Private Jet Prices Triple as Two Million Passengers Face Disruptions

Rising tensions in the Middle East have highlighted a familiar trend in aviation: when commercial flights are disrupted, private aviation demand increases. As major airlines suspend operations and incur significant losses, charter companies have become the primary beneficiaries.

Charter companies quickly filled the gap, meeting urgent demand from travelers seeking rapid and safe departures. This article examines the supply-demand imbalance in the region’s aviation sector, the role of charter flights in evacuations through alternative hubs, and how these companies are profiting during widespread losses.

Mass Groundings: 19,000 Flights Cancelled

Cirium, an aviation analytics company, reported that about 19,000 flights were cancelled in just four days (between last Saturday morning and Tuesday), equivalent to about 55 percent of all scheduled flights in the region during that period.

The company also noted that flights to and from the Middle East typically provide about 900,000 seats daily, so the number of affected passengers may be nearing two million. The widespread suspension of regular flights has created a significant supply-demand gap, particularly in Gulf transit hubs. Charter and private airlines have responded by meeting the urgent need for safe and rapid departures.

Muscat and Riyadh Emerge as Key Hubs

With airspace at some Gulf airports closed or restricted, such as those in the UAE and Qatar, Muscat and Riyadh have emerged as alternative departure destinations.

While charter airlines compete to secure limited landing slots at alternative airports outside the tension zone, such as Muscat, and transit routes to Saudi Arabia, thousands of UAE residents headed by land to the Sultanate of Oman—a four-and-a-half-hour drive away—amid unprecedented crowding for the limited available airline seats. Interjet, a company specialising in connecting clients with available private jets, described Muscat as “the only truly viable option” for immediate departure from the UAE.

Meanwhile, some road trips from the UAE to Riyadh took about 10 hours to reach the still-operating airport, before arranging private flights to Europe. In this context, Interjet founder Charles Robinson said, “There seems to be activity starting in Dammam (in Saudi Arabia) as well, which is useful for those in Bahrain and Qatar.”

Private Aviation: A 40% Surge in Demand

The halt of regular airline flights led to a spike in the prices of chartering private jets from airports in the Sultanate of Oman. Private aviation brokerage firms in Europe and the Middle East, including Interjet, noted a remarkable surge in demand for flights departing the Gulf, with the jump estimated at about 40 percent compared to the pre-crisis period.

Current demand for private flights exceeds available aircraft in the region, and requests continue to rise. The number of private flights from the Gulf is expected to remain high.

Sky-High Costs: $350k for a Single Flight

The price of a single seat on a 13-seat aircraft reached over $23,000 for a flight from the Omani capital to Milan, Italy, meaning the cost of chartering the entire plane approaches $300,000, while a flight from Oman to Paris costs 215,000 euros.

The British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ quoted JetVip, a private jet charter broker based in Muscat, confirming that the cost of a flight to Istanbul on a Nextant aircraft—one of the smallest available planes—is now about 85,000 euros (£74,000), which is nearly three times the usual price. Meanwhile, the price of a seat on private flights to Moscow is around 20,000 euros per person.

Some media reports indicated that the cost of chartering a private jet from the Gulf to Europe has skyrocketed, ranging between 150,000 and 350,000 euros per flight, depending on the aircraft type, route, and level of urgency.

Crisis Dynamics: How Profits Redistribute

Private aviation has witnessed an unprecedented surge in demand from the wealthy to meet their needs in emergency situations, overriding any cost considerations. This is because, in a crisis, a traveller is not just buying a ticket; they are purchasing safety and time. This boom has not been limited to private aviation alone but has extended to insurance companies offering high-premium insurance packages.