What it costs
In short
Expect roughly $3,200–$4,800 per flight hour on a light jet, $6,000–$8,500 on a super-midsize, $8,000–$11,000 on a heavy jet and $11,500–$16,000 on an ultra-long-range aircraft, plus $1,500–$6,000 of ground handling at each airport. In practice that means about $11,500–$26,000 for London to Nice, and $67,500–$113,000 for Dubai to London non-stop on a heavy jet.
Nobody can honestly publish a fixed fare, because the largest cost driver is where the aircraft happens to be that week rather than how far you are flying.
All-in wet rates: crew, fuel, maintenance reserve and operator margin. Ground handling is charged separately per airport, and our commission is already inside the price you are quoted.
| Category | Passengers | Typical range | Per flight hour | Typical aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turboprops | 6–9 | 1,400 nm | $2,000–$3,200 | king air 350i, pilatus pc 12 |
| Very light jets | 4–6 | 1,150 nm | $2,600–$3,800 | embraer phenom 100, cessna citation m2 |
| Light jets | 6–8 | 1,800 nm | $3,200–$4,800 | embraer phenom 300e, cessna citation cj3 |
| Midsize jets | 7–9 | 2,400 nm | $4,500–$6,500 | cessna citation xls, hawker 900xp |
| Super-midsize jets | 8–10 | 3,300 nm | $6,000–$8,500 | bombardier challenger 350, embraer praetor 600 |
| Heavy jets | 10–14 | 4,000 nm | $8,000–$11,000 | bombardier challenger 650, gulfstream g450 |
| Ultra-long-range jets | 12–16 | 6,600 nm | $11,500–$16,000 | gulfstream g650er, bombardier global 7500 |
| VIP airliners | 18–50 | 4,000 nm | $18,000–$28,000 | airbus acj319, boeing bbj |
What the money buys
Cross-sections drawn to one scale, with an average adult for reference. The step that matters most to passengers is not seat count but headroom: below roughly six feet of cabin height you spend the flight seated, and that single line separates a light jet from a heavy one more sharply than any spec sheet does.
Turboprops
4.8 ft high · 4.5 ft wide
Seated headroom
Very light jets
4.8 ft high · 4.9 ft wide
Seated headroom
Light jets
4.9 ft high · 5.1 ft wide
Seated headroom
Midsize jets
5.7 ft high · 5.5 ft wide
Seated headroom
Super-midsize jets
6 ft high · 7.2 ft wide
Stand upright
Heavy jets
6.1 ft high · 8.2 ft wide
Stand upright
Ultra-long-range jets
6.2 ft high · 8.2 ft wide
Stand upright
VIP airliners
7.2 ft high · 12.1 ft wide
Stand upright
At the ultra-long-range end the cabin stops being a row of seats and becomes rooms: a divan that converts to a bed, a separate aft cabin, a galley a crew member can actually work in. That is most of what separates a $12,000 flight hour from a $4,000 one — the aircraft is not merely faster, it is a different kind of space.
Whether it is worth it is a question about the leg. On a two-hour hop it is money spent on a room you will barely use; on a fourteen-hour sector it is the difference between arriving ready to work and arriving needing a day.
Each figure below is the smallest aircraft that can fly the leg non-stop, priced end to end. Larger cabins cost more; the full range for any route comes back with your quote.
| Route | Distance | Smallest suitable aircraft | Flight time | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paris → Nice | 375 nm | Turboprops | 1 h 55 min | $8,500–$20,000 |
| London → Nice | 580 nm | Turboprops | 2 h 40 min | $10,000–$25,000 |
| London → Geneva | 423 nm | Turboprops | 2 h 5 min | $9,000–$22,000 |
| London → Ibiza | 784 nm | Turboprops | 3 h 30 min | $11,500–$30,000 |
| Dubai → Geneva | 2,662 nm | Super-midsize jets | 6 h 30 min | $47,500–$89,000 |
| Dubai → Maldives | 1,634 nm | Midsize jets | 4 h 25 min | $26,500–$50,000 |
| Dubai → London | 2,978 nm | Heavy jets | 7 h 5 min | $67,500–$113,000 |
Indicative estimates, not quotes. They exclude VAT where it applies, de-icing, and peak-period surcharges, and they assume no unusual repositioning. Distances are great circle; published routings add a few percent.
Worked example
Just under 3,000 nautical miles, which puts it beyond every midsize aircraft and makes it a heavy-jet or ultra-long-range leg. Anything smaller would need a fuel stop, and no broker worth using would quote you one for this route.
Note the northerly track. The shortest path between these two airports climbs to around 52° north over the Balkans rather than running flat across the map — the reason a globe and an atlas disagree about which route is shorter.
The single largest variable. An aircraft already sitting at your departure airport costs far less than one that has to fly two hours empty to collect you, and then possibly fly empty again afterwards. The same trip on the same aircraft type can differ by 40% between two Tuesdays for this reason alone.
Operators charge for brakes-off to brakes-on, including taxi and any fuel stop — not for the straight-line distance. Most also apply a daily or per-leg minimum, typically around two hours, so a 40-minute hop is not priced at 40 minutes.
Landing, parking, navigation and FBO fees are a fixed cost per airport, usually $1,500 to $6,000 each for a heavy jet. On short legs this is a meaningful share of the total, which is why a one-hour flight rarely costs a sixth of a six-hour one.
Nice and Ibiza in July, Geneva during the ski season and Davos week, Riyadh whenever the permit queue is long. Demand spikes are geographic and predictable, and they move prices more than fuel does.
Cheaper, with conditions
Empty legs. An aircraft repositioning for someone else’s trip sells its otherwise-empty flight at 25% to 75% below a normal charter. The trade is rigidity: the route and the window belong to that other trip, and the flight can vanish if their plans change.
Flexible timing. Moving a departure by a few hours, or by a day, often changes which aircraft is available nearby — and that is the variable with the largest effect on price. If your dates can move, say so with the request and we will price both.
What does not save money: booking further ahead. Unlike airline tickets, charter prices do not rise as the date approaches. Occasionally they fall, when an operator would rather fly a repositioning leg with someone in it.
A firm price from a named operator, usually within 15 minutes.
Questions
A broker is on duty · 24/7
Route, date, number of people. That is enough to start — a broker comes back with real aircraft and a real price, usually within 15 minutes, at any hour. If you would rather write it out, use the form.