According to NetJets’ president, travel patterns among wealthy people are changing, but market volatility and geopolitical tensions have not slowed down demand for private jets. The summer travel season is becoming another strong year for NetJets, with wealthy Americans traveling both the US and Europe, NetJets president Patrick Gallagher told CNBC. “In terms of what we’ll see in future demand, there were no signs of a slowdown, even during this period of market volatility and uncertainty and tariff concerns,” Gallagher said. “We look at all the key metrics very carefully. How many existing customers are flying? Are they giving us less notices to book flights? Or are they still booking in a normal travel pattern? Will they go elsewhere? Compared to last year, are they travelling to Europe this summer? Gallagher said they are watching Europeans booking net jets to the US. It is also too early to determine whether the Middle East conflict will affect travel. But overall, April and April and the market economic and market turbulence quickly subsided, setting a strong setting for summer and fall. Overall private jet demand has been slightly cooled since the peak of the Covid era, But it’s well above the level in 2019. According to a comparison of private jet cards, the US saw over 3 million private jet flights in 2024, showing a 1% decline from 3.1 in 2023. NetJet has its unparalleled safety records and a successful model selling fractional stakes of the plane, and is still the dominant leader. The Columbus, Ohio-based company owned by Berkshire Hathaway, completed more than 500,000 flights last year with 13,600 owners. The company’s 1,100 aircraft have become one of the nation’s largest airlines measured by the fleet, and is used by 40% of Fortune 500 companies. Netjets bought 90 new planes last year and is hoping for similar numbers in 2026, Gallagher said. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Gallagher mapped the changing transition patterns of NetJets clients, the surprising menu selections of flyers, and the unusual qualities they are looking for in pilots. You can see the full video here, but here are some highlights: Wealth Migration “we saw the move to the Sun Belt across the high spaces of Networth, not just Netjets, which has led to less seasonality in Palm Beach, Naples, Florida, Scottsdale, or Scottsdale, (Arizona) and more. Austin, Texas. The Bay Area is perhaps “our area of the largest market share measured by the percentage of flights of business jets departing, especially from San Jose.” Internationally, Gallagher said there is a strong and strong demand for Americans heading towards or flying within Europe. “One thing people like about netjets is that they can own a share of the plane here, and maybe I can fly commercially, but using netjets can fly between Nice and London. But he said, “We definitely saw a change in Europeans flying in the US.” “There was a slight reduction.” If you own your own plane, you can post on social media about the growing demand for “secret flights” by tracking the number and location of tails and posting them on social media, with an increase in online flight trackers. Elon Musk’s planes are, for example, frequently tracked on social media. Taylor Swift was called last year after winning flight 98 with the Dassault Falcon 7X. However, on netjets and charters, passengers remain anonymous and cannot track movements. “We have clients who own their own planes and choose to use netjets when they can fly secrets,” Gallagher said. “Netjets offers anonymity, because what everyone is trying to see is the familiar netjets that stripe the aircraft, and they have no way of tracking who is on board.” There are also orders for the most popular meals on private jets, but while some owners are delivered from their favorite restaurants and chefs, serving hot meals and fashionable feasts on private jets becomes complicated. NetJetters often prefer to bring their own snacks from home or essentially keep them. “The most common catering orders on our planes are crud,” Gallagher said. “Or it’s a charcoal grilled board, and it’s a sliced fruit tray.” With catering, Netjet “moved towards simplicity and consistency so that you can ensure a consistent experience on board the aircraft,” he said. “Catering isn’t as easy as you think.” However, Netjets has a sommelier partnership with Andy Chabot at Blackberry Farm, the famous Tennessee foodie resort, so the wine pairing is skillfully curated. Gallagher, the pilot and special quality netjets, said he believes the company’s pilots will make a difference from a customer service perspective. “It starts with finding someone who has the heart of that service, along with being a truly great aviator,” he added. “Fortunately, we are very fortunate to find those people and we enjoy a huge retention rate for pilots.” Just as the lack of private jet hangers led to a surge in mega-yachts led to a lack of megadock space, the rise of the private jet fleet created a shortage of hangars. Gallagher said simply finding a hangar space for Netjet planes can be a challenge. “In some of our busiest places, we have to actually leave the aircraft from those locations because there is no place to actually park them,” he said. “So we are actively pursuing many different real estate projects across the country to ensure our ability to move where we need to move. Regarding sustainability, Gallagher also spoke about carbon concerns. “Netjets are the largest consumer of sustainable aviation fuels within our industry, and frankly, compared to the overall micro-sized portion of the overall jet fuel we consume,” he said. “We also offer carbon offset programs to our customers, so if you want, you can choose to buy them.” With Jet Setting Pet, Netjet plane passengers are not the only high-net flyers. “Last year we flew around 25,000 pets, which is the big driver that makes people choose to fly net jets,” Gallagher said. It’s mostly dogs and cats, but he pointed out, “We flew the parrots. We flew the angry pigs in the pot.”
Private jet rider flight patterns have changed
