First of all, I am a pilot for NetJets, so I may be a bit biased. That being said, I have full confidence in the safety of both operators. That wouldn't be a concern at all in my opinion. One thing that I do think could be an issue is the size of each company.

CitationShares is a much smaller operator than NetJets. When something doesn't go according to plan, NetJets is more likely to have a plane available nearby. For example, yesterday we had an unexpected maintenance issue come up about an hour prior to departure. Fortunately there were three other NetJets planes at the airport and the owner was upgraded to a larger aircraft for his flight and was not delayed at all. CitationShares may have needed 2 or 3 hours to get a recovery aircraft in position since they only have about 85 aircraft (vs. almost 500 for NetJets in the US alone).

A couple of months ago, we were in Dulles on standby with the aircraft fueled and ready to go. Another NetJets plane was on its way from New York to Florida. Reaching cruise altitude, they noticed a louder-than-usual noise coming from the cabin door. They decided to go ahead and land in Dulles as a precaution. They parked next to us, the owner walked right onto our plane and we were on our way within 5 minutes. We arrived at the destination less than 20 minutes later than the owner had originally planned.

What will happen when your plane can't get to your airport it's stuck in New York due to air traffic congestion? What will happen when one of your pilots gets sick the morning of your flight? What happens if owners on the flight before yours are an hour and a half late? Will your fractional company have the resources to recover your flight with minimal inconvenience? Because of situations like these, I think the size of NetJets' operation is a huge competitive advantage.

I have nothing bad to say about CitationShares. I have friends who work there and they seem very pleased. But keep in mind any of the fractional companies will probably do a decent job when everything goes smoothly. The true test of any company is how they handle non-routine situations.