Peter Maestrales introduces the Distance Card, where pricing is based on miles flown rather than hours and which offers private jet flexibility with transparent pricing

Airstream Jets card means there's no need to keep buying time

Airstream Jets, a brokerage with offices in the US, Canada and Australia, has introduced the Distance Card, a private jet travel product which it says combines the convenience of jet cards and fractional ownership with the value and flexibility of on-demand charter. Its mileage based pricing concept is intended to eliminate confusing variables associated with per hour purchasing.

Under the scheme trips are billed by jet size according to the mileage between points travelled, so card members always know the exact total cost of any journey prior to confirmation. Mileage rates do not change and are good for the life of the card, and because it works like a debit card, customers can move between aircraft categories and choose the most appropriate aircraft size for their travel on a trip-by-trip basis.Ceo and founder Peter Maestrales says: “We're excited about the level of flexibility and simplicity that comes with the Distance Card. It's like having a fleet of 5,000 private jets at your fingertips with real-time pricing on all of them. The concept is a game changer in the industry because it's unlike anything else out there.”

The company reckons that with fractional ownership and hourly jet cards a customer can actually incur higher costs when utilising slower aircraft models, because a slower jet will require more flight time than a faster model when travelling between the same two points.

Maestrales says: “We expect the lower initial investment will broaden the market and be wildly popular with consumers who have past experience with fractional ownership or traditional hourly based jet cards.”