Flight Brief
- Private jets fall into five broad classes: light, midsize, super-midsize, heavy and ultra-long-range.
- Range and luggage volume decide the aircraft more often than seat count does.
- A light jet seats four to seven and suits sectors under about three hours. An ultra-long-range jet seats twelve to nineteen and flies non-stop intercontinentally.
- Smaller aircraft can use shorter runways, which often means an airport closer to your destination.
- Helicopters and airliners sit either side of the jet classes and are frequently the right answer.
Not sure which class fits? Tell us the trip and we will work backwards to the right aircraft.
Start an EnquiryMost people approach this question by counting passengers. It is a reasonable starting point and it is almost never what settles the matter. We have put parties of four on heavy jets and parties of nine on midsize aircraft, and in both cases the decision came down to something other than seats.
The four things that usually decide it are how far you are flying, what you are carrying, which airports you want to use, and how much of the journey you need to spend working or resting. Here is how the classes compare against those.
The five jet classes
Light jet
Four to seven seats, typically up to about 1,500 nautical miles. Aircraft such as the Citation CJ4 and the Phenom 300.
The workhorse of short European charter. London to Nice, Dublin, Amsterdam or Edinburgh, comfortably. You cannot stand up in most light jets and the baggage hold takes soft bags rather than hard cases, so it suits a small party travelling light. What you gain is access: light jets use short runways that larger aircraft cannot, which frequently puts you at an airfield much closer to where you are actually going.
Midsize jet
Seven to nine seats, up to about 3,000 nautical miles. The Learjet 75 and Citation XLS+ sit here.
The most commonly chartered class in Europe, and usually the point where the cabin becomes somewhere you can work rather than simply sit. Most of the continent is within range, including the Canaries and the eastern Mediterranean. The hold takes real luggage, including golf clubs and ski equipment, which the class below generally will not.
Super-midsize jet
Eight to ten seats, up to about 4,000 nautical miles. The Challenger 350 and Citation Longitude are typical.
The first class where you can stand upright throughout the cabin, and the usual step up when a schedule crosses time zones. Transatlantic becomes possible on favourable routings, though not reliably in both directions. For a team travelling to work on arrival rather than recover, this is often where the money is best spent.
Heavy jet
Twelve to sixteen seats, up to about 4,500 nautical miles. The Challenger 605 and Gulfstream G450 among them.
A full galley, separate cabin zones, and enough space that a group can hold a private conversation at one end while others rest at the other. Genuinely transatlantic. This is the class most often chartered for boards, deal teams and touring parties, and the hold will take production equipment rather than just suitcases.
Ultra-long-range jet
Twelve to nineteen seats, up to about 7,500 nautical miles. The Global 6000 and Gulfstream G650.
Non-stop wherever you need to be. London to the US West Coast, the Gulf, Asia or Australia without a technical stop. On a tight schedule the value is not comfort but the fuel stop you do not have to make, which can be the difference between arriving the same working day and losing one.
Worth knowing that range works differently in each direction on transatlantic routings. Westbound sectors face headwinds that eastbound ones do not, so an aircraft can make New York to London comfortably and need a fuel stop coming back. We have offices at both ends of that route, at London Farnborough and at Teterboro in New Jersey, which means the aircraft selection is checked against the actual conditions on the day rather than the published figure.
Published range assumes ideal conditions. A full passenger load, strong headwinds, high temperatures or a short runway all reduce it, sometimes considerably. Westbound transatlantic sectors face headwinds that eastbound ones do not, which is why an aircraft can make New York to London non-stop and need a stop coming back. We check the actual routing against the actual load rather than the brochure figure.
Either side of the jets
Helicopters
Three to twelve seats, typically up to 500 nautical miles. Not a substitute for a jet but frequently the piece that makes an itinerary work at all.
A helicopter goes where no runway exists: a festival site, a race meeting, an estate, a superyacht, a rooftop. It also connects central London to Farnborough in about fifteen minutes against sixty to ninety by road, airside to airside where the airport permits. A great many of the itineraries we arrange are a helicopter leg and a jet leg working together.
Airliners
Fifty to a hundred and eighty seats. Regional aircraft such as the ATR 72 and Embraer 190, or narrowbodies including the A320 and 737.
Once a party passes about twenty, whole-aircraft charter becomes both possible and often cheaper per head than several jets. The cabin can be reconfigured, which matters more than it sounds for sports squads who need genuine legroom, and the hold takes freight that no business jet could carry. This is how full touring parties, first-team squads and large delegations move.
Tell Us the Trip, Not the Aircraft
We are an independent broker, so we have no reason to steer you towards a particular fleet. We will price more than one option and tell you which we would choose, including when the smaller one is the right answer.
What actually decides it
Luggage, more often than you would expect
Business jets have modest holds. Ski equipment, golf clubs, camera kit, instruments and medical equipment all take far more volume than the passenger count implies, and hold capacity is the single most common reason a party ends up on a larger aircraft than the seats required. Tell your broker what you are carrying, with rough weights, at the point of enquiry rather than at the aircraft steps.
Which airport you can use
A smaller aircraft that can land twenty minutes from your destination frequently beats a larger one landing ninety minutes away. Runway length, opening hours and handling availability all vary, and the closest airport on a map is not always usable. This works in both directions, so it is worth telling us where you are ultimately going rather than which airport you assume you need.
What you need to do on board
On a forty minute hop, cabin height is irrelevant. On a five hour sector where a team needs to work, or a nine hour one where they need to arrive able to perform, it is the whole question. Connectivity varies considerably between aircraft of the same class, so if the party must work in flight, say so early because it can change which specific aircraft we recommend.
Whether the aircraft has to position
Charter aircraft are not waiting at your departure airport. If the nearest suitable aircraft is two hours away, you pay for it to reach you. This is why a slightly larger aircraft based nearby sometimes costs less than a smaller one that has to fly in, and why a same-day return is often better value than two one-way sectors.
As an independent broker we are not tied to any one fleet, so we have no reason to steer you towards a particular aircraft. We will usually price more than one option and tell you which we would choose, including when the smaller and cheaper aircraft is genuinely the right answer. Every operator we propose has been independently verified through Wyvern or ARGUS before the aircraft is confirmed.
In short
Count the passengers, then ask the four questions that actually matter: how far, what are you carrying, which airports, and what do you need to do on board. The answers will usually point at one class, and where they point at two, the difference is worth discussing rather than guessing.
We have been matching clients to aircraft since 1990, across everything from a single executive to a full touring party with freight. Tell us the trip rather than the aircraft, and we will work backwards to the right answer.