The 4 Largest Private Jet Fleets In The US

Private jets are the pinnacle of luxury travel, and a market has emerged to sell private jets not as a product but as a service. Now, you don’t need to buy a private jet to experience the luxury of traveling on your own plane, because of various companies that offer charter services or partial ownership while taking care of the high costs associated with private jets. In other words, you can fly private without having to put up with the costs and headaches of a private plane.

Today, several companies have emerged to sell private jets as an experience rather than a hard product. These services are on demand, and in some cases, these companies provide catering and flight attendants to enhance the onboard experience. While there are scores of companies offering such services, the industry has naturally consolidated, with a handful of players sitting at the top, dwarfing the rest. Below are the four companies with the largest private jet fleets in the United States.

Overview Of The Private Jet Industry

Private jets, also known as business jets or corporate jets, are planes designed specifically for transporting small numbers of people. While airliners can also serve this role, business jets are designed to be smaller, more flexible, and more luxurious, while converted or redesigned airliners instead serve as VIP transports. Private jets, meanwhile, are all about the prestige and flexibility of having an entire plane all to yourself.

When picturing a private plane, most probably imagine the $80+ million Gulfstreams or Bombardier Globals that are the largest, fastest, most expensive, and most extravagant purpose-built business jets ever made. However, a majority of private planes are smaller and less flashy. Sizewise, these are often categorized as very light jets, light jets, mid-size jets, super-mid-size jets, large jets, and long-range jets.

Regardless of size, these planes are not designed for fuel efficiency or cramming in as many people as possible. Instead, manufacturers differentiate through materials, ride quality, visual design, as well as specifications like range and speed. These are not equipment pieces, but rather personalized transports similar to a person’s automobile. This remains true even in today’s world of business jet charters and fractional ownership.

Looking At The Fourth-Largest Fleet

Wheels Up is one of the largest providers of private jet services in the world. Now majority owned by Delta Air Lines, Wheels Up has a close relationship with the Atlanta-based carrier, the world’s third-largest airline. Wheels Up customers can use credit funds for travel on Delta, and they also have access to Delta SkyMiles, the company’s lucrative frequent flyer program. This partnership is unique in the private aviation industry, and it holds benefits for customers as well as both companies.

With nearly 200 aircraft, Wheels Up has the US’ fourth-largest private jet fleet. It mainly focuses on smaller aircraft compared to larger rivals, with an extensive fleet of King Air 350i turboprops. Above those are the company’s light jets, with the fleet consisting of the Embraer Phenom 300, Cessna Citation Encore+, Citation CJ3+, and the Hawker 400XP. Rather uniquely, Wheels Up markets the Phenom 300 separately as its “Premium Light Jet” option.

Wheels Up also flies the Bombardier Challenger series, as well as the Dassault Falcon 2000, Gulfstream GIV-SP, and the Gulfstream G450. In addition, Wheels Up partners with other operators to sell tickets on other aircraft types, arranging charter services for its clients and essentially acting as a middleman. Generally, however, Wheels Up focuses on offering on-demand services flown by its own aircraft.

Number Three: VistaGroup

Vista Global is one of the world’s largest private jet providers. The company is based in Dubai, and it relies on US subsidiaries for flights within the nation. In total, its US fleet is the country’s third largest, although it has been shrinking this operation to concentrate more on its worldwide operations. Flights are branded as VistaJet or XOJet, and it focuses on operating point-to-point flights on demand with a pay-by-the-hour business model.

VistaJet is one of Bombardier’s biggest customers, and it offers the Bombardier Challenger 300, Challenger 350, Challenger 604, Challenger 605, Challenger 850, Global 5000, Global 6000, and the Global 7500. Additionally, VistaJet flies the Gulfstream G450 and the GIV-SP, the Embraer Lineage 1000E, Legacy 650/650E, and the Embraer Praetor 600, the Cessna Citation XLS/XLS+, along with the Dassault Falcon 7X.

XOJet offers the King Air 350 and Pilatus PC-12 turboprops, while the Citation Ultra, CJ3, and Phenom 300 cover the light jet segment. The Citation Excel/XLS and Hawker 800XP cover the midsize segment, while the Citation X, Bombardier Challenger, G280, Hawker 4000, Embraer Legacy 500, and Praetor 600 are its super-midsize offerings. The Global 5000, G450, GIV-SP, and Legacy 650 cover the large-cabin segment, while the Falcon 7X, Global 6000, Global 7500, Global Express, G550, and GV are its ultra-long-haul aircraft.

The Runner-Up Contender

Flexjet has the US’ second-largest fleet of business jets. Originally established in 1997 as a division of Bombardier, the company is one of the largest providers of fractional ownership, aircraft leasing, and jet card services in the entire world. It’s currently owned by Directional Aviation, a firm specializing in private aviation investment. Unlike similar companies, Flexjet does not offer charter services, instead focusing on fractional ownership.

Flexjet currently operates a fleet of nearly 300 aircraft, one of the most impressive in the industry. It offers seven aircraft models covering five different market segments. For light jets, Flexjet offers the Embraer Phenom 300. The midsize segment is covered by the Embraer Praetor 500 and 600, while the Bombardier Challenger 350/3500 covers the super-midsize segment. The Gulfstream G450 covers the large cabin segment, while the Gulfstream G650 and G700 are its long-range offerings.

Rather uniquely, Flexjet also offers helicopter services. Its helicopter fleet in the US numbers 12, and they’re deployed in two regions in the US: New York City and Miami. It uses the Sikorsky S-76, configured with either six or eight seats, and these planes come with a range of 300 nautical miles (556 kilometers), making them extremely versatile. In addition to its US operations, Flexjet flies the S-76 in London, Southern France/Italy, and its Miami operations cover the Bahamas.

The Largest Fleet In The US

NetJets has more private aircraft than any other company in the entire world. Worldwide, NetJets operates over 750 aircraft, with a majority of them listed on the company’s US operating certificate. It was first founded in 1964 as Executive Jet Airways and was renamed to NetJets in 2002. It was the world’s private jet charter and management company, and it remains the largest player in the field today.

The company operates 12 different types of aircraft in five different categories of aircraft. For the budget-conscious customer who requires flexibility and a compact plane, there’s the Embraer Phenom 300E, one of the most popular planes in its segment. Passengers looking for midsize jets, meanwhile, have five options: the Embraer Praetor 500, Cessna Citation Latitude, Cessna Citation Sovereign, Cessna Citation Ascend, and Cessna Citation XLS.

In the super-midsize segment, NetJets flies the Cessna Citation Longitude and the Bombardier Challenger 350/3500. For large jets, NetJets offers the Bombardier Challenger 650. In its flagship long-range jets category, NetJets has three choices for customers: the Bombardier Global 5500, the Bombardier Global 6000, and the absolute flagship of the NetJets fleet worldwide: the Bombardier Global 7500.

The US’ Most Unique Private Jet Operator

With 49 aircraft, JSX is far from being one of the largest private jet operators in the country, but it does stand as being the most unique. This is because it does not technically fly business jets, but rather, airliners. Its jet fleet is made up of the Embraer ERJ135, ERJ140, and ERJ145, which are regional airliners. However, these planes are configured with only 30 seats, compared to the 50+ seats that you see at the airlines.

This allows JSX to hold a Part 135 operating certificate (as opposed to the Part 121 certificate held by airlines), and this allows JSX to operate from private FBO facilities. This creates a quicker, more convenient ground experience compared to flying commercial, and the interiors feature larger seats with more space and in-seat power. While JSX flies scheduled routes, the experience is sold as being comparable to that of a private jet.

These aircraft are still configured similarly to those of an airliner, rather than a private jet, but JSX markets itself as being an alternative to traditional private jet experiences while still offering all the benefits of private travel. It’s a cheaper, possibly more convenient option, and it still comes with the main perks. As such, it is undoubtedly a unique operator of private jets in the US, and the company has plans to acquire ATR42-600s with a similar interior layout.