Affluent Travelers Are Ditching Business Class for Business Jets
We're cruising 35,000 feet over the French Riviera, the plane's wing cutting through billows of white. Below us, the sea is sparkling, and I spot a cluster of yachts anchored along the coastline. A ray of light hits my glass of Champagne and turns it to liquid gold. I take another sip. So this is what it feels like to be on cloud nine.
I'm flying from London to St. Tropez with the private aviation company Wheels Up, and for the first time in my life, I don't want a flight to end. Once you've gotten a taste of the private jet lifestyle, it becomes easy to understand why wealthy travelers are so taken with it—despite the hefty price tag and contentious carbon footprint.
But, as Leona Qi, president of Vista US, a private aviation company that owns VistaJet and XO, tells me, a large group of private jet travelers are not, in fact, ordering Champagne and caviar on their way to the South of France. Instead, they're more likely to be taking board meetings en route to the Midwest for a multi-million dollar IPO deal.
For today's business travelers—whether we're talking C-suite execs or Taylor Swift—the appeal of flying private lies in its efficiency, more so than luxury. Without being constrained by commercial flight routes and airports, you can 'visit three cities in a day and come back home to sleep in your own bed, and the next day you can present to the board or to your executive team,' says Qi.
With the return of in-person meetings and office mandates, more business travelers and corporate clients are seeking out private aviation solutions. ILLUSTRATION: Alex Green
Private aviation's first post-Covid boom mainly included leisure travelers who transitioned away from commercial airlines during the pandemic for reasons of health, explains George Mattson, CEO of Wheels Up. 'You had a bunch of new people in private aviation,' he says. 'And once you try it, you generally don't want to stop.' Despite that, because of the rise of remote work, business travel remained below pre-pandemic levels.
That's changing. With the majority of companies implementing hybrid or full-time office mandates, business travel has resumed and, with that, business jets are back in business. So far this year, worldwide private jet activity has been up year-over-year for 20 out of the past 24 weeks, per WINGX data. According to Qi, VistaJet has received three times as many RFPs (request for proposals) from corporations looking for private aviation solutions during the first six months of 2025 compared to the first six months of 2024.
'You can save a lot of time—and time, ultimately, is money.'
But business travelers aren't the only customers driving the surge in demand. Private carriers have long been a popular option for reaching leisure destinations that lack commercial connections. According to aircraft charter specialist Chapman Freeborn, harder-to-reach destinations like Scotland's Hebrides, and the French and Italian islands of Corsica and Ischia, are trending this summer, alongside perennial favorites like the Hamptons and Ibiza. The biggest spikes in worldwide private jet activity in recent months have coincided with major sporting events and holidays; over Memorial Day weekend, private jet flights in the US hit an all-time record compared to previous years.
This story is part of The New Era of Work Travel , a collaboration between the editors of WIRED and Condé Nast Traveler to help you navigate the perks and pitfalls of the modern business trip.
There's still room for growth—according to 2021 data, the majority of US households who can afford to fly private, in fact, do not. One reason for this is that private aviation requires a relatively manual booking process. From calling up brokers and comparing jet card memberships to purchasing fractional ownership models, it's often easier to purchase a $10,000 business class ticket than to go through the motions of reserving a private charter.
So-called semi-private carriers combine the reliability of scheduled flight services with the exclusivity of private aircraft and terminals. ILLUSTRATION: Alex Green
The industry is now beginning to address those pain points with new products and tech. A handful of start-ups are vying to become 'the Uber of private jet travel,' such as Kinectair, which offers real-time pricing and route search features, without charging membership fees. This summer, Uber itself launched a helicopter booking feature in the Amalfi Coast.
The intersection between commercial and private aviation is continuing to grow. In an industry-first, Delta Air Lines is now connecting its international business class passengers with Wheels Up charter flights throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, 'semi-private' carriers like JSX, XO, and Aero offer scheduled services aboard private aircraft that travelers can book by the seat—a model that's proven a hit among premium travelers. Tradewind Aviation—which offers both book-by-the-seat scheduled flights and private charters in the US and the Caribbean—says it's seeing roughly a 33% year-over-year increase in scheduled service bookings across its routes; However, private charters are seeing 'less of an increase' this summer compared to last, a Tradewind spokesperson tells Traveler .
As demand for scheduled services increases, carriers like these are expanding their route maps. This May, Aero launched a bicoastal Los Angeles to New York flight (featuring in-flight Erewhon meals and Starlink Wi-Fi). The company says the new route was 'built for business travelers, flying from Los Angeles to New York on Monday mornings and returning to Los Angeles on Thursday afternoons.'
Mattson, of Wheels Up, believes even more travelers will be making the leap from business class to business jet in the years to come. Above all else, the core draw of private aviation—whether used for a corporate or leisure trip—remains a simple one, he says: 'You can save a lot of time—and time, ultimately, is money.'
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