Flying private may be the ultimate symbol of wealth. For the rarefied few who can afford it, there are no crowded terminals, long security lines or packed commercial flights.
But that luxury comes at a steep price — and not just to the flyer, according to a new report released Friday. It argues that taxpayers, commercial airline passengers and the broader public are increasingly picking up part of the financial and environmental tab.
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And while most Americans say flying is becoming less affordable, private aviation is booming. The report from the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank found that fractional jet ownership soared 65% between 2019 and 2025.
The report puts the median wealth of a fractional jet owner at $140 million and that of an outright private jet owner at $190 million.
Are taxpayers ‘subsidizing’ private jets?
Critics say taxpayers and commercial passengers help foot the bill for private jets. The industry disagrees.
Friday’s report says private jets and charter services account for roughly 16% of flight operations handled by the Federal Aviation Administration. It also argued that private flying is driving demand for more hangar space and runway capacity.
Private jets account for about 7% of the airspace activity, the report says, citing Department of Transportation data. Yet they contribute less than 0.6% of the taxes flowing into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which helps finance FAA operations.
The report also calls private jets “super-polluters,” saying each passenger is responsible for 14 times as much carbon pollution as a commercial airline passenger.
“The rest of us should not have to pay for the luxury excess of the private jet billionaire class,” report co-author Chuck Collins said in a press statement.
Experts dispute whether private jets are “subsidized” by the public.
“I guess it depends on your definition of ‘subsidizing,’” said Stefan Gössling, a professor at Linnaeus University in Sweden who studies tourism and climate change.
“If not paying the cost of the climate damage caused by private jet emissions is a subsidy, then yes,” he told Straight Arrow. “If filing private leisure flights as business flights and deducting the expense is a subsidy, then yes.”
Gössling also pointed to another feature of private aviation: Those planes often fly without passengers, often to reposition for the next flyer.
His 2024 peer-reviewed research examining global private aviation found large numbers of short flights and flights made for repositioning aircraft, contributing to a sharp rise in private aviation emissions between 2019 and 2023.
“Many [private] flights are empty or short,” Gössling said, arguing that the relatively small airport landing fees often do not reflect the true cost of accommodating them.
Industry response
The National Business Aviation Association, which represents private and corporate aviation interests, called Friday’s report misleading.
Dan Hubbard, a spokesperson for the association, told Straight Arrow that the report fails to acknowledge that the industry pays “several types of taxes and fees.”
Hubbard also said the industry supports businesses and jobs, and that private aviation is often used by small and mid-sized companies, and not just by C-suite executives, to travel to towns with little or no airline services.
He added that the industry has made substantial progress in reducing carbon emissions through new technologies.
Doug Gollan, president and editor-in-chief of Private Jet Card Comparisons, said that private flying, whether for business or leisure, contributes to local economies.
“The average economic input when a private jet lands someplace is around $90,000,” he told Straight Arrow, citing passenger spending on “hotels, ground transportation, restaurants, and other goods and services.”
He argued that private flyers can support local jobs and businesses while sometimes having a smaller carbon footprint than a plane full of commercial flyers.
“Two private jets bring more economic input to a place than a 150-seat Boeing 737 which results in probably 30 or 40 more cars jamming the roads, and other congestion.”
Should private flyers pay more?
The report’s authors call on Congress to raise fuel taxes for private jets, eliminate favorable tax treatment for some aircraft purchases and impose a luxury tax on private jet sales. They say the private aviation industry has outsized influence and spends millions to lobby for tax breaks for billionaires.
Collins said the wealthiest people in the world are passing the economic and environmental costs of their lavish lifestyle to everyone else.
“Our effort,” he told Straight Arrow, “is to modestly reverse these trends so private jet operators pay their fair share.”
The industry’s answer: They already do.
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