P8 BARRON’S March 5, 2012 March 5, 2012 BARRON’S P29 3. MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS Seven miles out at sea, the rich and powerful pick up lobsters from Larsen’s in Menem- sha. It’s also a place to potentially bump into President Obama, whose favorite summer By Jeff Burger tional shares, today also rental, Blue Heron Farm, sold in September for $23.7 million. The celebrity scrum is fre- emphasizes “solutions.” Besides quently avoided by escaping to Philbin Beach, dotted with nude sunbathers, or the barrier shares, it sells jet cards and has a South Beach, a fine-sand sliver between the sea and salt ponds. The town of Chilmark is NETJETS INTRODUCED THE FRAC- lease program. The only major considering special planning reviews for McMansions that could presage island-wide change. tional-aircraft concept in 1986. provider still focusing exclusively In Edgartown, site of older and larger homes and the focus of our sales data, the late Walter Now, as then, the companies sell- on fractional shares is PlaneSense, Cronkite’s $11.3 million house was 2011’s high-water deal, but the previous year’s included ing shares seek to offer a middle whose fleet consists entirely of rel- $18 million-plus sales, which explains the median price drop. Nearby Nantucket is also well ground between full jet ownership atively inexpensive turboprops. P2BW065000-0-P00800-1--------XA worth a look. Median prices on this history-drenched little island fell just 2% last year. and charter flying. For prices So should a fractional provider Median Price 2010: $1.3 million starting at several hundred thou- serve as your one-stop shop? Or Median Price 2011: $725,000 sand dollars—much less than the are you better off buying non-frac- millions typically required to pur- tional business-aviation services 4. KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA chase an aircraft outright—you can from traditional charter companies 54 Beaver Dam Rd., Vail, Colo. On Kiawah Island, there’s a wait to play a round of golf at the Ocean Course, which is own a share of one. (A one-eighth and aircraft-management firms? $12.9 million hosting the PGA Championship in August. And it’s not easy to book a decompression slot share typically equals 100 hours That depends. If you’re prima- Tye Stockton/ Sotheby’s at the Sanctuary Hotel’s spa, either. Those in the know relax instead by grabbing a kayak per year of flying.) You can enjoy rily interested in paying the low- International Realty and paddling out to watch calmly swimming dolphins; the lucky will witness “strand feed- more reliable and consistent ser- est price, you’ll probably do better ing,” when frenzied dolphins push fish onto land to eat them. In 2011, sales on the island vice than charter operators often with a traditional charter operator. were down slightly, and so were median prices, but top-line numbers rarely tell the full deliver. And you can resell your If you buy a charter flight from a story. Three oceanfront homes sold in 2011, and an undisclosed buyer paid $8.4 million for share to the provider at the end of fractional provider, expect to Composite two lots. a five-year term and reap tax-de- spend 10% to 25% more for air- Median Price 2010: $1.4 million preciation deductions. time than you would pay to a tra- Median Price 2011: $1.2 million This business model proved ditional charter company. A frac- highly popular for more than two tional provider’s jet cards are 5. VAIL, COLORADO decades, but fractional providers likely to cost more, too. For those who want the high life rather than the quiet life: After skiing knee-deep pow- took a particularly hard hit during But generally, the expanded of- der on Vail’s incomparable back bowls, a woman with a diamond ring the size of Pike’s Peak the recent economic downturn. ferings by fractional companies hands her skis to the valet. Prada sunglasses shade her tired eyes from the sun. The skier, Some customers abandoned frac- add up to good news for consum- the wife of a Mexico City industrialist, enters the Arrabelle Club, an après-ski hangout tionals after being disappointed ers. That’s because while many where gold-medal Olympic skier and cover girl Lindsey Vonn keeps her locker. The Mexi- with the amounts they received charter firms operate on a small can jet-setter is handed a glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut. Favorite old-school hangout: Pepe’s when it came time to sell their More Ways scale, the leading fractional pro- for Bavarian schnitzel. New-school: Sweet Basil for a round of vodka martinis. Fifty single- shares back to the providers. Oth- viders employ large national fleets family homes changed hands in 2011, nearly half the volume of a year earlier, but median ers simply couldn’t afford to tie up and sophisticated quality-control prices were down only slightly. so much money in the current systems. So they’re apt to offer Median Price 2010: $1.8 million economy. the best-equipped aircraft, best- 65 Slough Cove Rd., Edgartown, Mass. Median Price 2011: $1.6 million Flight Options, for example, ToFly Private trained crews and most consistent, $4.5 million charges an upfront fee of any- reliable service. And if you taxi Caroline Taylor/ Island Real Estate 6. MAUI, HAWAII where from $305,000 for a 1/16th into problems, a fractional pro- While Michael Dell and Charles Schwab gravitate to the land-rich Big Island (Hawaii), share of a Nextant 400XT light jet, In today’s economy, the frac- prices ranging up to $680,900 for a membership program that it vider may be more likely than Maui has Oprah and her 100-plus-acre estate in the isolated upcountry coastal town of to $1.5 million for a one-eighth tional-share firms have been 50-hour card on a 13-passenger claims offers “the benefits of frac- small charter operators to do what Hana. There, she transformed a modest rancher into an oceanfront farmhouse. Critics sniff share of a super-midsize Embraer forced to go after customers who Gulfstream GIV-SP. In November tional ownership without the up- it takes to make things right. that the wraparound porch is more Deep South than tropical plantation. Country music Legacy 600. (In both cases, prefer these relatively inexpensive 2010, NetJets bought Marquis, so front asset cost, management fees Moreover, if you seek an outfit star Willie Nelson hangs with locals at Charley’s Western saloon and eatery on the north monthly maintenance and hourly options. So most of them now sell that firm’s jet cards became just an- and residual-value risk.” The pro- to manage and charter out your shore in Paia, where he is known to pick and strum. The outdoor bar at the Four Seasons fees also apply.) That’s more than jet cards and some even offer tra- other of the “solutions” it offers. gram starts at $145,000 for a 25- own aircraft, a fractional provider Hotel in Wailea is for tuna poke (poe-kee), an indigenous “pupu” of raw fish. Five sales last you would pay for a jet card, ditional charters. They want to Cessna’s CitationAir, which like hour membership on an Embraer can probably utilize the aircraft year were over $10 million, with the finest going for $14.5 million. which typically lets you pre- grab as much NetJets began with a focus on sell- Phenom 300 light jet, then adds more heavily than a traditional MAGENTA BLACK CYAN Median* Price 2010: $1.7 million pay for 25 flight hours at a Looking for fliers in business as ing shares, suspended sales in $79,075 for the flight-time block, charter operator, which would put YELLOW Median* Price 2011: $2.25 million time–a Marquis/NetJets card a depressed possible by January and also ended a program plus a $3,163 “base” hourly rate. more revenue in your pocket. *Wailea/Makena market only for a Hawker 400XP light economy, private- p o r t r a y i n g called Jet Access, which incorpo- The firm’s JetPASS Select is a jet The losers? Possibly the frac- jet starts at $119,900. jet firms are themselves as rated elements of the fractional- card that combines hourly rates tional-share owners. With the 7. ASPEN, COLORADO It’s also much more than offering customers one-stop shops, share concept. The company now with what the company says is the firms making their fleets available The zinc bar at Brexi Brasserie, and Eric’s Bar, are the places where Park Avenue and you would spend to charter a lot more options where custom- sells jet cards, jet-management “consistency” of jet ownership. to jet card and charter customers, Bel Air escapees sit side-by-side with unshaven lift operators. The decades-old Caribou a jet. You’ll currently pay to buy flight time. ers can buy air services and “Corporate Solu- Bombardier’s Flexjet, too, is scheduling flights for shareowners Club still doesn’t have a sign on its door, but remains packed. Lifetime members plunk about $1,400 an hour to time any way tions,” which it bills as an out- talking these days more about “so- could become more difficult. In down $20,000 for the “privilege” of dining next to a Kennedy or locals like Goldie Hawn charter a small twin turbo- they want. sourcing alternative to an in-house lutions” than shares. It will still addition, heavier use of the fleets K and Kurt Russell.