More than 15 years ago, Oprah Winfrey shared one of her famous nuggets of wisdom: “It’s great to have a private jet,” she said at Duke University’s 2009 commencement. “Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn’t great is lying to you.”
But she did leave out one detail: Having a private jet is expensive — really expensive.
Costs such as crew, custom features, and maintenance can add to the already hefty price tag of purchasing a private plane, companies that manage these and charter fleets told Business Insider.
“There is a lot that goes into owning an airplane, a lot of expenses that aren’t on the surface,” said Jamie Walker, the executive chairman of jet management company Jet Linx.
Some of the most popular private jet models — the Bombardier Challenger 300 and 350, the Embraer Phenom 300, the Cessna Citation XLS+, and the Gulfstream G550 — cost between $9.5 million and $33 million brand new, Walker estimated. The cost fluctuates by model. But even when purchased used, many list for sale for eight figures.
That’s not including customization, which is “where things get fun,” Walker said.
See: Paris Hilton’s “SlivAir,” a Gulfstream G450 with a Barbie pink paint job and “That’s Hot” written on a wing.
“We’ve seen clients spend anywhere from a few hundred thousand to several million on customizations,” Walker said, who compared it to “building a luxury home.”
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Interior upgrades like custom cabinetry and headrests imprinted with logos start at about $65,000. Premium woodwork and Hermès leather seats can exceed $1 million. WiFi from Starlink or L5 can cost between $120,000 and $450,000.
A private jet can cost more than $1 million a year to run
Once a jet is delivered, the costs of operating it start to add up. Leona Qi, the president of the US division of charter firm VistaJet, estimated that it typically costs more than $1 million a year to run a single jet.
Members of a private jet’s crew — at least two pilots, sometimes an air host — are typically considered full-time employees. Each can earn between $150,000 and $400,000 a year. They also have to be properly certified, trained, and insured, at the owner’s cost.
While some jet maintenance is scheduled — much like a car’s, it’s based on mileage and crew — unexpected fixes can leave an unlucky owner seven figures in the red in a bad year. An engine overhaul, for example, can cost as much as $1.5 million per engine, Walker estimated (and most jets have two).
Then there’s a hangar. A parking spot in New York or Miami can cost as much as $450,000 a year, significantly more than one in smaller cities like Omaha or St. Louis. Fuel can make up about one-third of all ownership costs, Walker said. And most private jet owners hire a company to manage it all. Jet Linx said it charges between $7,000 and $12,000 a month for its management services.
To charter or not to charter? That is the multimillion-dollar question.
The expenses and headaches of owning a plane have some uber-wealthy turning to charter.
Qi at the jet charter company said she doesn’t think it makes financial sense to own an aircraft unless you fly more than 350 hours a year, want a completely personalized jet with a toothbrush and a set of fresh clothes on board, or need it at a moment’s notice.
Through charter companies like VistaJet, members can buy a certain number of flying hours a year, while fractional ownership firms like NetJets sell members a share in a specific aircraft.
Even when money is no object, some of the wealthiest in the world choose to charter out of privacy concerns. Privately owned jets can be tracked by the public, while charter jets — whose passengers aren’t revealed publicly — are much more discreet.
“The group had a plane and we sold it,” LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault said of his company’s jet, speaking in 2022 on a French radio station. “The result now is that no one can see where I go because I rent planes when I use private planes.”
Others charter jets when they can’t use their personal planes. As many as 50% of VistaJet’s clients own their own jets but use VistaJet as a backup service when their aircraft is undergoing maintenance or is already in use, the company said.
On the other hand, there are private jet owners who don’t use their planes very often and charter them out to mitigate some of the costs associated with ownership. (They do something similar with their superyachts.)
“Most people who are unfamiliar are surprised,” Walker said. “They’re like, ‘Really, people with that much wealth and companies that are that big that make that much money care about offsetting half a million bucks?’ And they do. They absolutely care about that.”
Well, they care, but not enough to forgo a plane altogether.
Look at the infamously frugal Warren Buffett, who resisted a private jet for years. Once he splurged, there was no looking back.
“Were I to die tomorrow, you could be sure Berkshire’s earnings would increase by $1 million annually, since Charlie would immediately sell our corporate jet, The Indefensible (ignoring my wish that it be buried with me),” he wrote in Berkshire Hathaway’s 1990 investor letter.
