Private jets are one of the most luxurious ways to travel around the world, but can you fly internationally in them?
Private jets can fly internationally. In fact, they can travel to more places than commercial flights, given that they can land at pretty much any airport on the planet. There are fewer restrictions and way more benefits to flying privately.
Read on to learn more about the stark benefits of flying private, and why so many people do it.
Affordable Luxury
There are two avenues to consider when talking about private jets: ownership, and chartering. The former requires a huge bank balance, but the latter is very much achievable.
Private jets have been a staple of the super-rich for as long as air travel has been a thing. There is a huge list of celebrities that can boast ownership of their own private aircraft.
Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, and Bill Gates are placed comfortably at the top of this list. They all own luxurious and massively expensive jets, some of which are valued at more than fifty million dollars.
Many of these planes are built to order and customized massively at the behest of the purchaser.
At the head of the pack though, is John Travolta. You wouldn’t expect it, but the singer and actor extraordinaire comfortably boasted not one, but five private planes.
That’s not all – Travolta qualified as a pilot decades ago, and is capable of flying every plane he owns.
You don’t have to own the jets to enjoy them, however. Like yachts, private jets can be chartered, and come equipped with a crew ready to fly you to your destination.
The majority of these charters are done on an hour-by-hour basis. This can ultimately lead to private jets costing less than commercial flights.
Business and first-class tickets with top airlines can traditionally cost thousands of dollars. However, it might cost just three thousand dollars to charter a private jet, crew and all.
You don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to spend a flight aboard a luxury private jet.
Go Anywhere, Do Anything
Reportedly, one of the key benefits of a private jet is its ability to land at almost any airport. While commercial flights are restricted to a mere few, the smaller private jets are unbound.
In fact, they’re more commonly known to land at smaller airports. These are much more readily available than large airports which can experience sizeable delays and stricter regulations.
Although the same rules apply when traveling with a commercial airline, private jets really can go anywhere. You’ll be passed faster through security and customs at either end, but will still need a passport and maybe a visa.
Another key benefit of private flying is the ability to change up the flight plan at a moment’s notice. The more diverse list of landing opportunities means a change of destination often isn’t an issue.
However, one misconception is that flying private will be faster than flying commercial. While some lines are cut, the plane will still have to go through pre-flight checks, and queue to hit the runway.
Also, the planes themselves aren’t much faster – and are often slower – than commercial aircraft. They can also be more susceptible to turbulence.
Private jets are known to fly much higher than commercial aircraft. In most cases, they’ll cruise at almost fifty thousand feet, trying to avoid the air pockets that cause most turbulence.
Surge In The Sky
Throughout 2020, there was a massive uptick in the chartering of private jets. Many travelers were turning to the private option, their hands – and wallets – forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While commercial airlines were closed down all around the world, people still needed to travel. The wealthier celebrities and businesspeople transitioned almost immediately to private travel when airlines closed their doors.
The surge also came from a need for more hygienic travel. This was obviously provided in earnest by private jets, on which you could be the only passenger.
However, these flights were more affordable and took place on lower-end aircraft. You couldn’t expect to be boarding some of the top-tier private jets seen around the world.
After all, some of the most expensive private aircraft could cost as much as half a million dollars. Technically, the most expensive private plane is worth almost seven hundred million dollars.
That plane belongs to the President of the United States of America and is known as Air Force One.