Younger, larger and farther: Those three trends mark 2025’s private jet travel trends, Flexjet chairperson Kenn Ricci, told Newsweek.
“The interesting thing is, just since COVID, our clients have gotten younger, larger and farther,” he said. By younger, he means that the average Flexjet client today is eight to 10 years younger than they were a half-decade ago.
Larger refers to Flexjet bookings. Clients are purchasing the use of larger aircraft than ever before. “Where the entry level use aircraft used to be a light jet before, our mid-size jets are outselling the light jets two to one. Typically, in the past, it was exactly proportional to size. In other words, the most economical, the smallest sold the most… it was an easy graph,” Ricci said.
And they’re not stopping there. “People are starting with a larger aircraft, and then on the large jets, and that’s because the stage lengths have gotten a lot longer,” the chairperson explained, saying that Flexjet is flying travelers greater distances, including more international travel.
Clients are also choosing larger jets because who they travel with has changed. New Flexjet customers flocked to the company because they didn’t want to take large commercial airlines in the U.S. like Delta Air Lines, American Airlines or United Airlines. “Even if you were a frugal flyer in the past, you weren’t going to fly frugally and risk your health, so you dove in to try to fly in private,” Ricci said.
Flexjet was also able to expand its roster because those carriers have also taken much of the joy out of flying, he speculated, “During COVID, the airlines kind of became policemen. ‘Put your mask on, sit down.’ There was some semblance of customer service in the airlines but what was there got completely dissipated during COVID, and I don’t think they’ve come out of that yet. The airline experience is still [about] empowering them as policemen. You’re lucky to be in their presence, and if you comply with all the rules, we’ll take you where you think you want to go, we hope, assuming, there’s no maintenance, weather or air traffic difference.”
Two decades ago, Ricci would have considered those airlines as Flexjet competitors. Not now. “If I go back 20 years, our competition really was the airlines. If you had a good first class service from whatever [large] city you were in you were probably okay with that. But now even that service has not even been good internationally,” he said.
The cost of international airfare from the U.S. to Europe, in suite-like first class accommodations can run upwards of $10,000 per person roundtrip, without any corporate discounts applied.
Flying private can cost about the same, but the level of attention to service, amenities and surrounds is at a higher level, Ricci boasted.
And, flying private allows for more schedule flexibility, explaining that flying commercial airlines sometimes means losing two days of travel each way when go to and coming from Europe from the U.S.
This is a trend Ricci expects to continue. “Luxury, to us, is an experience. When I think of luxury, it’s the environment, it’s how you’re treated within that environment…. I think that’s where luxury is going, and we’re seeing a tremendous demand for that.”
Make no mistake, flying private isn’t cheap. But, Ricci postulates, people are springing for one luxurious, longer trip rather than three small trips. “So maybe quality over quantity,” he said. “And there is a tremendous wealth transfer going on. I hate to tell you parents, but the kids are using [your money] to fly privately.”
Within some families, individuals are stretching the gift tax limit by paying for items like pieds-à-terre and travel, in order to avoid having to pay taxes on life’s luxuries.
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