When Warren Buffett once said he wanted to be buried with his private jet a Bombardier Challenger 600 affectionately named the “Indispensible” it might have sounded like hyperbole. But after flying halfway across the country aboard a private jet, I understand exactly what he meant.
My trip from Brooklyn to Cleveland, arranged by private aviation company Flexjet, should have taken five hours each way if done the usual way Uber rides, security lines, boarding queues, and taxiing delays. Instead, it took just two hours. No waiting, no boarding passes, no crowds. I left home after kissing my seven-month-old goodbye before daycare and returned in time to give him a bath. It wasn’t just faster. It felt like bending time itself.
That’s when I realized what separates private aviation from mere luxury. As Flexjet’s co-CEO Andrew Collins told me, “Luxury is being able to manipulate time. In essence, it’s a time machine.” Throughout the day at Flexjet’s headquarters in Ohio, every executive repeated that same mantra and they weren’t exaggerating.
Private aviation is booming like never before. According to aviation data firm WingX, private jet flights in the first half of this year were up 3.6% from last year and 33.6% higher than before the pandemic. But the reasons behind this surge aren’t indulgence or vanity. They’re practicality. A survey by Private Jet Card Comparison found that more than two-thirds of private jet users said the main reason they fly private is to save time not to enjoy luxury amenities.
Doug Gollan, founder of Private Jet Card Comparison, put it simply: “They say you can’t buy health or time. Well, you can if you fly privately.”
That truth hit me as soon as my trip began not at the jet, but on the eight-minute helicopter flight that took us from Manhattan’s East Side to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. It saved nearly an hour in city traffic. As we soared over Central Park and the skyline shimmered below, my fellow passengers a Flexjet salesman and a journalist chatted about country clubs and private gyms. The scene felt surreal, but Flexjet executives were quick to clarify that most of their clients aren’t stereotypical heirs or rock stars.
“People think it’s a bunch of wealthy little kids running around on Daddy’s money,” said Kenn Ricci, Flexjet’s chairman. “But most of our customers are major corporations. They don’t want their CEOs sitting in an airport lounge with bad WiFi. Time is money.”
When our helicopter touched down, our jet a gleaming Gulfstream G450 was already waiting just a few steps away. No metal detectors, no boarding lines, no boarding passes. Within minutes, we were airborne, eating fresh berries and Greek yogurt. The flight itself was quiet, smooth, and almost absurdly relaxing. One passenger’s Oura ring didn’t even register takeoff as stress.
Inside, the cabin was wood-paneled, climate-controlled, and tastefully decorated soft blankets draped across couches, Evian sprays and Molton Brown toiletries in the bathroom, and Starlink-powered internet that let me scroll through Instagram while another passenger FaceTimed home. On the return flight, we were served fruit, snacks, and a three-course meal. It wasn’t champagne and caviar; it was grilled chicken, wraps, and a beautiful charcuterie board the kind of “airport food” billionaires actually eat between meetings.
And yet, none of this was the real luxury. It was the seamlessness the feeling that time had bent around me. The jet didn’t wait for a runway. It waited for me. The car to the hangar, the boarding, the takeoff every step designed to eliminate friction.
Flexjet’s executives were right: time is the currency of the truly wealthy. And when you can control it, even in small increments, you’ve bought yourself something more powerful than any physical comfort.
Of course, this kind of freedom comes at an extraordinary cost. Our Gulfstream G450 was one of Flexjet’s most expensive models, but the Gulfstream G700 the pinnacle of private aviation takes it even further. Reportedly owned by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the G700 includes sleeping quarters, a full kitchen, and a living room with a flat-screen TV. Retail price: around $95 million. A fractional ownership stake in one costs over $20 million, not counting monthly management fees or fuel expenses.
For the rest of Flexjet’s clientele, prices vary widely. Rates start at about $7,000 per flight hour and can reach $23,000 depending on the aircraft. The company’s most popular options mid and super-midsize jets such as the Embraer Praetor 500, Praetor 600, and Bombardier Challenger 350 fall somewhere in between. These models seat fewer than ten passengers and don’t typically include a cabin attendant. As Gollan described it, “It’s like sitting in an SUV utilitarian, designed to get you from A to B quickly.”
Even so, he and Ricci both say the experience can become addictive. Once you’ve traveled privately, it’s hard to go back to commercial. “Once you decide to fly private, it’s a little bit of an addiction,” Ricci admitted. “I haven’t flown commercial in more than 12 years.”
After my own brief glimpse into this world, I understand the appeal. Yes, there’s comfort, privacy, and an undeniable thrill in bypassing airport chaos but the real draw is something much subtler. Private jets let you reclaim control of your most finite resource: time.
When Warren Buffett called his jet “Indispensible,” he wasn’t just naming a plane. He was describing the freedom that comes from bending the clock to your will and in today’s world, that may be the rarest luxury of all.
