2025's 30 Biggest Charter/Fractional Private Jet Companies

Powered by an increase of 55,737 flight hours in 2025 compared to 2024, NetJets, Inc. again remained the biggest private jet operator, based on the tracking of fractional and charter flight hours.

The unit of Berkshire Hathaway unsurprisingly leads our list of the Top 30 private jet operators for 2025.

Its gain of 55,737 hours would have ranked it 8th on this year’s list.

The data, furnished by ARGUS TRAQPak, includes flight hours by NetJets, NetJets Europe within North America, and its management arm, Executive Jet Management.

Our analysis rolls up wholly and partially owned operators to the parents for all companies.

We also detail what the data captures – and what it misses.

Details are at the bottom of the story.

Overall, 24 of the Top 30 posted year-over-year gains in 2025.

In 2024, only 18 of the Top 30 increased flight hours.

In 2023, just 10 of the Top 30 operators saw year-over-year gains.

The largest percentage increase was from Baker Aviation, up 110.34%.

The largest percentage decline was Wheels Up, which was down 14.42% in flight hours year over year.

Despite the dip, it not only stayed on the list but also held onto its fourth-place spot.

Flexjet and Vista held their second and third spots.

FlyExclusive moved closer to the fourth spot, rounding out the Top 5 biggest private jet operators for 2025.

ARGUS Senior Vice President Travis Kuhn says, “2025 was a year of growth for business aviation operations, and the Top 30 operators are a testament to that growth.”

Kuhn adds, “It’s always a joy to put this list together each year. Congratulations to this year’s Top 30.”

Here’s the entire list of 30, including the new and those who dropped out, along with some points of interest.

30 Biggest Private Jet Companies

The 30 largest U.S. private jet companies based on charter and fractional hours clocked 1,725,728 total flight hours in 2025.

Hours flown by the Top 30 were up 127,771 compared to 2024.

It was better than the Top 30’s gain from 2023 to 2024, which was 93,569 hours.

2025’s gain was 8% year over year.

The industry as a whole, with over 1,000 Part 91, 135, and 91K fixed-wing operators, recorded 180,987 additional flight hours in 2025 compared to 2024.

The Top 30 captured 30.84% of all flight hours – Part 135, Part 91K, and Part 91

That was up from 30.61% in 2024

2025 By the Numbers from ARGUS:

– 2025 Total Industry Flight Hours with 2007-to-2025 Year-by-Year Recap

– 2025’s Busiest U.S. Private Jet Airports

– Busiest, Slowest Days of the Week/Year for 2025

– 2025 Private Jet Flights by State

Still, the industry’s fragmented nature is evident in the Top 30.

The 30 biggest private jet companies accounted for 55.75% of all Part 91K/135 flying.

Top Private Jet Operators – Full Year 2025

 *See end of story for details on operators included. Source: ARGUS TRAQPak 

However, that was up 54.2% in 2024.

According to Statista, the four largest U.S. airlines—American, Delta, Southwest, and United—control around 70% of the market.

ARGUS TRAQPak forecasts 2026 private aviation hours in 2026 to be up 1.6% compared to last year.

Operators with links in the table above offer a consumer jet card and/or fractional flight program.

Biggest Private Jet Operators

Some standout performances within our list of the largest private jet operators.

In terms of moving up the ladder:

• Summit Aviation moved up 9 spots to 20
• Skyshare moved onto the Top 30 at 24
• Hera Flight moved up 4 spots to 22
• Baker Aviation moved up 3 places to 10
• Fly Alliance moved up 2 spots to 14
• Jetvia moved up 2 spots to 16

The 10 biggest gainers on a flight hours percentage basis:

• Baker Aviation hours were up 110.3% – a year after they were up 81.9%
• Jet Excellence was up 65.4%
• Summit Aviation saw flight hours grow by 48.1% – after a 34.8% the previous year
• Prime Jets’ hours were up 37.1%
• SkyShare hours were up 32.4%
• Hera’s flight hours were up 27.7%
• Fly Alliance’s hours were up 25.6%
• Thrive Aviation’s hours thrived by 21.2%
• Jetvia’s hours increased 20.3%
• Flexjet hours increased 19.6%

The 10 biggest gainers on an hours-flown basis:

• NetJets increased hours by 53,737
• Flexjet was up 46,714 hours
• Baker Aviation’s hours increased by 15,330 hours
• FlyExclusive hours grew by 8,865 hours
• PlaneSense flying was up 6,042 hours
• Solairus Aviation’s hours were up 4,099 hours
• Summit Aviation’s hours were up 3,519 hours
• Fly Alliance’s hours were up 3,242 hours
• Thrive’s flight hours increased by 3,183 hours
• Jet Excellence hours increase by 3,162 hours

New Top 30 Private Jet Operators:

• SkyShare at 24
• Prime Jets at 30

Dropping off the list:  LJ Associates (from 30th to 43rd), and Volato (from 20th to NR).

Top 5 Private Jet Operators

Over the past five years, the five largest operators have held serve.

NetJets and Flexjet have stayed as first and second across all five years.

FlyExclusive has stayed in the fifth spot across the past five years.

The only change was in 2023, when Wheels Up moved down, and Vista moved into the third spot.

5 Biggest Private Jet Operators (2021 to 2025)

 *See end of story for details on operators included. Source: ARGUS TRAQPak 

While the Top 5 may have seemed mainly static, there were some trends below the pure rankings.

Over the five years, Wheels Up’s flight hours dropped by 50.7% as it moved from just 11,522 hours behind Flexjet to where Flexjet is now more than three times bigger (284,533 hours to 82,318) hours, and FlyExclusive is in striking distance with 73,080 hours.

Back in 2021, Vista was fourth with 96,200 hours, double the fifth-place finisher, FlyExclusive, with 45,618 hours.

It’s also worth noting that Vista (via XO) and Wheels Up, on its own and with Air Partner, have a significant off-fleet business, with charter flights booked for their clients with other operators.

Our data doesn’t capture those third-party bookings (see below).

Since 2021, NetJets has increased annual flying by 176,255 flight hours.

Flexjet has increased annual flight hours by 106,206 hours.

Those gains, counted alone, would rank them third and fifth on the list.

NetJets’ annual gain (176,255 hours) is greater than that of the operators ranked 16-30 (165,128 hours) on this year’s list.

NetJets is averaging 1,970 flight hours per day.

That means in five days, NetJets flies enough to rank 23rd in this year’s list.

READ: Previous Top 30 Charter/Fractional Private Jet Operator lists

What’s included?

We use this analysis to combine operators under their corporate parents, a trend that is becoming increasingly important amid the industry’s M&A activity.

This means the largest private jet operators are, in some cases, a roll-up of several operators.

As noted, that means adding Part 135 operator Executive Jet Management, a NetJets Inc. company, and NetJets U.S. and NetJets Europe’s flights to/from the U.S.

It also means adding VistaJet, Jet Edge, Air Hamburg, Talon Air, and XOJet, which fly under Vista Global.

Of note, Talon Air, which was sold to its management in January 2026, is included in Vista Global’s 2025 hours.

Jet Excellence includes Red Wing’s hours, after its acquisition from Vista.

Aircraft arrival and departure information is included on all IFR flights in the U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada, and the Caribbean.

Private Jet Charter Brokers vs. Operators

What do we miss?

This data is for operators and doesn’t count off-fleet brokerage flight activity.

For example, in addition to its operator, Flexjet, Inc., it also owns jet card broker Sentient Jet and on-demand broker FXAir in the U.S.

In 2023, we estimate they combined for over $500 million in off-fleet revenue from other operators.

Likewise, Wheels Up and Vista’s brokers, XO and Apollo Jets, sell a considerable number of charter and jet card flights on third-party operators.

In other words, this list reflects flight hours on fleets owned by the corporate parent, not additional brokered flights.

What’s included for flight providers with multiple operators?

NetJets, Inc., includes relevant NetJets Europe flights and Executive Jet Management; Flexjet, Inc., includes Flexjet and relevant Flairjet flights; Vista Global, includes relevant Jet Edge, Jet Select, Talon Air, relevant VistaJet (Malta), Vista GMBH flights, and XOJet Aviation. JetExcellence includes relevant Red Wing flights.

READ: Private Aviation Deal Book

About the data

Part 91 applies to private flights by aircraft owners whose aircraft are not on a charter certificate.

Part 91k is for fractional operators, including flights for their jet card programs and other charter flights.

If more than 50% of an operator’s aircraft have fractional shares available, they are considered fractional for ARGUS tracking purposes.

Finally, Part 135 hours include charter flights, jet cards, and the private flights of aircraft owners whose airplanes are available for charter.

We combine 135 and 91k as the tracking is operator-specific and doesn’t segment 91k from 135 flying.

Part 135 tracking

It’s also important to note that Part 135 aircraft tracking is aircraft-specific.

That means some of the flight hours recorded for these aircraft are likely for Part 91 flying.

That’s because an aircraft owner’s flights are under Part 91.

The airplane must only fly under the Part 135 rules for charter flights.

However, data to separate owner and charter and owner flights is unavailable. They are all tracked under Part 135.

And all of the above includes empty-leg repositioning flights.

Again, the percentage of repositioning flights isn’t known.

(Editor’s Note: Prime Jet flight hours place it 30th on the list. It was in the original list.)

READ: New private jet deliveries by year (2000 through 2025)