UNITED STATES · FLEET REPORT · JULY 2026

The most commonly used private jets in the United States

First-party fleet report from 1,248 US-touching empty-leg segments across 76 aircraft types and 40 operators. Which jets actually fly out of Teterboro, Van Nuys, Opa-Locka, Lincoln and Omaha — with the operators behind them and the corridors they dominate.

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1,248

US-TOUCHING LEGS SAMPLED

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The largest, oldest and most concentrated fleet in the world

The United States operates roughly two-thirds of the world's business-jet fleet — a number that has held remarkably steady across three decades despite the growth of European, Middle Eastern and Chinese charter markets. What has changed is the composition of that fleet. Read a US-touching sample in 2026 and the aircraft that keeps recurring is not the latest Global 8000 or G700 fresh off the Savannah line. It is a Gulfstream IV-SP whose airframe first flew in the late 1990s, whose second and third owners have long since recovered their capital, and which now anchors a charter product that no newer aircraft can match on total cost. The IV-SP is not glamorous. It is not new. And it is, by a wide and durable margin, the most-used business jet in America.

The rankings that follow draw from our routing matrix's 1,248-leg US-touching sample — every empty-leg segment we observed departing or arriving at a US ICAO (K**) over the twelve months to July 2026. The dataset covers seventy-six distinct aircraft types and forty operators, and it reflects what actually flew — not what marketing brochures or fractional-ownership sales decks describe as common. It underrepresents pure fractional inventory (NetJets, Flexjet, Wheels Up) because those fleets rarely list on the open empty-leg market. But for the charter and management-company side of the US business, this is as close to ground truth as the industry allows.

Top 12 aircraft by US leg count

Ranked by first-party empty-leg listings on segments touching a US ICAO (K**) over a rolling twelve-month window ending July 2026. Percentage shares are of the 1,248-leg sample.

#	Aircraft	Legs	Share	Category	Pax	Range	Desk note
1	Gulfstream IV-SP	292	23.4%	Heavy jet	13–14	4,220 nm	Still the single most-flown business jet in the United States. Twenty-five-year-old airframes in the hands of Pegasus Elite and Silverhawk anchor the transcontinental and Caribbean charter market.
2	Cessna Citation Ultra	98	7.9%	Light jet	7	1,750 nm	The Midwestern workhorse. Silverhawk out of Lincoln (KLNK) runs a substantial Ultra fleet on the Nebraska–Omaha–Kansas–Denver mesh.
3	Gulfstream V	74	5.9%	Ultra-long-range	13–16	6,500 nm	The original ULR. Depreciated capital that still opens Van Nuys–Tokyo and Teterboro–Dubai non-stop, though newer G650ERs are steadily replacing them on new charter demand.
4	Gulfstream G650ER	54	4.3%	Ultra-long-range	13–19	7,500 nm	The heavy-iron flagship. Dominant on Teterboro–London, Van Nuys–Sydney and Miami–Dubai. Small in leg count, outsized in revenue.
5	Cessna Citation Excel	45	3.6%	Midsize	8	1,850 nm	The stand-up cabin at a light-jet operating cost — the perennial midsize workhorse across the Sun Belt and Northeast corridor.
6	Cessna Citation XLS	44	3.5%	Super-light / midsize	8–9	1,858 nm	Successor to the Excel and still the go-to for a 5–8 passenger, sub-3-hour US domestic trip. Heavy on the New York, Chicago and Miami rotations.
7	Cessna Citation V	43	3.4%	Light jet	7	1,900 nm	Older stablemate of the Ultra, still earning its keep on regional charter across the Great Plains and Southeast.
8	Bombardier Challenger 605	34	2.7%	Heavy jet	10–12	4,000 nm	The widest cabin in the heavy segment. Used heavily for coast-to-coast board travel and one-stop transatlantic corporate lifts.
9	Cessna Citation Encore	34	2.7%	Light jet	7	1,860 nm	Upgraded Ultra with Pratt & Whitney PW535A engines. A quiet Midwestern staple, mostly on Silverhawk metal.
10	Bombardier Global 5000	33	2.6%	Ultra-long-range	13–17	5,200 nm	Younger sibling of the Global Express. Common on Miami–Sao Paulo, Van Nuys–Honolulu and Teterboro–Middle East routings.
11	Gulfstream G550	30	2.4%	Ultra-long-range	14–19	6,750 nm	Still the reference for transcontinental US and one-stop global. NetJets, VistaJet and multiple management companies all fly meaningful G550 inventory.
12	Pilatus PC-12/47 NG	27	2.2%	Turboprop (single)	6–8	1,845 nm	The only turboprop in the top twenty. PlaneSense and independent owner-flown PC-12s fill the sub-1,000 nm rural US market where jets can't operate.

For per-aircraft technical detail, cabin plans and typical hourly rates, see the individual pages in the aircraft catalogue, or the model comparison at Compare aircraft.

Why the Gulfstream IV-SP owns America

No aircraft in the modern business-aviation era has aged as gracefully into the charter market as the Gulfstream IV. Designed at Gulfstream's Savannah plant in the mid-1980s and certified with the IV-SP upgrade in 1993, the airframe combined transcontinental range, heavy-jet cabin volume and a legendary Rolls-Royce Tay 611-8 engine at a price point that reset industry expectations for its era. Three decades later, the depreciated capital structure of a used IV-SP is the single most important input in the US heavy-charter economy. An operator can acquire a well-maintained airframe for a low single-digit percentage of a new G650ER, keep it in the air with proven MRO partners in Savannah, Long Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and price a charter product that no newer aircraft can beat on all-in economics.

The result is a fleet that dominates our US sample by a margin no other aircraft comes close to matching. Two hundred and ninety-two IV-SP legs — 23.4% of the entire 1,248-leg dataset — is more than the second, third and fourth-ranked aircraft combined. Pegasus Elite Aviation out of Van Nuys is the single largest source, with Silverhawk, Sky Quest and a long tail of independent management companies filling the remainder. On the transcontinental corridor — Van Nuys to Teterboro, Miami to Los Angeles, Aspen to White Plains — the IV-SP is almost always the right answer on price. On the Caribbean and one-stop transatlantic side of the business it remains the default heavy jet on a great many charter menus, quietly out-flying its newer G450 and G550 successors.

Behind the IV-SP sits an equally striking finding: the second-most-used aircraft in America is not another heavy jet. It is a light Citation. The Cessna Citation Ultra — certified in 1994, out of production since 1999 — recorded 98 legs in our sample, 7.9% of the total. Almost all of that volume comes from a single operator, Silverhawk Aviation, based at Lincoln, Nebraska (KLNK). Silverhawk's business model is a masterclass in fleet concentration: a large Ultra / Encore / Excel / XLS fleet operating out of a low-cost Plains base, serving the Midwestern regional charter market and repositioning aggressively into the coastal empty-leg feeds. The result is a Nebraska airport that shows up in the top three US empty-leg origins in almost every month we sample.

The operators behind the fleet

Forty operators appear in the US-touching sample. The top ten account for more than 80% of listed leg volume. Fractional carriers (NetJets, Flexjet, Wheels Up) are underrepresented because they rarely list on public empty-leg feeds.

1. Pegasus Elite Aviation, Inc.

455 LEGS

VAN NUYS (KVNY) · GULFSTREAM IV / IV-SP · GLOBAL · G-SERIES

The most-listed operator in our US sample by a wide margin. Concentrated heavy-jet inventory pointed at the transcontinental and international one-stop market. Van Nuys base with substantial Northeast repositioning traffic.

2. Silverhawk Aviation, Inc.

242 LEGS

LINCOLN, NE (KLNK) · CITATION ULTRA / V / ENCORE / EXCEL / XLS

The Midwestern light and midsize specialist. Runs the busiest empty-leg programme in Nebraska and much of the surrounding Plains — Lincoln, Kearney, Omaha and satellite bases.

3. NovaJet Aviation Group

58 LEGS

TORONTO (CYYZ) — HEAVY US EXPOSURE · CHALLENGER · LEGACY · CITATION SOVEREIGN

Canadian operator with a large US-facing charter book, particularly on the Northeast–Florida corridor.

4. Hop-A-Jet WorldWide Jet Charter

57 LEGS

FORT LAUDERDALE (KFXE) · LEARJET 60XR · CHALLENGER 300 · FALCON 2000

South Florida operator with strong Caribbean and Latin America exposure. Heavy Learjet 60XR presence in our sample.

5. Pacific Coast Jet

41 LEGS

SACRAMENTO / OAKLAND · CITATION ULTRA · XLS · ENCORE · CJ SERIES

West Coast light and midsize specialist covering the California, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain resort circuit.

6. Lone Star Aviators, LLC

38 LEGS

TEXAS (ADDISON / DALLAS) · CITATION V / ENCORE · LEARJET SERIES

Texas operator serving the intra-state and Sun Belt corridors — Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and satellite fields.

7. Sky Quest, LLC

30 LEGS

CLEVELAND (KCLE) · CITATION V / ENCORE / XLS · PHENOM 300

Ohio-based operator handling the Great Lakes charter market and Northeast repositioning traffic.

8. Encore Jet Management, LLC

27 LEGS

MULTIPLE US BASES · CITATION SERIES · HAWKER 800/900XP

Management company with a diversified US fleet, notable for a strong presence on Citation Encore and Hawker inventory.

9. Dreamline Aviation, LLC

24 LEGS

MICHIGAN / FLORIDA · CITATION ULTRA / ENCORE / EXCEL

Great Lakes / Florida operator running a steady Citation charter and empty-leg programme along the East Coast.

10. Silver Air Private Jets

23 LEGS

SANTA BARBARA (KSBA) · GULFSTREAM G200 / G450 · CITATION X · FALCON

Boutique management company with a well-regarded heavy and super-mid fleet, biased toward the California and Rocky Mountain resort market.

Where these aircraft base and fly

Top ten US airports by empty-leg movements in our sample. Teterboro leads by an enormous margin — the single busiest business-aviation airport in the world. Note the outsized role of Lincoln and Kearney, Nebraska, driven by Silverhawk's operator base rather than genuine Midwestern client concentration.

ICAO / IATA	Airport	Role	Departures	Arrivals
KTEB · TEB	Teterboro, NJ	The single busiest business-aviation airport in the world. The gate for New York City private travel.	202	201
KLNK · LNK	Lincoln, NE	Silverhawk's headquarters and one of the most active empty-leg origin points in the Plains states.	80	70
KVNY · VNY	Van Nuys, CA	Los Angeles's dedicated business-aviation airport. Pegasus Elite home base.	76	55
KOPF · OPF	Miami-Opa Locka, FL	Miami's private-jet field. Gateway for South American and Caribbean traffic.	46	35
KOMA · OMA	Omaha, NE	Silverhawk secondary base and Berkshire Hathaway home turf. Heavy Midwestern charter activity.	38	51
KFXE · FXE	Fort Lauderdale Executive, FL	Hop-A-Jet home base. Alternative to Opa-Locka for South Florida arrivals.	25	23
KDAL · DAL	Dallas Love Field, TX	In-town business-jet field for Dallas. Preferred over DFW for private travel.	12	17
KFLL · FLL	Fort Lauderdale Intl, FL	Commercial-adjacent business aviation. Common alternate to KFXE and KMIA.	16	17
KEAR · EAR	Kearney, NE	Silverhawk satellite. High per-capita movement counts driven by concentrated operator base.	15	12
KLAS · LAS	Las Vegas, NV	Convention, event and leisure charter hub. Peaks during CES, EAA and major fight weekends.	11	8

The corridors that shape the US fleet

The American business-jet fleet is shaped by four corridor systems: the Northeast (New York, Boston, Washington and their surrounding satellite fields), the Southeast (Florida from Palm Beach to Miami with heavy Caribbean and Latin American extension), the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest resort circuit), and the Rocky Mountain resort belt (Aspen, Vail-Eagle, Jackson Hole, Sun Valley, Bozeman). A fifth corridor — Texas and the Sun Belt — has grown rapidly since 2020 as corporate relocation drove new demand into Dallas, Austin, Houston and Nashville.

The single densest sector on the map is the winter migration between the Northeast and South Florida. Teterboro to Palm Beach, White Plains to Boca Raton and New York to Miami produce the highest weekly leg counts of any US corridor between December and April, and they run heavily on Gulfstream IV-SP, Challenger 605 and Citation XLS inventory. See our New York to Miami and New York to Palm Beach route pages for the specific corridor breakdowns. The reverse-direction empty-leg supply from these routes is one of the most reliable discount opportunities in the entire business, particularly on Sunday and Monday morning repositioning flights.

The Van Nuys–Teterboro transcontinental corridor is the second-highest-value sector in the country. Coast-to-coast US charter runs almost exclusively on heavy iron — Gulfstream IV-SP, V, G450, G550, G650ER, Challenger 605 and Global 5000 / 6000 — because payload-range on lighter aircraft becomes marginal against seasonal headwinds. The eastbound leg (LAX to NYC) is typically flown in four hours forty minutes; the westbound leg runs five hours twenty minutes and, on smaller heavy jets, can require a fuel stop when winter jet-stream conditions are severe. Our full analysis of the corridor's empty-leg dynamics lives on the Van Nuys–Teterboro deadhead insight.

The Rocky Mountain resort corridor — flights into Aspen, Eagle, Jackson Hole and Bozeman — drives a distinct sub-market with its own aircraft preferences. Aspen (KASE) is runway- and altitude-restricted, and most heavy jets require staging into Eagle (KEGE) or Rifle (KRIL) with helicopter or ground transfer onward. The Citation XLS, Challenger 350 and Gulfstream G200 are the aircraft most often approved for direct KASE service; the Falcon 2000 and 900 series also perform well against the challenging performance envelope. Seasonal peaks around Christmas–New Year and President's Day weekend produce some of the tightest slot availability in the entire US business aviation calendar.

What the empty-leg data leaves out

Our sample captures the on-demand charter and management-company side of the US market. It does not fully capture fractional ownership — the segment dominated by NetJets, Flexjet and Wheels Up, whose fleets rarely appear on public empty-leg feeds because fractional owners generally have first call on their aircraft's unused hours. Add fractional inventory to the picture and the US fleet ranking shifts. The Citation Latitude and Praetor 500 / 600 climb sharply; the Challenger 350 leaps into the top three; the Gulfstream G450, G550 and Global 6000 all gain ground on the heavy end. NetJets alone operates the largest Citation Latitude, Sovereign+ and Challenger 350 fleets in the world.

The practical implication for a client comparing options is that our top-twelve ranking reflects what is available to buy on the open charter market — a somewhat different question from what is flying overhead on any given afternoon. For a comprehensive read on fractional versus on-demand economics, see our private vs semi-private analysis and the private jet rental cost guide.

The other underrepresented category is heavy VIP airliner conversions — the Boeing BBJ and Airbus ACJ programmes, plus the Embraer Lineage 1000 and Legacy 650 that operate as de facto airliner-class business jets. These aircraft rarely appear on empty-leg feeds because they are almost invariably operated on retainer for a single principal or corporate flight department. But they represent an important tier of the US market for head-of-state travel, sports-team charter and the very largest private movements. When they do appear, the pricing tends to sit in the USD 25,000–45,000 per hour range, well above the top end of our conventional ULR bracket.

What is changing in the US fleet

Three trend lines will reshape the US ranking over the next thirty-six months. The first is the slow, inexorable retirement of first-generation heavy Gulfstreams. The IV-SP fleet is aging out of the charter economy at the rate of roughly five to ten airframes per year as MRO costs on ageing Tay engines rise and as insurance carriers tighten their appetite for airframes past their mid-thirties. The replacement is usually a G450 or G550, but the economics do not carry over cleanly — a new charter product priced against a G450 depreciation curve is materially more expensive than one priced against an IV-SP. Expect heavy-charter rates on the transcontinental corridor to drift upward as this transition plays out.

The second trend is the continued expansion of the super-midsize fleet — Challenger 350 and 3500, Praetor 500 and 600, Citation Longitude — into segments that were previously the domain of the heavy Gulfstream. A Praetor 600 can complete New York to Los Angeles westbound non-stop with a light load, and it does so at a fraction of the heavy-jet operating cost. For a client whose typical mission is a two-hour hop with a handful of passengers, the super-mid class is quietly displacing the older heavy iron.

The third trend is the emergence of the true ultra-long-range Gulfstream and Global — G700, G800, Global 7500 and 8000 — as a distinct sub-fleet targeting the intercontinental charter market. These aircraft are still numerically small in our sample, but their share of high-value trans-Pacific and one-stop world-circuit charter is growing quickly. Van Nuys to Sydney, Teterboro to Tokyo and Miami to Cape Town all now sit within non-stop reach on the newest generation of Gulfstream and Bombardier iron. The G650ER remains the flagship of choice on high-frequency intercontinental corridors; but for the very longest sectors, the G700 and Global 7500 are increasingly the default.

Read together, these three trends point to a slow but definite gentrification of the US charter fleet: fewer old heavy Gulfstreams, more super-midsize and ULR flatbeds. The question for clients is whether that shift ultimately means a better product at a higher price, or a fragmentation of the market between a small ultra-premium tier and a larger super-midsize workhorse tier. Our current read is that the latter is more likely — but the IV-SP will continue to fly through the transition, and it will remain the single most-used business jet in America for at least the next three years.

US fleet FAQ

What is the most commonly used private jet in the United States?

The Gulfstream IV-SP. In our first-party sample of 1,248 US-touching empty-leg segments across 40 operators, the Gulfstream IV-SP accounted for 292 legs — 23.4% of the total, more than the next three aircraft combined. Twenty-five-year-old IV-SP airframes remain the workhorses of Pegasus Elite Aviation, Silverhawk and other heavy-charter specialists, anchoring the transcontinental and Caribbean market.

Why does the twenty-five-year-old Gulfstream IV still dominate US charter?

Depreciated capital, transcontinental range and heavy-cabin comfort at a fraction of a new G650's operating cost. A used IV-SP acquires for a low-single-digit percentage of a new Gulfstream and can be maintained by well-established MRO networks in Savannah, Long Beach and Fort Lauderdale. On the charter market, that translates to a heavy-jet product at a super-midsize price point — a combination newer aircraft cannot match on all-in economics.

What is the most-used light jet in the US?

The Cessna Citation Ultra, followed closely by the Citation Excel, XLS, V and Encore. All are Wichita-built Citations with overlapping cabin size and range, and together they account for more than 22% of our US-touching sample. The Ultra dominates the Midwestern regional charter market, particularly on Silverhawk's fleet out of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Which operators fly the most empty legs in the US?

Pegasus Elite Aviation (455 legs), Silverhawk Aviation (242) and NovaJet Aviation Group (58) lead our sample, followed by Hop-A-Jet, Pacific Coast Jet, Lone Star Aviators, Sky Quest, Encore Jet Management, Dreamline Aviation and Silver Air. NetJets, VistaJet and Wheels Up fly larger overall fleets but list a smaller share of their inventory on the open empty-leg market.

What is the busiest private-jet airport in the United States?

Teterboro (KTEB) in northern New Jersey — the single busiest business-aviation airport in the world. It appears in more than 400 leg-count events (departures plus arrivals) in our sample. Van Nuys (KVNY) in Los Angeles, Opa-Locka (KOPF) in Miami and Lincoln (KLNK) in Nebraska round out the top four.

Which aircraft dominates US transcontinental (coast-to-coast) charter?

The Gulfstream IV-SP, Gulfstream V and Challenger 605 handle most coast-to-coast US charter today, with the Global 5000 and G550 taking the balance of long-range and one-stop international routings. All five can complete Teterboro–Van Nuys non-stop year-round in both directions. See our Van Nuys–Teterboro deadhead analysis for the empty-leg dynamics on this specific corridor.

What turboprop is most common in US private charter?

The Pilatus PC-12 NG and NGX — the only turboprop to break into our US top twenty. PlaneSense operates the largest US PC-12 fleet, and independent owner-flown operations make up much of the balance. The King Air 350i and King Air 250 also appear in the wider dataset, particularly for regional charter into unpaved and short-runway fields.

How does the US fleet mix compare to Europe?

The US skews heavier and older than Europe. The average US-touching charter aircraft in our sample is closer to a heavy Gulfstream than a super-midsize Challenger, and the average airframe age is materially higher — driven by the depth of depreciated heavy-jet inventory that no European market can match. Europe uses far more Phenom 300 and Citation XLS+ light jets on intercity hops of 45–90 minutes; the equivalent US market runs on Citation V, Ultra and Excel airframes.

What is the most-flown private jet on the Northeast to Florida corridor?

The Gulfstream IV-SP, Challenger 605 and Citation Excel / XLS handle most of the Teterboro–Palm Beach, Teterboro–Miami and White Plains–Boca Raton traffic. Winter peaks push the corridor into heavy-jet dominance; shoulder-season traffic runs primarily on midsize Citations. See our Palm Beach and Miami route pages for the specific corridor breakdowns.

Which fractional-ownership fleets contribute most to US inventory?

NetJets, Flexjet and Wheels Up together operate the largest US fractional fleets — a combined mix of Citation Latitude, Praetor 500/600, Challenger 350, Global 6000 / 7500 and G450 / G550 aircraft. Fractional inventory rarely lists on public empty-leg feeds, so it is underrepresented in our sample, but on total US movements it accounts for a materially larger share than our top-ten operator table shows.

How much does the average US private-jet charter cost in 2026?

Indicative one-way charter pricing runs roughly USD 3,500–6,000 per hour for light jets (Citation Ultra, V, XLS), USD 6,500–9,500 per hour for super-midsize (Challenger 350, Praetor 600), USD 9,500–13,500 per hour for heavy (Gulfstream IV-SP, Challenger 605), and USD 14,000–22,000 per hour for ultra-long-range (G650ER, Global 7500). Empty-leg pricing on the same aircraft drops 35–60% below those levels.

How current is this fleet data?

This report draws from the Limitless Sky routing matrix as of July 2026, covering 1,248 US-touching empty-leg segments across 76 aircraft types and 40 operators over a rolling 12-month window. The dataset is refreshed weekly. Contact us for a bespoke fleet or operator report for a specific US corridor or client profile.

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