How Much To Charter a Private Jet?

Written by: Parija Guha

If you want to know how much it costs to charter a private jet, you should be aware that the answer will depend on several factors, such as the distance that you need to travel, and the size and type of private jet you’d like to use. Below, we’ll review the general prices for chartering a private jet across a range of different circumstances, and we’ll also provide you with some tips for getting the best deal.

People boarding jet

Advantages of Chartering a Private Jet

Before we get into the cost of chartering a private jet, let’s review why you might want to use this option rather than a commercial airliner:

  • You won’t need to deal with the long security lines and you don’t have to deal with the general hassle of public airport terminals.
  • Delayed arrivals and departures are much less likely than they are for commercial flights.
  • If you like to use the time it takes to get from Point A to Point B to get some work done, it’s much easier to avoid distractions and stay focused on a private jet.
  • Chartering a private jet will also allow a flexible schedule. You can save time and use that precious time with family and minimize travel fatigue all while maintaining a healthy social distance from other travelers by avoiding crowded airports.

You could buy your own private jet instead of renting someone else’s plane, but there are several reasons why chartering flights may make more sense for your situation:

  • With prices starting at $2 million and going all the way up to $100 million, the cost of a private jet is prohibitive for even most wealthy people.
  • In addition to the cost of the jet itself, ongoing expenses associated with owning aircraft, such as fuel, staffing, maintenance, insurance and operating cost can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
  • Relatively small jets are ideal for some flights, whereas larger jets are a better fit for others. When you charter private jets, you have the freedom to select the optimal aircraft for each particular flight.
  • Also, please note that not all private aircrafts are suitable or allowed for every runway. So, there’s a chance that you could spend millions of dollars owning an aircraft and still not enjoy the luxury at certain destinations.

How Much to Rent a Private Jet?

The exact cost of chartering a private jet depends on the following factors:

  • Distance: As with commercial flights, you can expect the cost of your trip to increase in proportion to the amount of distance you need to travel.
  • Number of Passengers: More passengers means you’ll need to charter a bigger jet, which usually costs more than chartering light jets. It should be noted, though, that although a heavy jet can make most trips directly, smaller jets may need to stop for fuel before you can reach your destination. The extra time involved with these stops as well as the cost of the additional fuel often make light jets less of a good deal for longer flights.
  • Luggage: Even if you don’t have many passengers, a bigger (and therefore more expensive) plane might be needed, depending on how much luggage you’re taking with you.
  • Speed: Larger jets tend to be faster than smaller ones, so if you want to get to your destination as fast as possible, you may need to pay extra for a larger option.
  • Amenities: Larger jets are also more likely to have amenities like enclosed bathrooms, lie-flat beds, and flight attendants.
  • Overnight Parking: Many small airports have space constraints, making parking very expensive.

The price for chartering a private jet is usually calculated on a per-hour basis. Rates start at around $2,500 per hour for very light jets, whereas chartering a heavy jet can cost you as much as $30,000 per hour.

We’ve used Jettly’s Private Jet Charter Cost Estimator to create the table below, which should give you a better idea of how much it would cost to fly on different types of private jets:

To find the absolute best deal, look for empty leg flights. When someone uses a chartered private jet service for a one-way flight, the aircraft will often have no passengers scheduled to be on board for when it returns back to its base or moves on to the next destination. In order to make at least some money from these “empty legs,” chartering services will often offer deep discounts for anyone who is willing to hop on for such trips. However, you might only get 24 to 48 hours of notice for available empty leg flights — if you can make this work for your schedule, you may be able to reduce the cost of your trip by as much as 75%.

Jet cards

Jet card is a private travel program, which is similar to debit card style private jet and allows you to prepay for your flights and gives you flexibility to change,cancel and rebook flights.

If you plan to charter private jets frequently, you should consider investing in a jet card. These programs, which are offered by providers such as Jettly and Jet Linx, offer discounted charter rates and guaranteed availability as well as additional travel benefits.

Although many of these programs require membership fees or a minimum deposit, the benefits of a jet card should significantly outweigh the costs as long as you take more than a few flights on private jets per year.