How The Ultra-Rich Fly Around The World In $80M Private Jets

This 80 million dollar plane is the latest in a fleet of private jets offered by Qatar executive. First class is not even a comparison right now because there's an actual With the world seeing more billionaires than ever, demand for this kind of extravagant travel is soaring and accessing this luxury is becoming easier than ever through chartering and timeshare Qatar has been quietly building up its aviation industry too. This whole country it's it's sort of well it's like a giant aviation industrial complex with a country under it. Recently Qatar gifted President Trump a luxury jet intended to be used as a new Air Force One. You look at some of the Arab countries and the planes they have parked alongside of the United States of America plane it's like from a different planet. So how luxurious are private jets these days and what are the trends driving the industry? This airport in Doha is mainly reserved for flights on Qatar executive which caters to corporate customers, government officials and what the airline calls ultra high net worth individuals. My first and probably last time on a private jet let's go. We took a tour of one of their newest models the G700 custom made by the American company Gulfstream. The jet has many exclusive features including 10 leather seats and a couch that can all turn into beds. Yes it's comfortable I just want to say like that there's a certain smell in this plane and it kind of smells like luxury or leather. Unlike commercial cabins that recirculate air this plane is designed to take in fresh air through the engines. It is then compressed, cooled and filtered before being released into the cabin. There's also a private suite all the way at the back to minimize the engine noise. So this door is designed to go up and down like this for a reason. It's because at higher altitudes an aircraft expands and the only way you can seal the doorway and not let any light through into this bedroom space is if this door moves like this. The airline offers an array of dining options you can order at any time and it offers a concierge service. So these macaroons were made at the catering facility in Doha but say if I was taking this private jet from Paris to Doha and I wanted la durée macaroons then that's what they would do. They would actually buy them and serve them as part of their service. The crew is also carefully selected. Every flight attendant must have a minimum 10 years of experience. If you have any special requests we will include and you can have the meals. Amazing. The bathroom also has hints of luxury. The amenity kit is designed by the French perfume brand Diptyque whose lotions can cost as much as a hundred dollars. Perfume, body wash, lotion and socks. Again this looks like a chair, looks like a sink but where in the world is the toilet? Well guess what? Here it is. Watch this. There's the golden throne. Shall we say hi to the pilots? Hello. The pilots on this jet told us there are big differences between flying a commercial plane versus a private jet like this one and that also adds to the experience. It's like having a Ferrari and we have different views on this one and then situational awareness on this aeroplane is very high. The Gulfstream can fly at an altitude of 51,000 feet, 10,000 feet higher than a typical commercial airliner. That increased altitude has surprising benefits. This aircraft is more economical flying higher so you burn less fuel and it flies much faster. We fly at about 90 percent speed of sound. It also means the jets can fly above commercial traffic and avoid certain weather patterns so there's less turbulence and the flight can be shorter with a more direct route. Another advantage is how the cabins are pressurized. Commercial flights simulate an altitude of 6,000 to 8,000 feet about the height of Machu Picchu in Peru but this jet has a cabin altitude of just 2,800 feet. That's like standing on top of the world's highest building the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. You feel really comfortable on this aeroplane even after a 13-14 hour flight you We stayed on the tarmac for this tour but a one-way flight from New York to Doha on a jet like this can cost up to $300,000 depending on the availability and any specific requests. Since Qatar Airways launched this private jet arm in 2009 it's seen a surge in demand with revenue growing 29 percent in the last fiscal year. That tracks closely with the rise of millionaires and billionaires worldwide. In 1990 the U.S. had 66 billionaires. Today it has more than 900. That total is followed closely by China which has more than 500 billionaires and India has the third most with 200. Those three countries alone make up more than half of the world's 3,000 billionaires. The level of wealth increasing in the world greatly outpaced the business aircraft market. So I think in other words we've kind of got a game of catch-up among wealthy folks saying oh okay I can fly privately what a great idea. Powerhouse celebrities from the world of music film and sports have all made the upgrade and for many of them even charter flights aren't good enough so they've bought their own jets. Oprah Winfrey went private back in 1991 after a fan asked her for a hug while waiting for a flight in Chicago's O'Hare airport. Her newest jet is a Gulfstream G700 like the one we toured. Taylor Swift, Tiger Woods and of course Elon Musk all own personal luxury aircraft. Warren Buffett named his the Indispensable after experiencing the convenience of traveling on his own time. And Donald Trump has owned private aircraft since the 1980s. While other public figures might try to play down their expensive purchase Trump has flaunted it. His Boeing 757 is emblazoned with his name in gold letters. He calls it Trump Force One even though it's not his presidential plane. The U.S. has two Air Force One planes but they are more than 30 years old having been used by six presidents dating back to President George H.W. Bush. So they need to be updated. During his first term Trump signed a nearly four billion dollar deal with Boeing for two new jets. Well the plane is totally out of control. It's going to be over four billion dollars. It's for Air Force One program and I think it's ridiculous. They were due to be delivered in 2024 but production delays have pushed Boeing's deadline to beyond Trump's second term. That's why he made other plans. In May 2025 the U.S. accepted Qatar's gift of a luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner. The plane is decked out with luxury fabrics, big leather seats and shiny wood veneer. It has lounges and bedrooms, a private office and of course an over-the-top bathroom. Probably what happened is President Trump got on the current Air Force One and found it rather you know quotidian and then he saw the Qatari plane which I'm sure has more you know gold lame than I don't know your standard disc attack in the 1970s and that's what I want. But the U.S. Constitution has an emoluments clause that prohibits accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign government unless it's approved by Congress and this one wasn't. There is no such thing as a free palace in the sky. What do foreign countries want when they give massive amounts of money and other gifts to the president? I could be a stupid person say no we don't want a free very expensive airplane but it was I thought it was a great gesture. The White House said the aircraft was worth 400 million dollars and would save taxpayers money but experts say it's 13 years old and might only be worth a quarter of its original price. I don't think the Qataris quite know what to do with this jet there's no residual market there's no secondary market so I think they probably said well at least we can carry a bit of political favor. The upgrade could also take years to complete. Here's what needs to happen. First the jet must be completely taken apart to check for any spying devices. Then new security features approved by the Pentagon would need to be installed. Air Force One is designed to be a White House in the sky. It should be able to defend against surface-to-air missiles and even survive a nuclear attack. It also has a very strategic layout with a surgical suite and two kitchens capable of preparing up to 100 meals at a time. It can even be refueled mid-air given the plane's unlimited range. Does Trump say I don't care about these systems I just like the interior? Do we cut corners and fly around in a less capable less safe Air Force One? Here in the U.S. the rise of private flying is closely tied with the history of Air Force One. Franklin Roosevelt became the first president to fly in a private purpose-built plane in 1945 when he traveled to Crimea during World War II. Roosevelt's plane had a conference room, a special wheelchair lift, a bulletproof window, and a refrigerator. The epitome of luxury at the time. In 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower became the first to officially call his plane the Air Force One when he upgraded to a jet, a Boeing 707. Ten years later in 1963 a Swiss American aviation company Learjet introduced the first private aircraft with seats for six passengers and two pilots. Its price tag started at about $650,000. In the late 70s Boeing began converting its popular 747 model for private luxury travel. Over the next two decades charter services emerged allowing people to easily explore and book private trips ushering in a new era of flying. Qatar has been building its own aviation empire since 1993 while using planes as a diplomacy tool. In 2000 the country sent a Boeing 747 to Iraq as an expression of solidarity. In 2013 when Turkish and Lebanese hostages were released from Syria, Qatar executive quickly offered jets to escort them home. And in 2018 Qatar's emir gifted a Boeing 747 to Turkish President Erdogan citing his trust in Turkey. I don't think there's any question that they regard aviation as a kind of an integrated well fabric if you will. Economics, diplomacy, military power, so hard and soft power. There's no way they could be spending this monster amount of money on jets without having a sense of what it all means. Becoming an aviation powerhouse has also helped Qatar secure its position in the Middle East. When tensions escalated between Qatar and its neighbors in 2017 over its ties to Iran, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia imposed a massive blockade. They denied the tiny kingdom access to their airspace and seas and closed its only land border. Qatar relied on imports for survival and the country was facing a crisis. It quickly turned to its aviation superiority to flex some muscle. The airline flew thousands of dairy cows on Qatar Airways cargo planes from Germany, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Australia to Doha where a new farm was waiting to help give the country more control over its food supply. Aviation was their lifeline and whether economically or diplomatically there was that high-profile story I believe of using Qatari jetliners to fly dairy cows into the country so they could have milk. You know I mean it was a it was an exceptional moment in history. And Qatar's influence in aviation extends beyond just owning fancy planes. The Qatar Investment Authority, the country's 500 billion dollar sovereign wealth fund, has bought shares in other airlines. In 2025, it scooped up a 25% stake in Virgin Australia after Australia wouldn't allow Qatar Airways to expand its flights. In 2020, Qatar secured its 25% stake in IAG which operates British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus among others. And back in 2012, the country bought a 20% stake in London's Heathrow Airport. It also owns part of two African airlines, Airlink and Rwandair. Qatar's ties to the United States also run deep. It shelled out 8 billion dollars over the last 20 years to help develop and maintain the Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East. It houses some 10,000 troops. In May 2025, Trump said Qatar pledged another 10 billion dollars towards the base over the coming years. These close ties benefit some U.S. manufacturers as well, like Boeing. Qatar Airways has an order for 210 aircraft. And Qatar Executive flies 22 private jets made by another American manufacturer, Gulfstream, with a few more scheduled for delivery next year. The private jet business is also growing worldwide. Today, there are about 23,000 private jets operating around the world, and about 65% of those are based in the U.S. That's up from 10,000 jets operating globally in 2000. Analysts say the global business jet market could reach nearly 70 billion dollars by 2032. But owning a private jet isn't the only option. Some invest in fractional ownership, kind of like a timeshare for jets, where owners share costs such as maintenance, staff salaries, and hangar space. Others book and share chartered planes, or they use jet card programs that are like a prepaid card for flight hours. VistaJet is one company that offers such a program. As long as the runway is low and safe enough, we'll make it happen. VistaJet started with just two Lear jets in 2004. Now it has a fleet of more than 300 aircraft around the world. The company uses a subscription-based plan in which clients buy flight hours. And it replicates ownership, but what it does is that it takes away all the ownership risks, where the asset depreciation, the management of the aircraft, and the operation of the aircraft. It's a convenience clients are willing to pay for. The flight time costs anywhere from $11,000 to about $25,000 an hour, depending on the type of plane. Members have to purchase a minimum of 25 flight hours a year with a three-year commitment. And there's a separate fuel charge on top of the hourly rates. One flight from New York to London on this aircraft type could cost you $300,000, where our average client, average net worth are well over half a billion dollars. Members are guaranteed a plane will be available for their flight as long as they give 24-hours notice. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle. How you make sure that you have enough availability, but at the same time, we can't have too much waste. To avoid empty seats, the company also sells individual chartered flights outside the membership program. And they're looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Studies have found that private flights are up to 14 times more polluting per passenger than flying commercial, as the carbon footprint is spread across fewer people. One study calculated that two hours of a private flight emits more carbon dioxide than an average person creates in a year. And because these planes fly higher, the emissions are released in more sensitive parts of the atmosphere, where they linger, potentially contributing to more global warming. 85% of our customers opt in for our carbon emission program. They could give us, for example, a seven-day booking notice because they help us to organize our fleet to reduce that empty lag. Like Qatar executive, VistaJet is competing to meet its customers' high expectations for luxury. When cooking on a private jet, the food has to be specifically engineered so that things don't dry out. And that's what they really specialize on, and getting the food from world-renowned chefs like Nobu and things like this. On the 7500, we have two ovens, which are perfect for this. With the private airline, we can really cater to our clients' specific needs. We know exactly what our clients like, and we take feedback after every single flight, and we write back to our company. When it comes down to owning, sharing or chartering, experts say there's one simple principle. For those who travel a lot, and can afford it, owning is perhaps the way to go.