The majority of Fortune 500 CEOs are now flying private on the company dime, according to the executive data firm Equilar. And data shows that company-provided private jet spending soared 19% between 2021 and 2024.
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Sky-high spending
Corporate jet expenses at some blue-chip firms continued gaining altitude last year:
- Palantir shelled out $17.2 million to whisk its CEO, Alex Karp, around the world for work and personal travel in 2025, far more than the $7.7 million it spent the year before. The steep bill drew investor scrutiny, as Karp owns the aircraft chartered to Palantir.
- Mark Zuckerberg’s PJ travel cost Meta over $2.4 million last year, up from $968k in 2023.
Aside from acting as a talent retention tool, companies say funding sky Ubers for their top honchos is a personal security measure that’s become more necessary after the 2024 murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Last year, Starbucks cited safety concerns when it scrapped its $250k annual limit for free personal private flights for CEO Brian Niccols, who commutes from his home in Southern California to the company’s Seattle HQ.
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The C-suite expensing their private flights is yet another tailwind for the $80 billion+ private jet industry, which has benefited from the growing ranks of hyper-wealthy individuals.—SK
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This report was originally published by Morning Brew.
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