Indeed, private jet membership gives you access to a corporate jet at costs that are relatively reasonable.

Even if you are a fairly successful entrepreneur, you might think that flying in a corporate jet is outside of your financial reach.

After all, aren't corporate jets just for big companies like GE and Microsoft?

In fact, a mid-sized company can travel by corporate jet simply by joining a jet membership. That's an arrangement where jets are shared among many corporations and executives.

Private jet companies selling these private-jet membership services include Sentient, Marquis Jet Partners, and the Delta AirElite subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

Typically, you pay by the hour, but you purchase those private jet flight hours in bulk. In other words, you can buy prepaid blocks of travel and use them when you need them.

The most common rental corporate jets available via private jet memberships are small aircraft. The Cessna Citation corporate jet, for example, can seat six executives. A Gulfstream IV can seat fourteen company executives.

A corporate jet membership might cost $100,000 for about 25 hours of flight time. While that may sound pricy, if you are flying ten people at a time on short notice, a private jet can actually be much cheaper than commercial airfare prices. Plus, you have more flexibility and a high level of security and confidentiality.

Pricing varies throughout the corporate jet industry, and there are two distinct models. With private-jet membership service, you don't own part of a specific plane but access a pool of planes that are chartered. With fractional jet ownership, aIn some cases, you literally purchase fractional ownership of a private jet. For example, for a mere $500,000, you can buy part of a small jet and get 50 hours of private jet flight time per year.

Private jet card memberships and private jet charter programs don't make sense for every entrepreneur. But, for many entrepreneurs, private jet aviation is an attractive offering.

With all of the different private jet companies and ways to obtain a private jet, it's no surprise that private jets are an increasingly popular way to travel for business owners.

After all, these days, you don't have to be a billionaire to fly on a private jet.