Is there security screening on a private jet flight?

There are checks but not the airline queue. At a business aviation terminal they take minutes.

How Early to Arrive for a Private Jet

Q: How early do you need to arrive for a private jet?

Check-in is possible 15 minutes before departure because private flights use a separate terminal. Arriving 30 to 40 minutes before is recommended so the formalities are unhurried.

Q: What happens if a private jet passenger is late?

A private aircraft can often wait, but airport slots and crew duty time cannot be stretched indefinitely. Past a point the delay becomes a new departure time.

Why it is fifteen minutes and not two hours

A scheduled flight asks you to arrive early because several hundred people have to pass the same three bottlenecks: check-in desk, security queue, boarding gate. A private flight has none of those queues. You arrive at the business-aviation terminal, your documents are checked, and you walk to the aircraft. The aircraft waits for you rather than the other way round.

The half-hour we recommend is not a formality either. It is the margin that absorbs the ordinary things — traffic on the way, a passport that needs a second look, luggage that turns out to be heavier than expected. Arriving with it costs you nothing; arriving without it occasionally costs the slot.

What happens in those thirty minutes

Documents. Passports for everyone flying, and for international sectors whatever the destination requires. We tell you in advance what that is for your route.
Luggage to the hold. Safety rules do not allow luggage to travel in the cabin, so bags go into the hold before you board. Details on the luggage page.
Border and customs where applicable. At the private terminal this is a desk, not a hall.
Coffee, if there is time. There usually is.

Questions we get about arrival

How early do you need to arrive for a private jet?

Fifteen minutes is possible; thirty to forty is what we recommend.

Is there security screening on a private flight?

There are checks, but not the airline queue. At the business terminal they take minutes, not the better part of an hour.

What if I am late?

Tell us as early as you can. A private aircraft can often wait — but airport slots and crew duty time cannot be stretched indefinitely, and past a certain point the delay becomes a new departure time rather than a late one.

Can I arrive separately from the other passengers?

Yes. The aircraft departs when everyone is on board, so tell us if someone is coming from elsewhere.

Times above are for our own flights from business-aviation terminals. A particular airport may set its own minimum; we tell you if yours does.

Questions we are asked about leasing

These are the questions that bring people to this page. The answers are the same ones we give on the telephone.

What is the difference between leasing and chartering a private jet?

A charter is a single flight: the operator supplies the aircraft, the crew, the fuel and the insurance, and you pay for that flight. A lease puts an aircraft at your disposal for a defined term, usually with a minimum number of hours and an operating commitment attached.

Do I need a lease if I fly a few times a year?

Almost certainly not. A lease is worth its obligations when an aircraft flies continuously over a term. For occasional trips a charter costs less and commits you to nothing beyond the flight you book.

What is the difference between a dry lease and a wet lease?

A dry lease is the aircraft alone: you or an operator you appoint provide the crew, the maintenance and the insurance, and you need an operating certificate. A wet lease includes the aircraft, the crew, the maintenance and the insurance, and the lessor keeps the operating responsibility.

Does Diamond Executive Aero Services lease aircraft?

No. We arrange private charter flights, jet sharing, empty legs and helicopter transfers. We do not lease aircraft and we do not broker leases.

Are there corporate jets for lease through Diamond Executive Aero Services?

No. We do not lease aircraft and we do not broker leases, for corporate clients or anyone else. What we do arrange is the flight itself: a whole aircraft on your dates, a seat on a shared flight, or an empty leg. If a lease is genuinely what your flying pattern calls for, we will say so plainly rather than sell you something else.

How much does it cost to lease a private jet compared with chartering one?

A lease carries a term commitment, a minimum number of hours and the operating obligations that come with them, so the meaningful comparison is annual cost against annual usage rather than one flight against another. As a rule of thumb, below roughly two hundred hours a year chartering each flight costs less and commits you to nothing. Tell us how much you actually fly and we will do the arithmetic with you, including the case where the answer is that you do not need us.

How Early Do You Need to Arrive for a Private Jet?

The short answer