How flying on a private jet became the no. 1 marker of real wealth

Mint

2 days ago

When Maxx Chewning sold his sour-candy business to Hershey for $75.5 million, the first thing he did—before buying a Rolex or dream home—was jet his wife and six friends to Vail on a Dassault Falcon 900.
They skipped security lines, zipped straight to the runway and seated themselves in leather recliners with gold accents in the wood-paneled cabin. The price tag for this adventure: $100,000.
Chewning's goldendoodle, Dood, sprawled at their feet. 'The joke is, I had to get a private plane so I could bring my dog,' the 35-year-old said. 'I didn't really care what the price was.'
The ultrawealthy have always enjoyed flying private. That exclusive club is growing, as soaring stocks and crypto prices mint more millionaires and billionaires, who now have a range of choices to book a seat on a jet.
Flying private has become the ultimate luxury splurge for many wealthy individuals, surpassing Ferraris, Hermès Birkin bags topping $14,000 or even waterfront Hamptons homes. For many of those aspiring to join the ranks of the truly rich, having 'private-jet money' is the new goal, dividing the 1% from the 0.1%.
The pandemic unleashed a burst of demand, but providers say popular culture has turbocharged enthusiasm and envy for the fly-private lifestyle. Social media has given younger people a glimpse into the lives of jet-setters, whether it is a model flying with friends to a bachelorette party in Los Cabos, Mexico, or a hedge-fund manager hopping a plane to a birthday weekend in St. Barts.
Realistic expectations are in order. 'It is my dream to fly private,' says a user on a Reddit forum for so-called Henrys (which refers to high earners, not rich yet), adding that he earns about $300,000, is married and has a kid in daycare.
'Definitely closer to broke than flying private,' another user responds.
Yet the number of people who are rich enough has surged. The club of ultrahigh net worth individuals with more than $30 million in assets hit a record in 2024, according to estimates from the wealth-intelligence provider Altrata. The U.S. added more than 1,000 millionaires every day last year on average, according to UBS. The billionaire club grew more than 50% between 2015 and 2024.
Private-jet hours flown touched an all-time high in 2022 and have stayed elevated since then, according to data from the aviation-services firm Argus International. Travelers can now use apps to snag individual seats on private jets or pay for flights by the hour. Others charter flights, paying for just the occasional trip from New York to Miami, while the rare business mogul might spring for the entire jet.
Some jet providers accept payment in crypto.
Kenn Ricci, a pilot and chairman of Flexjet, a private-jet company, says the 'frugal wealthy'—high earners who typically didn't splurge—started spending big on travel during the pandemic because of health concerns. Many of them have found it tough to go back to flying commercially. And years of economic growth have helped ease the stigma around conspicuous consumption that set in after the 2008-09 financial crisis.
'It's in vogue to be wealthy,' he says. 'Sometimes we love the rich. Sometimes we hate the rich.'
It isn't just avoiding the security line, or the hoi polloi. Flying private means trading Biscoff cookies for freshly baked ones and picking lunch of shrimp cocktail or filet mignon from menus spanning a dozen pages. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa crafted a menu for VistaJet that includes miso salmon. Some cabin hosts are trained to give travelers facials 40,000 feet above the ground—with Dr. Barbara Sturm's line of luxury skin care.
Tennille Holt spends much of her time traveling the world with her husband and 8-year-old cavapoo, Hudson.
Flexjet hosted members in Lake Como last year, whisking them to a yacht excursion and black-tie dinner. Guests tried on jewels by Garrard, the jeweler that has designed pieces for England's royal family, including brooches for Queen Elizabeth II.
Tennille Holt, 44, retired in 2023 and now spends much of her time traveling the world with her husband and 8-year-old cavapoo, Hudson. Hudson has his own Instagram account documenting his life, including his private-jet flights, where he is often served his favorite: grilled chicken.
She and her husband spent around $200,000 to fly Hudson from Australia to Los Angeles in a Bombardier Global 6000 and avoid the commercial flight. She recalls dreaming about this flexibility while working long days and nights as an entrepreneur.
'The goal was to create the freedom to live life on our own terms, which now includes plenty of travel and the ability to fly privately whenever we want, ' Holt says. 'It's the best and most comfortable option for Hudson.'
Around a third of wealth-management firms working with high-net-worth individuals now offer concierge or lifestyle services, such as private aviation, according to a survey by Cerulli Associates.
Money managers for the superrich advise tech and crypto millionaires and billionaires on exactly which aircraft to buy and how to finance it. They liaise with bankers on issuing debt should clients prefer to borrow the money against their swelling investment portfolios—making monthly interest payments on the aircraft rather than putting tens of millions of dollars down.
After noticing heavy spending on flights, Corient, a wealth manager with around $200 billion in assets, started helping clients team up to share private jets by buying fractional slices of planes or prepaid jet cards.
Family offices, which are private entities that manage large pools of money for wealthy families, are turning to advisers to help them purchase jets outright, which can run into the tens of millions of dollars. Some advisers connect clients with those who can train aircraft crews or offer concierge services for trip planning. At Goldman Sachs, dedicated plane experts connect their ultrarich clients with financiers and point the clients to those who can customize interiors or renovate jets.
Hudson during a trip on a private jet.
Nishi Somaiya, global head of private banking, lending and deposits at Goldman, says there has been a flurry of inquiries this summer. President Trump's tax overhaul includes a deduction for aircraft used for business travel, a welcome perk for clients who frequently mix their work trips with pleasure.
Kevin Hooks, 63, a Flexjet client and veteran flier, says he spends around $800,000 annually mostly crisscrossing the Southwest in a Praetor 600 midsize business jet that seats 9. He has noticed plane hangars around the country growing more crowded because of increased demand since the pandemic.
Hooks, who has been flying privately since he sold his pharmaceuticals business around two decades ago, has also taken a liking to private helicopters, recently taking one between Normandy and London. The trip saved him eight hours, giving him more time to search for buried World War II relics.
He sometimes still takes commercial planes. He recalls the time his son, then 4 years old, got on a Southwest Airlines flight and asked, 'Who are these other people on the plane?'
Write to Gunjan Banerji at [e-mail]