Card-carrying jet-setter

Which pretty much left the rest of the corporate world begging for an extra bag of Planters on the crowded flight home.

Enter "jet cards," a 21st century concept that has opened the door of the exclusive club of private jet travel. Business travelers whose companies can't afford to own and maintain a fleet of private jets now can buy some of the privileges, giving back to corporate foot soldiers a valuable commodity: their time.

With jet cards, companies buy only flight time in increments of as little as 25 hours. They allow executives to fly at a minute's notice out of more convenient, easier-to-navigate smaller airports such as Van Nuys or Santa Monica.

"It frees me up for an additional four hours per round trip, and you also don't get the brain damage of dealing with LAX or San Francisco Airport," said Ken Pingree, who has flown for more than two years with New York-based Marquis Jet, a world leader in jet-card sales. Pingree, president of Bay Area Financial Group, which provides financial services to small businesses, often travels between his offices in West Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Sales are rapidly growing at two of the largest providers of jet cards. Marquis reported a 200% increase in sales of jet cards in 2003 from 2002. Bombardier Skyjet, based in Fairfax, Va., which also sells charter and fractional ownerships as well as jet cards, also said it saw significant growth in 2004.

About a third of its member companies polled by the National Business Travel Assn. used corporate jets or chartered aircraft in 2003. That increased from 26% the previous year, according to the association, which represents more than 2,500 corporate travel managers and travel service providers.

"Corporations are always looking at the productivity angle, and that is part of the reason" for the growth in private jet use, said Bill Connors, the association's executive director and chief operating officer.