The concept of private jet ownership arose in the early 1960s, but the high purchase price, storage, maintenance and operation costs made the purchase of planes inaccessible to all but the ultra-rich. Since the introduction of private jet ownership, the industry has grown rapidly and adapted to changing economic and social circumstances.
Plans for jet propulsion systems were on the drawing boards of Sir Francis Whittle and Dr. Hans von Ohain by the early 1930s. While Whittle was the first to receive a patent for his system, in 1930, it was Ohain who got the first jet off the ground, in 1939. Whittle did the same two years later.
A tug of war ensued within the airline industry between propeller-driven aircraft and the new jet technology. Jets won the battle for supremacy in the longer-route market, relegating prop-driven planes to shorter hops between cities.
Not long after World War II, private enterprise saw the advantage of taking more passengers further and faster, and the commercial jet industry skyrocketed. In the early 1960s, private jet travel became popular with a handful of millionaire businessmen.
At first, jets were fairly standard, but as the rich became more accustomed to the finer things on the ground, they soon wanted them in the air too. The jet companies complied, with the interiors of some planes paneled in posh mahogany wood, seats upholstered in leather, well-stocked wet bars and just about any service or amenity you might find in five-star hotels. Think Waldorf Astoria in the air. One of the most well-known entries to the market came in in 1963 when the Learjet was introduced; it has since become almost synonymous with small privately owned jets.
In the ensuing decades, the demand for such conspicuously opulent planes has shifted to a more austere, office-like design as businesses became the predominant customers. But amenities for business purposes remained, such as satellite phones and flat-screen monitors. Think a flying Motel 6.
In the 1990s growth in the industry took off in large part because of the new concept of fractionalized ownership. The concept was introduced by Executive Jet and later rebranded as NetJets after Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway became the majority owner of the company.
Under fractionalized ownership, companies share the cost of using, maintaining and housing the jets, as well as cover payroll and other costs. It's more of a lease arrangement, in which some operators offer the availability of a jet for company use in as little as 4 hours. While fractional ownership represents less than a 20 percent share of the private jet market, those numbers are expected to grow with environmental awareness and an increase in the number of companies streamlining costs.
Well before jets hit the market, privately owned airplanes for the well-to-do were being sold as early as the 1920s and 1930s.
The first privately owned planes cost about $1 million each. Today, private supersonic jets costing more than $300 million are already on back order and expected to be delivered by 2014.
The new supersonic private jets can fly from New York to Paris in a little over 4 hours. The fastest jets available now take more than 6 hours to cover that distance.
