Nearly 20 years ago, The New York Times ran a headline that read “Business May Cut Back, but Not on Its Private Jets.” The header on the next page read, “Corporate Jets Gain in Popularity.” I clipped the articles and when I rediscovered them recently, it struck me how history tends to repeat itself, and it seems this same headline applies today.
While pre-owned inventory is ratcheting higher after a surge of buying over the last year, there is no sign that businesses are cutting back on corporate jets. In fact,
there is some industry scuttlebutt that Gulfstream’s latest flagship, though years from first delivery, is sold out through 2020. (This is an airplane that has a price tag of some $60 million.) As for business aircraft gaining in popularity, this could be a perennial statement and comes as the result of many factors, perhaps the greatest of which is actually flying on one and then evaluating the stark contrasts between the option of cattle-class commercial and the private alternative.
