Apsley Travel · Bespoke Luxury Travel
Private jet charter through Apsley costs from £3,000–£4,500 per flying hour for a very light jet to £12,000–£18,000 per hour for ultra-long-range aircraft, arranged through a vetted broker network with catering, ground handling and onward travel managed as one itinerary. We source from the strongest operators in each region, negotiate the quote, and integrate the flight with the rest of the trip — a yacht in the Med, a safari in Kenya or a ski week in Courchevel — as one continuous booking.
The hourly rate is the honest way to read a jet quote — every aircraft has a rated speed and cabin, and every route is priced on flying time plus positioning, landing and handling fees. The bands below are indicative UK-departure retail pricing in early 2026, for guidance only; a firm quote depends on the exact route, date, availability and any repositioning required.
| Class | Passengers | Range | Indicative hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very light (Phenom 100, Citation Mustang) | 4 | 1,000–1,300 nm | £3,000–£4,500 |
| Light (Phenom 300, Citation CJ3+) | 6–7 | 1,800–2,000 nm | £4,000–£5,500 |
| Midsize (Citation XLS+, Praetor 500) | 8–9 | 2,000–3,300 nm | £5,000–£7,000 |
| Super-midsize (Challenger 350, Citation Longitude) | 9–10 | 3,200–3,500 nm | £6,000–£8,500 |
| Heavy (Challenger 650, Falcon 900LX, Gulfstream G450) | 10–14 | 4,000–5,000 nm | £8,000–£12,000 |
| Ultra-long-range (Gulfstream G650ER, Global 7500, Falcon 8X) | 13–19 | 6,400–7,700 nm | £12,000–£18,000 |
A few practical anchors clients ask about: London–Nice one way on a Phenom 300 typically comes in around £14,000–22,000; London–Dubai one way on a heavy or ultra-long-range aircraft runs £70,000–110,000; a transatlantic to Teterboro (New York) on a Global 6000 or G650 sits in the £85,000–130,000 range. Empty legs — repositioning flights an operator needs to fly regardless — are typically 25–75% below full charter, in exchange for date and route flexibility.
Quotes always exclude UK air passenger duty and, where applicable, VAT (20% on the domestic portion of intra-EU/UK flights, generally zero-rated for exports outside). We include those figures on every quote before you commit.
These are the airframes that show up on Apsley clients' itineraries week in, week out — chosen because the maintenance record, cabin comfort and operator base match what luxury travellers expect.
Private jet charter through Apsley is for clients where scheduling around commercial timetables is either impossible or a poor use of the day — UHNW principals, family offices, multi-generational family groups travelling with young children or elderly parents, discreet business travel and time-critical medical or security movements. The value is not the flight but what the flight enables: same-day Med day trips, a safari that starts the afternoon you land, or a school-holiday ski week that begins on the mountain the same afternoon as the school run.
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London to Nice one way on a Phenom 300 typically runs £14,000–22,000; London to Dubai on a heavy or ultra-long-range aircraft £70,000–110,000; London to New York (Teterboro) on a G650 or Global 6000 £85,000–130,000. All quotes are exclusive of UK air passenger duty and any applicable VAT, which we always itemise before you commit.
An empty leg is a repositioning flight an operator has to fly with no passengers — the aircraft is going anyway, so the seat cost is heavily discounted. Realistic savings are 25–75% off the full charter rate. The trade-off is fixed date, fixed route and fixed times: you take what's on the schedule. Apsley scans the empty-leg market daily for clients who can be flexible.
For a light jet on a European city pair, 48–72 hours is usually enough outside peak periods. For heavy or ultra-long-range aircraft on transatlantic or intercontinental routes, 5–10 days is safer. Peak windows — Christmas week, February half term, Monaco Grand Prix, Davos, Cannes, Wimbledon — should be booked 4–8 weeks out; the best aircraft go first.
Yes — the operator can hold the aircraft on the ground and repositioning is priced in. A common Apsley routing is London → Nice → Olbia → London over a week, giving the family the aircraft and crew for the entire trip. It costs more than three separate legs (you pay for the crew's downtime and the empty positioning) but the flexibility is total.
Charter quotes are typically headline flying-time cost only. We always show you the full price before commitment: UK air passenger duty (£13 economy-band / £78 standard-band per departing passenger in 2026), any applicable VAT (20% on the UK domestic portion; intra-EU rules vary), landing and handling fees, and de-icing where seasonal. There are no hidden Apsley fees — our margin is disclosed on the quote.
Yes — one of the primary reasons clients charter privately. Dogs of any size travel in the cabin at the owner's feet or on their own seat. For international routings, the pet still needs a valid pet passport / EU health certificate and the destination country's import rules apply (the UK's PETS scheme, for example). We handle the paperwork check as part of the booking.
Ad-hoc charter suits clients flying under 25 hours a year — no capital committed, pay per trip. Jet cards (NetJets Marquis, VistaJet Programme) suit 25–50 hours with guaranteed availability and fixed hourly rates. Fractional ownership makes sense above 50 hours a year and for clients who value asset ownership. Apsley arranges all three and will honestly tell you when a card beats ad-hoc for your travel profile.
That's most of what we do. A typical June itinerary might land the family at Olbia by Challenger 350 to board a Sunseeker charter in Sardinia; a July safari might fly the group from London to Nairobi by Global 6000, then Wilson to the Masai Mara by Cessna Caravan. The jet is billed and scheduled as one line of the master itinerary — see also our <a href="/yacht-charters" style="color:#2F3A56;text-decoration:underline;">yacht charter</a> and <a href="/luxury-safaris" style="color:#2F3A56;text-decoration:underline;">luxury safari</a> pages.