Private Jet Price per Hour

A comparison of all available XLJs with a dozen bigger private aircraft would be astonishing.

One of the most apparent differences between the nozzles is the sizes. Check this against the height/width/length dimension of the Hawker 400 XP of 4' 9''/4' 11''''/15'' 6''', or the Citation Sovereign dimensions: Part of the differences in the aircraft sizes are due to the differences in the number of seats they can carry - six, nine and twelve - but if you are looking for more spacious staterooms you should choose bigger private aircraft.

The luggage compartment is also an issue for a VLJ. At 16 ft, the Eclipse 500 has the smallest luggage compartment of any VLJ. Others, such as the Citation Mustang, have up to 63 cc' available, but are losing a little bit of velocity and economic efficiency of mileage. The Sovereign's luggage allowance is atypically high for a private jet of 135 cbm; the Hawker has 53 cbm.

Don't give up on the whole VLJ. They' re designed for their economies, not their heights. Eclipse 500 hourly running rates (insurance, service, fuels and spare parts) are valued at US$372. Hawker 400XP is $1,447 an hour to travel and Sovereign is $1,974 an hour.

This may sound like a great deal, but not in comparison to the price of a new Hawker 400XP (7.1 million dollars) or Sovereign (15.9 million dollars). This means that once some used Eclipse 500s enter the used private jet segment, where jet fares fall between 15 and 40 per cent in the first 5 years, it could start to run between $1.28 million and $900,000.

Dramatically low operational and initial investment explains all the fuss associated with the VLJ' s comeback. There' s a definitive compromise between scale and price, but for the private jet traveller looking for an economical alternative, a VLJ can be the one.