A 40 year old Learjet is sill viable—you can buy one retrofitted with Garmin GTN-750’s for $650k. It will take you over 2,500 miles. It looks like a Korean War fighter jet. It’s cramped and has a totally bumpy ride and few creature comforts—meaning it’s about the same as 1st class commercial but without rearranging your whole life around the airline schedule, wasting hours at the airport, or being subjected to degrading security procedures like raising your arms like an apprehended criminal.
A friend just did the analysis and concluded he and 3 friends could share one and it would end up at twice the cost of commercial.
Modern VLJ: $2MM or less….
In the modern era, things start with VLJs. The Embraer Phenom 100 is $2.0MM +/-used and will go 1,000 miles. NY to FL (TEB<>OPF) in 3 hours for about $4,000 in variable cost.
Modern Serious Jet—many options:
The Phenom 300 is where things get really interesting. Around $6MM used, with variable costs of only around $2,000 an hour. It holds 8, and goes close to 2,000 nautical miles. This is a seriously useful and practical jet—NY to Miami for less than $6,000 in variable costs with 8 people. That’s more than commercial. But………
Until you fly private you can’t appreciate how much better it is. It’s sort of like if the only ground transport you’ve ever known is mass transit and a Trailways bus.
Then: someone sticks a 2018 Mercedes S class in your driveway and you can drive it at will. Chauffeured actually, assuming you want that.
That’s what it’s like — yet words don’t really capture it.
Here’s the Phenom 300:
You can get more jet for less money—you just need to pay more i variable operating costs. Some examples:
Falcon 2000 or Falcon 900 or GIV or Challenger 604 – starting at $3.5MM
Falcon 2000 (usually 10 PAX)
Falcon 900 (usually 14 PAX – there’s another cabin)
Challenger 604 (usually 11 PAX)
Gulfstream GIV (usually 14 PAX – there’s 3 cabins/seating areas)
The Gulfstream and Falcon 900 will take you 4,000+ NM. That’s a long way.
Here’s a 1997 Falcon 900EX with aftermarket winglets.
Here’s a very recent Falcon 8X ($60MM).
Jets don’t change so much…….
These sub $5MM options are for pre-2000 jets. As you see, from the outside there’s very little difference.
Inside too. Lets look at the Gulfstream as an example. Here’s a GIVSP with a refurbished cabin that includes the latest Internet and modern cabin entertainment:
Here’s a 15 year newer G450 that’s 4x the cost:
The G450 from the outside:
The GIVSP:
Bottom line: a very wide range of options, all of which are orders of magnitude better than commercial *but* cost 2–5 times as much (or more). Is it worth it? To me, absolutely. Can you afford or justify it? That’s the $5MM question.
** Note all aircraft pictured are from Quora search; Bluechip Jets has no relationship to the specific serial numbers or tail numbers.
Answer requested by Olga Sokolova