February 14, 2025
NetJets, Flexjet, Airshare, and FlyExclusive had the biggest gains in flight hours among 2024’s 30 largest private jet operators.
According to ARGUS TRAQPak data on the largest U.S. private jet operators based on flight hours, the seven biggest private jet operators based on charter and fractional flight hours held service in 2024.
Our analysis rolls up wholly and partially owned operators to their parents.
You can read what’s included at the end of the article.
There is also detail on the rollups.
We also detail what the data captures – and what it misses.
Like last year, NetJets, Inc. and Flexjet, Inc. ranked first and second in our list of biggest private jet operators.
They also showed the biggest gain in hours.
Airshare and FlyExclusive had the third and fourth largest increases in flight hours.
Pictured above clockwise from top left are Warren Buffett (Chairman of NetJets parent Berkshire Hathaway), Flexjet Chairman Kenn Ricci, FlyExclusive Chairman and CEO Jim Segrave (ranked 5th by flight hours), and Airshare CEO John Owen (ranked 8th).
NetJets, Inc., including flights by its Executive Jet Management aircraft management and charter arm, saw its flight hours grow by 9.2% to 665,349 flight hours.
That’s more than the following six flight providers combined.
NetJets also took a 12.7% share of all flight hours.
It was the only flight provider with a double-digit market share against total industry flight hours and Part 135/91K.
The industry’s dominant player accounted for 23.5% of all Part 91k/135 flight hours.
NetJets’ 9.2% gain, 55,834 hours, alone would have ranked it the sixth-largest commercial private aircraft operator in the U.S.
Flexjet also showed impressive gains.
Its 16.1% increase in flight hours saw its total rise to 237,819 flight hours.
Its 2024 gain of 32,983 flight hours last year alone would have comfortably placed it in the 10th spot.
Combined, NetJets and Flexjet grew by 88,817 hours.
The total increase among the 30 largest private jet companies was 93,569 hours.
The top 30 saw a 6.2% increase in flight hours.
Overall, the industry saw a 1.1% decline in 2024.
2024 By the Numbers from ARGUS:
Still, the fragmented nature of the industry is evidenced by the top 30.
The 30 biggest private jet companies account for 54.2% of Part 91K/135 hours and just 30.5% of all North American private jet flight hours.
| Rank | Private Jet Company | 2023 | 2024 | %Change | Change/Hours | Share |
| 1 (1) | NetJets* | 609,515 | 665,349 | 9.16% | 55,834 | 12.70% |
| 2 (2) | Flexjet* | 204,836 | 237,819 | 16.10% | 32,983 | 4.54% |
| 3 (3) | Vista* | 136,511 | 127,310 | -6.74% | -9,201 | 2.43% |
| 4 (4) | Wheels Up* | 127,685 | 96,192 | -24.66% | -31,493 | 1.84% |
| 5 (5) | FlyExclusive | 55,211 | 64,215 | 16.31% | 9,004 | 1.23% |
| 6 (6) | Solairus Aviation | 49,560 | 53,418 | 7.78% | 3,858 | 1.02% |
| 7 (7) | Planesense | 47,623 | 51,759 | 8.68% | 4,136 | 0.99% |
| 8 (9) | Airshare* | 22,114 | 40,964 | 85.24% | 18,850 | 0.78% |
| 9 (8) | Jet Linx | 32,648 | 33,770 | 3.44% | 1,122 | 0.64% |
| 10 (10) | Nicholas Air | 21,203 | 21,098 | -0.50% | -105 | 0.40% |
| 11 (11) | Jet Aviation | 16,178 | 17,151 | 6.01% | 973 | 0.33% |
| 12 (18) | Thrive Aviation | 11,580 | 15,026 | 29.76% | 3,446 | 0.29% |
| 13 (30) | Baker Aviation | 7,636 | 13,893 | 81.94% | 6,257 | 0.27% |
| 14 (15) | Aero Air | 13,044 | 13,141 | 0.74% | 97 | 0.25% |
| 15 (12) | Northern Jet* | 15,741 | 13,136 | -16.55% | -2,605 | 0.25% |
| 16 (17) | Fly Alliance | 12,295 | 12,646 | 2.85% | 351 | 0.24% |
| 17 (14) | Clay Lacy | 13,933 | 12,203 | -12.42% | -1,730 | 0.23% |
| 18 (20) | ATI Jet | 10,024 | 11,191 | 11.64% | 1,167 | 0.21% |
| 19 (NR) | Cirrus Aviation Services | 10,972 | 10,786 | -1.70% | -186 | 0.21% |
| 20 (16) | Volato | 12,487 | 10,194 | -18.36% | -2,293 | 0.19% |
| 21 (19) | STA Jets | 11,128 | 9,667 | -13.13% | -1,461 | 0.18% |
| 22 (22) | WorldWide Jet Charter | 9,721 | 9,515 | -2.12% | -206 | 0.18% |
| 23 (28) | SC Aviation | 7,795 | 8,877 | 13.88% | 1,082 | 0.17% |
| 24 (21) | SilverHawk Aviation | 9,885 | 8,736 | -11.62% | -1,149 | 0.17% |
| 25 (NR) | Ventura Air Services | 6,538 | 8,320 | 27.26% | 1,782 | 0.16% |
| 26 (NR) | Hera Flight | 7,426 | 7,961 | 7.20% | 535 | 0.15% |
| 27 (NR) | CSI Aviation | 5,570 | 7,537 | 35.31% | 1,967 | 0.14% |
| 28 (26) | Sky Quest | 7,899 | 7,450 | -5.68% | -449 | 0.14% |
| 29 (NR) | Summit Aviation | 5,433 | 7,322 | 34.77% | 1,889 | 0.14% |
| 30 (27) | LJ Associates | 7,831 | 7,035 | -10.16% | -796 | 0.13% |
| Top 30 | 1,510,022 | 1,603,681 | 6.20% | 93,659 | 30.61% | |
| Total Part 135/91K | 2,812,849 | 2,837,870 | 54.17% | |||
| Total Flight Hours | 5,298,445 | 5,238,986 | 100.00% |
*See end of story for details on operators included. Source: ARGUS TRAQPak
According to Statista, the four largest U.S. airlines—American, Delta, Southwest, and United—control 70% of the market.
The top four private commercial operators—NetJets, Flexjet, Vista Global, and Wheels Up—control 21.5% of the market.
Some standout performances within our list of largest private jet operators.
Dropping off the list: Verijet (13th in 2023), Berry Aviation (23rd), GrandView Aviation (24th), Hop-A-Jet (25th), and Private Jets, Inc. (29th).
Volato, which fell from 16th to 20th, is heading off the 2025 list.
While it is still operating its Vaunt empty-leg program, it exited operating aircraft last September.
Regarding percentage declines, Wheels Up had the biggest drop.
Its flight hours were down 24.7%.
It also had the most significant drop in flight hours.
Flight hours dropped by 31,493 hours.
That includes adding 8,802 hours from the 2024 acquisition of GrandView to its 2024 numbers.
Nine top 30 operators do not have jet cards or fractional programs.
That is the same as last year’s list.
READ: Previous Top 30 Charter/Fractional Private Jet Operator lists
We use this analysis to combine operators under their corporate parents, which is becoming increasingly important due to the industry’s M&A activity.
This means the largest private jet operators are, in some cases, a roll-up of several operators
As noted, that means adding Part 135 operator Executive Jet Management, a NetJets Inc. company, and NetJets U.S. and NetJets Europe’s flights to/from the U.S.
It also means adding VistaJet, Jet Edge, Air Hamburg, Red Wing Aviation, Talon Air, and XOJet, which fly under Vista Global.
GrandView Aviation, acquired by Wheels Up last Fall, is included in Wheels Up 2024 totals.
Likewise, Airshare picks up operators it acquired from Wheels Up, which were represented in the Wheels Up 2023 numbers.
Aircraft arrival and departure information is included on all IFR flights in the U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada, and the Caribbean.
What do we miss?
This data is for operators and doesn’t count off-fleet brokerage flight activity.
For example, in addition to its operator Flexjet, Flexjet, Inc. owns jet card broker Sentient Jet and on-demand broker FXAir in the U.S.
In 2023, we estimate they combined for over $500 million in revenues off-fleet on other operators.
Likewise, Wheels Up and Vista’s brokers, XO and Apollo Jets, sell a considerable number of charter and jet card flights on third-party operators.
In other words, this list reflects flight hours on fleets owned by the corporate parent, not additional brokered flights.
NetJets, Inc., includes relevant NetJets Europe flights and Executive Jet Management; Flexjet, Inc., includes Flexjet and relevant Flairjet flights; Vista Global, includes relevant Air Hamburg flights, Jet Edge, Jet Select, Red Wing Aviation, Talon Air, relevant VistaJet (Malta) flights, and XOJet Aviation. Wheels Up 2024 totals include the full-year totals of GrandView Aviation, acquired in September. Airshare 2024 totals include operators it acquired from Wheels Up in September 2023. Northern Jet includes SpeedBird totals for both years.
Part 91 reflects private flights for aircraft owners whose aircraft are not on a charter certificate.
Part 91k is fractional operators, including flights for their jet card programs and other charter flights.
If greater than 50% of an operator’s aircraft have fractional shares available, then they are considered fractional for the purposes of ARGUS tracking.
Finally, Part 135 hours include charter flights, jet cards, and the private flights of aircraft owners whose airplanes are available for charter.
We combine 135 and 91k as the tracking is operator-specific and doesn’t segment 91k from 135 flying.
It’s also important to note that 135 aircraft tracking is aircraft-specific.
That means some of the flight hours tracked under these aircraft would likely be for Part 91 flying.
That’s because an aircraft owner’s flights are under Part 91.
The airplane must only fly under the Part 135 rules for charter flights.
However, data to separate owner and charter and owner flights is unavailable. They are all tracked under Part 135.
And all of the above includes empty-leg repositioning flights.
Again, the percentage of repositioning flights isn’t known.
READ: New private jet deliveries by year (2000 through 2024)
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