Private aviation is priced by the flight hour, but hourly rates, the booking rules and taxes around them, and the aircraft and activity behind them are rarely documented together. We combine quarterly averages of guaranteed jet-card program rates, one large US operator's annual reports, federal tax law, EIA fuel prices, BLS wage data, GAMA delivery statistics and the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey. In the second quarter of 2026 the average hourly rate, fuel and the 7.5% federal excise tax included, was USD 11,314, from USD 6,271 for turboprops and USD 8,456 for light jets to USD 19,202 for ultra-long-range jets, 3.1 times the turboprop rate. The all-category average rose from USD 8,860 at the end of 2019 to USD 11,748 at the end of 2022 and was 27.7% above its 2019 level in mid-2026; light-jet rates rose 38.1% between 2019 and 2025 and large-cabin rates 17.1%. Daily minimums dominate short trips: a 28-minute light-jet hop is billed at 72.8 minutes, USD 10,260. One operator's customers spent USD 18,658 per one-way leg in 2025. At the 2025 wholesale price an average US jet burned about USD 620 of fuel per hour, 5.3% of the jet hourly rate and less than the USD 815 of tax inside it. Business jet deliveries reached 854 in 2025, and billings per delivered jet rose from USD 12.28 million in 1996 to USD 29.88 million in 2024. The 16,835 active US non-airline jets flew 5.22 million hours in 2024, 38.5% of them on-demand charter. All inputs are public.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Askew et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: