Summary
- With increasing registrations, the global private jet market will reach $36.94B by 2028.
- The United States has nearly 67% of private jets worldwide, most in Texas and Houston.
- Brazil, Mexico, and Canada are also significant private jet hubs, and Embraer contributes to market growth.
The use of private jets has significantly increased over the last few years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. With restrictions on commercial air travel, elite passengers find it much easier to travel in private jets. Private jet travel enables flexibility, comfort, and ease of access for those who can afford it. With a significant increase in the use of private jets, the number of active jets has increased tremendously in the last few years.
Private jet registrations are up worldwide. There has been a shift toward personal travel over the last several years, which has seen the market for private and corporate jets continue to grow. There are an estimated 22,000 business aircraft worldwide and counting. The global private jet market is expected to reach $36.94 billion by 2028.
The most private jets are in the United States
Unsurprisingly, the US has by far the most private jets. Home to some of the world’s richest business executives, athletes, and celebrities, the country also has some of the most expensive and exclusive private jets. According to Business Airport International, there are nearly 15,000 private jets in the US, approximately 67% of all private jets worldwide.
Photo: Ceri Breeze | Shutterstock
Given the distances between major cities, approximately 37.5% of US private jets are categorized as heavy or long-range aircraft. This sector includes long-range jets from Gulfstream and Bombardier, alongside private versions of aircraft generally used for commercial flights, such as Airbus Corporate Jets.
About 36.5% are categorized as light, while 20.5% are midsize. Very light jets like the Cirrus Vision Jet and HondaJet comprise around 5.5% of the total. Texas and Houston take the top spots in states and cities with the most private jets, respectively.
Photo: Gulfstream
The State of Texas came out on top with 1,651 private jets registered last year. In second place is Florida, with 1,619. California was the only other state to top a thousand registrations with 1,431. New York and Georgia came just shy of five hundred, with 487 and 439, respectively.
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When it comes to which US cities have the most private jets, Texas takes the top two spots, with Houston having 329, followed by Dallas with 327. Florida is also represented twice in the top five, with Fort Lauderdale at three (307) and Miami at five (229). Van Nuys, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, comes in fourth place with 273 aircraft.
Photo: Comlux
This represents around 62% of the total number of private jets worldwide and 90% of the ones flying in North America. According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) monthly report from 2023, as reported by Icarusjet.com,
“2023 has seen a total of 3.8 million operations till October. Of these, only about 600k are international flights, suggesting that the domestic private jet traffic in the United States is significant. From October 2022 to date, the top five corporate jet models have been the Embraer Phenom 300, Cessna 560X Citation Excel, Cessna 680A Citation Latitude, Bombardier Challenger 350, and the Hawker Beechcraft 850XP. Together, they have contributed to almost 40% of the entire private jet traffic in the country for the past year.”
Big in Brazil
Brazil is in second place, with over 775 private jets and another 2,000 business aircraft, including turboprops. The country is also quite geographically large and is home to the world’s third-largest airplane manufacturer, Embraer. The company expects to deliver as many as 130 private jets worldwide in 2023 and currently has a two-year backlog of aircraft.
Photo: Embraer
Around a third of Embraer’s clients are purchasing their first private jet, showing an upward trend in the number of people looking to switch from chartering private jets to owning them.
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Flying high in North America
The third place is Mexico. The southerly neighbor of the US over Mexico had nearly 1,000 private jet aircraft registered in 2019, the most recent data available, alongside 459 turboprops and six executive aircraft. Home to a large population with both Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, Mexico’s private aviation market is steadily growing.
Photo: HondaJet
Canada comes next on the list, with an estimated 532 private jets registered across its provinces. This is in addition to 790 turboprops and ten executive aircraft. Bush planes are also quite common in Canada, given the remoteness and arctic conditions in some of its cities.
Germany leads in Europe
In fifth place is Germany. The country’s fleet comprises around 496 jets and 284 turboprop aircraft. This represents approximately 2.2% of the total private jet industry worldwide, showing the significant disparity between the US and other leading countries regarding private jet ownership.
The UK Crown dependency of the Isle of Man comes in at sixth. Its popular offshore location makes it a prime place for corporations and individuals to register planes in Europe. However, registration on the island has slowly decreased over the last five years.
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