Taking Off On The Fly

On-demand charter jets without the heavy upkeep of ownernership are the growing choice of ultra high net-worth individuals.

- Lan De Cotta

Flying the skies on private aircraft instead of commercial airlines is gaining traction among business executives.

But instead of owning jets, which can cost up to US$60 million (S$83 million) each and more than US$4 million a year to upkeep, ultra-high net worth individuals, or UHNWI, are now gravitating towards private charter.

It’s a global trend. A June report by aviation specialists Argus International showed that the charter jet business grew 11.5 percent year-on-year, while fractional or part ownership of executive aircraft fell 21 percent.

It is the same in Singapore. In Asia Pacific, the country ranks second with a ratio of 30 charter jets based here for its 28 billionaires. Australia leads with 57:27.