January 29, 2025
As the number of HNWs and UHNWs grows, the future rich say they want to fly privately, according to the 2025 Knight Frank Wealth Report.
According to research from Knight Frank, the trend toward consumers entering the private aviation space earlier in life appears to have a strong future pipeline.
The 2025 Wealth Report from Knight Frank shows that private jets are at the top of the shopping list of the young rich, who will make up part of the future UHNW population.
Knight Frank’s Next Generation Survey, a global study of 1,788 wealthy 18-to-35-year-olds, reveals future trends.
The lowest-income respondents had a household income of US$125,000, and the survey included respondents with over $500,000 and $1 million in household income.
81% say they can work remotely, making mobility crucial.
Among those with a $1 million + HHI, Wellness/Health (24%) is their top priority.
International travel ranks second (19%).
International travel is first overall (22%).
With the top earners and the overall sample, Education/Skills was third, followed by Cultural Events.
The top earners ranked Fine Dining sixth, Family Experiences seventh, followed by Sports/Aventure.
The overall sample ranked Family Experiences ahead of Fine Dining, followed by Sports Adventure.
For private aviation, Private Jets ranked third on the buy list (15.1%) behind High-End Real Estate (29.8%) and Luxury Cars (27.8%).
Art Collection (12.4%), Superyachts (8.9%), and Wine Collections (4.4%) also ranked.
However, there are challenges for growth.
Infrastructure is a top concern.
Knight Franks reports, “The private jet landscape is evolving, with a clear shift towards larger, long-range aircraft.”
“The challenge when a client wants to buy their third, fourth or even fifth home is: can they land their jet nearby,” says Alasdair Pritchard, a partner in Knight Frank’s Private Office.
He adds, “This can dictate property decisions, so we help clients explore alternatives, whether that’s nearby airports with helicopter access or private airstrips on larger estates.”
The report found that over 100,000 households worldwide are worth over $100 million.
That’s up 6.9%.
North America (44,218) leads the way in centimillionaires with 5.8% growth.
Business aviation’s second-biggest market – Europe – ranked third (16,268) with 4.8% growth.
Africa had the most significant growth on a percentage basis, up 17.8%
The U.S. ranks tops in households with $10 million plus net worth.
That’s 905,413 households – 38.7% of the global market.
Canada had 64,988 households in the $10 million-plus category.
Germany was at the top of Europe, followed by the UK and France.
A net worth of $10 million is often considered the starting point of net worth for frequent private jet users.
Private jet OEMs reported that 2024 was their second-best year since 2010.
Overall, private jet flight activity dipped 1.1% last year.
However, it was still the industry’s third-best year ever, trailing 2022 and 2023.
The 2025 Jet Card Report by Private Jet Card Comparisons shows subscribers plan to slightly increase their private flights in the next 12 months—42.7 hours, up from 42.4 hours the previous year.
As reflected in Knight Frank, demand for bigger private jets is increasing.
Subscribers looking for super-midsize solutions increased from 19.1% in 2021 to 23.3% in the most recent survey.
Large cabin jet demand increased from 4.7% to 7.4%, although it was down by two-tenths of a percent year-over-year.
However, light jets were still dominant (54.7%), followed by midsize jets (39.0%).
Luxury travel (89%) is the top lifestyle interest of Private Jet Card Comparisons, followed by Fine Dining, Sports and the Outdoors, Health and Wellness, Real Estate, Yachts and Boats, and Luxury Automobiles.
Download the Knight Frank report here.
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