The flight patterns of private-jet setters are changing, says NetJets CEO
Market volatility and geopolitical tensions haven’t slowed demand for private jets, although the travel patterns of the wealthy are changing, according to the president of NetJets. The summer travel season is shaping up to be another strong year for NetJets, with wealthy Americans traveling both within the U.S. and Europe, NetJets President Patrick Gallagher told CNBC. “In terms of what we see in future demand, there’s really been no signs of slowdown, even in this period of market volatility and uncertainty and tariff concerns,” Gallagher said. “We watch all the leading indicators very closely: How much are our existing customers flying? Are they giving us less notice to book a flight? Or are they still booking with normal travel patterns? Are they going to different places? Is travel to Europe this summer down compared to last year? So far, we have not seen any indicators of our business, at least at NetJets, really slowing down.” Gallagher said he is seeing a slowdown in Europeans booking NetJets to come to the U.S. He said the “sales cycles got a little longer,” in the spring, as tariff concerns peaked. It’s also too early to tell whether the Middle East conflict will impact travel. Yet on the whole, the economic and market turbulences of April and May have quickly subsided and set the stage for a strong summer and fall. While overall private jet demand has cooled slightly since the Covid-era peak, it remains well above 2019 levels. According to Private Jet Card Comparisons , the U.S. saw over 3 million private jet flights in 2024, down from 3.1 in 2023, marking a 1% decline. NetJets, with its unrivaled safety record and successful model of selling fractional shares of planes, remains the overwhelmingly dominant leader. The Columbus, Ohio-based company, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, completed over 500,000 flights last year with 13,600 owners, Gallagher said. The company’s 1,100 aircraft would make it one of the nation’s largest airlines measured by fleet and it’s used by 40% of the Fortune 500 companies. NetJets purchased 90 new planes last year and expects a similar number in 2026, Gallagher said. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Gallagher mapped out the changing migration patterns of NetJets clients, the surprising menu choices of flyers, and the rare quality the company looks for in pilots. You can watch the full video here , but here are some highlights: Wealth migration “We’ve seen a migration to the Sun Belt, not just at NetJets, but across the high-net-worth space. With that, we’ve seen less seasonality in places like Palm Beach, and Naples, Florida, or Scottsdale, [Arizona], which are becoming very busy year-round. You see less of that, that up and down demand. We’ve seen increases in places like Austin, Texas; Nashville; Columbus, Ohio. All those cities have grown a lot in recent years and climb the ladder in terms of where they stack rank by demand. Meanwhile, we’ve seen LA lose ground from a traffic perspective. We’ve seen San Diego lose traffic.” The Bay area is probably “our area of greatest market share measured by the percentage of flights of business jets departing. Particularly out of San Jose.” Internationally, Gallagher said he sees continued strong demand for Americans headed to Europe or even flying within Europe. “One of the things people love about NetJets is I can own a share of an airplane here, and maybe I fly over commercially, but then I can use NetJets to hop around between Nice and London and wherever else I want to go while I’m there. And so that’s a big advantage of our program, is giving people the ability to do that. We think we’ll set new records there this summer.” However, he said “we’ve definitely seen a change in Europeans flying in the U.S.,” with slower traffic. “There has been a little bit of a reduction.” On the growing demand for ‘incognito flights’ If you own your own plane, your tail number and location can be tracked and posted to social media by a growing number of online flight trackers. Elon Musk’s planes, for instance, are frequently tracked on social media. Taylor Swift was called out last year for taking 98 flights on her Dassault Falcon 7x. With NetJets and charters, however, passengers remain anonymous so their movements can’t be tracked. “We have clients that own their own airplanes and choose to use NetJets when they want to be able to fly incognito,” Gallagher said. “NetJets provides that, that anonymity, because all anybody is ever going to see is that familiar NetJets striping on the aircraft, and they have no idea, no way to track who’s on board.” Most popular food order on private jet While some owners get delivery from their favorite restaurants or chefs, serving hot meals or fancy feasts on a private jet can be complicated, given the need to refrigerate and reheat food and keep it at safe temperatures. NetJetters often prefer to bring their own snacks from home or keep it basic. “The most common catering order on our plane is crudite,” Gallagher said. “Or it’s a charcuterie board, it’s sliced fruit trays.” With catering, NetJets has moved “towards simplicity and consistency so that we can ensure a consistent experience on board the aircraft,” he said. “Catering is not as easy as you might think.” The wine pairings, however, are expertly curated, since NetJets has a sommelier partnership with Andy Chabot at Blackberry Farm, the famed Tennessee foodie resort. The special quality NetJets looks for in pilots Gallagher said he think the company’s pilots make a difference from a customer service standpoint, noting that “on the majority of our fleet, the smaller aircraft, the two pilots are doing everything for the customer on board that flight, and they’re the best ambassadors we have to our brand.” “It really starts with finding somebody who’s got that service heart along with being a fantastic aviator,” he added. “Fortunately, we’ve been very lucky to be able to find those people, and we enjoy great retention rates of our pilots.” On the shortage of private jet hangers Just as the proliferation of mega-yachts has led to a shortage of mega-dock space, the rise of private jet fleets has created a hangar shortage. Just finding hangar space for NetJet’s airplanes can be a challenge, Gallagher said. “At some of our busiest locations, we’re actually having to deadhead aircraft out of those locations at night, just because there’s no place to park them,” he said. “And so, so we’re actively pursuing a number of different real estate projects all over the country — frankly, all over the world — to ensure that we have the ability to move where we need to move, and can control as much ramp and hangar space as we can through our partners.” On sustainability Gallagher also talked about carbon concerns. “NetJets is the largest consumer of sustainable aviation fuel within our industry, and frankly, relative to the overall minute portion of overall jet fuel that we consume,” he said. “We also offer carbon offset programs to our customers, so they can choose to buy those if they wish.” On jet-setting pets High-net-worth flyers aren’t the only passengers on NetJet’s planes. “We flew 25,000 or so pets last year, and that’s, that’s a big driver of why people choose to fly NetJets,” Gallagher said. While it’s mostly dogs and cats, “we’ve flown parrots. We’ve flown pot-bellied pigs,” he noted.
Source – CNBC
