When the plane is eventually sold, the owner needs to pay income tax on the sale price. And if the owner doesn’t use the plane at least 50 percent of the time for business, the deduction goes away. The lost deduction means a restatement of that year’s tax filing. It could also mean that the value of that plane would be depreciated over a longer period, greatly reducing the tax benefit.

Strict record-keeping becomes essential to preserve a remarkable tax break, said Jerald D. August, tax partner and head of the international tax and wealth planning practice group at Fox Rothschild.

The least expensive way to get onto a private jet is through fractional ownership with companies like NetJets or Flexjet. With that type of ownership, a person buys a portion of an aircraft — in eighths, quarters or halves. Depending on the aircraft, this could translate to about $1 million for a quarter of a jet.

But that doesn’t include flight costs, like fuel and pilot time. Those hourly fees are more expensive than the hourly cost if you operated the plane on your own — sometimes more than double. There are also fractional fees. Of course, you’re sharing the expense of the plane with other owners. The fractional jet company is making a profit as well as taking care of maintenance.

When it comes to buying your own jet, there are a minimum number of flight hours that make it cost efficient. Mr. Drohan said the total was about 150 hours. An aviation lawyer pegged it at 300 or more. The most a jet flies in a year are 1,200 to 1,400 hours.

Mr. Papariella said his company, Jet Edge, worked to charter planes to offset fixed costs to owners, but those savings come at the cost of hours on the plane’s engines. He said the company’s fleet of under 100 jets flew a total of 1,100 hours in September and 1,460 in October.

Charters offer a balance between having more control over when you fly and lowering some of the costs of ownership. Jet Edge’s average client has a minimum net worth of $50 million, which is low in the private jet world.