigation chart service and weather service. Fuel can cost more than $2,300 per hour
Yearly cost of owning a jet
Variable Costs per Year
According to Sherpareport.com, the variable costs of operating the Challenger 605 are dependent upon hours operated and nautical miles travelled:
Assuming 175,000 nautical miles and 423 hours per year, owners should anticipate variable expenses of $1,515,813 annually. The largest of these expenses (about 65% of the total variable cost) is fuel costs, which are estimated at $2,346 per hour out of a total variable cost of $3,583 per hour. The 605 is estimated to use 329 gallons of fuel per hour.
What a jet costs per hour
