London, 25 October 2026 — EBM Weekend Read
Oil is above $110 a barrel, economies are slowing and governments across Europe are raising taxes on the rich. You might expect the private jet business to be struggling. It isn’t. Business jets are flying more than ever, manufacturers are sitting on record order books and the wealthy are queuing to buy aircraft that cost as much as a small office block.
Private aviation has become one of the clearest signs of a widening gap in the global economy. While ordinary households worry about energy bills, the people at the top are flying more, not less.
A Market in Overdrive
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SubscribeGlobal business jet departures reached almost 4 million in the 12 months to August, up 4.5% on the year before, according to aviation data group JETNET. Aircraft are also working harder. The average jet now flies 21 hours a month, more than 10% above pre-pandemic levels.
North America dominates, accounting for more than 70% of all flights. The Middle East, one of the fastest-growing markets until this year, has been hit hard by the Iran conflict and the closure risks around the Strait of Hormuz. But even there, the decline is easing.
The aircraft makers can barely keep up. The four biggest manufacturers have a combined order backlog of $61.6bn. Gulfstream’s alone stands at $24bn and Bombardier’s at $21.8bn, according to Forecast International. Deliveries are on course for a record of around 830 aircraft this year.
Who Is Flying
The profile of the private flyer is changing. Fewer companies now run their own corporate flight departments, which fell 7.5% over the past year. Fewer people charter one-off flights. Instead, the growth is in fractional ownership, where wealthy individuals buy a share of an aircraft and the right to a set number of flying hours.
NetJets, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, now accounts for more than 13% of all business jet flights worldwide, and its activity grew more than 10% last year. Rival Flexjet grew 12.5%. The wealthy have discovered that, like holiday homes and exclusive members’ clubs, private jets can be shared without losing the status.
The customers are the same people driving booms elsewhere in luxury: tech founders, financiers, family offices and Gulf investors. These are the people paying thousands just to get into a room, moving their children’s schooling as Harrow and Rugby head for Dubai, and piling into padel clubs. For this group, time is the scarcest asset, and a private jet buys it back.
What It Costs
The price of entry is steep. In February, VistaJet placed a firm order for 40 Bombardier Challenger 3500s worth $1.18bn at list prices, around $30m per aircraft, and that is a mid-sized jet. The largest long-range models cost several times more. Then come the running costs: pilots, fuel, maintenance, hangarage and insurance.
Fuel has become a growing concern. With Brent crude at $114, jet fuel prices have spiked. That has pushed up charter rates and the cost of flying hours, though so far it hasn’t dented demand at the top end.
Second-hand jets are in short supply. Heavy jets available for resale make up just 5.2% of the active fleet, well below the ten-year average of 7%. Their median resale values rose 13% in a year. For some owners, a private jet has become an appreciating asset.
The Tax Backlash
European governments are pushing back. In March 2025, France introduced a “solidarity tax” on private jet passengers. It charges €420 per passenger on flights within Europe and up to €2,100 on long-haul departures, according to IBC Aviation.
The effect was immediate, if not quite what was intended. Flights by French-registered business aircraft fell almost 22% in the third quarter of 2025, but flights by foreign operators rose 4%. Some of the activity simply moved elsewhere. With France in political and budget crisis, the pressure to tax the wealthy is only growing.
Britain has followed. Since April, the higher rate of air passenger duty for private jets has risen by 50%, to £1,141 per passenger on the longest flights. A ten-passenger flight from London to New York now carries more than £10,000 in duty.
Climate campaigners argue that private jets produce many times more carbon per passenger than commercial flights and should be curbed or banned on short routes. So far, Brussels has resisted an outright ban.
Who Profits
The biggest winners are the manufacturers. Gulfstream (owned by America’s General Dynamics), Canada’s Bombardier, France’s Dassault and Brazil’s Embraer all have years of work lined up. Bombardier is also making growing profits from servicing the aircraft it has already sold; its services revenue rose 25% in the first quarter.
Fractional and fleet operators such as NetJets, Flexjet and Vista are the next layer, selling access rather than ownership. Then there is the wider ecosystem: airports chasing wealthy travellers, private terminals, aircraft financiers and a growing army of brokers. Gulf money has been quietly buying stakes in Europe’s airports and infrastructure, and private aviation is part of that luxury travel economy. Meanwhile, commercial airlines fight over thin margins, as the battle for easyJet shows.
My Read
The private jet boom is a story about where the money is going. While most of the economy struggles with high energy costs and rising interest rates, the very wealthy have rarely been richer, and they are spending on time, privacy and convenience. That makes business aviation one of the most resilient luxury markets in the world. But it is also becoming one of the most politically exposed. France’s tax shows governments can make private flying more expensive, even if some of the traffic simply moves abroad. Expect more European countries to follow, especially as budgets tighten. The manufacturers will be fine: their order books stretch for years and their customers barely notice the cost. The real fight will be over whether private jets remain a luxury that the rich can buy freely, or become the next target in Europe’s growing battle over how to tax wealth.
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