What limits the number of seats on a private jet?

Luggage volume and the length of the sector usually limit a trip before the seat count does. Airport runway length limits the aircraft type.

Do children count towards private jet capacity?

Yes, children and infants count towards cabin capacity. Their ages should be given in advance as it affects seating and the safety briefing.

How Many Passengers Fit in a Private Jet

Q: How many passengers fit in a private jet?

Between 4 and 18 depending on the cabin. A light jet seats four to seven, a midsize eight to nine, a heavy or long-range aircraft ten to fourteen, and a converted airliner up to eighteen.

The short answer

Between 4 and 18 passengers, depending on the cabin. A light jet seats four to seven, a midsize eight to nine, a heavy or long-range aircraft ten to fourteen, and a converted airliner up to eighteen. Below are the 37 aircraft types we arrange, with the seat count and range of each.

One thing worth saying before the tables: the number of seats is rarely what decides the aircraft. Range decides it. Six people going from London to Nice fit in a light jet; the same six going to Dubai need a cabin that can reach Dubai.

Light jets — 4 to 7 seats

Short hops and quick two-hour sectors. The most economical way to fly private.

Aircraft	Passengers	Range
HondaJet	up to 4	2 037 km
Beechcraft Hawker 750	up to 6	4 074 km
Bombardier Learjet 60XR	up to 6	4 330 km
Cessna Citation Latitude	up to 6	5 000 km
Citation Bravo	up to 6	3 232 km
Citation CJ2+/CJ2	up to 6	2 987 km
Embraer Legacy 450	up to 6	5 371 km
Embraer Phenom 300	up to 6	3 650 km
Gulfstream G150	up to 6	5 467 km
Hawker 800XP	up to 6	5 463 km
Hawker Beechcraft Premier IA	up to 6	854 km
Nextant 400 XTi	up to 6	3 710 km
Piaggio P.180 Avanti	up to 6	737 km
Citation XLS+	up to 7	3 889 km

Aircraft	Passengers	Range
Beechcraft Hawker 1000	up to 8	5 637 km
Challenger 350/300	up to 8	5 926 km
Citation Sovereign+/Sovereign	up to 8	5 926 km
Citation X+/X	up to 8	6 408 km
Embraer Legacy 500	up to 8	5 778 km
Falcon 2000 series	up to 8	7 400 km
Challenger 605	up to 9	7 408 km

Heavy and long-range — 10 to 14 seats

Intercontinental sectors, a full galley, and space to work or sleep.

Aircraft	Passengers	Range
Gulfstream G280/200	up to 10	6 667 km
Falcon 900 series	up to 12	8 890 km
Challenger 850	up to 13	5 129 km
Embraer Lineage 1000E	up to 13	7 778 km
Falcon 7X	up to 13	11 019 km
Falcon 8X	up to 13	11 945 km
Global 5000	up to 13	9 630 km
Global 6000/XRS	up to 13	11 112 km
Gulfstream G450	up to 13	8 061 km
Gulfstream G550	up to 13	12 501 km
Gulfstream G650ER/650	up to 13	13 890 km
Legacy 600	up to 13	7 223 km
Legacy 650	up to 13	7 223 km

Aircraft	Passengers	Range
Global 7000	up to 15	13 705 km
Airbus Corporate Jet	up to 18	11 100 km
Boeing Business Jet	up to 18	10 269 km

What actually limits the number of seats

Luggage, not people. A cabin rated for eight seats with eight passengers and their skis is a different aircraft from the same cabin with four passengers. Hold volume runs out before seats do.
The sector. A full cabin on a long leg means more fuel, and on some aircraft that means a technical stop or fewer passengers. This is a real trade, not a formality.
The airport. Short runways and small business-aviation fields limit the aircraft type before the seat count matters.

Tell us the route, the date and how many of you there are, and we say which cabins actually work for it. Published starting prices for every route we cover are on the charter prices page.

Questions we get about capacity

How many people fit in a private jet?

From four in a light jet to eighteen in a converted airliner. Most business trips in Europe are flown on aircraft seating six to nine.

Does the price change with the number of passengers?

No. The price is for the whole aircraft, one way, up to the capacity of the cabin.

Can children and infants take a seat?

Yes, and they count towards the cabin capacity. Tell us their ages in advance — it affects seating and the safety briefing.

How much luggage goes with a full cabin?

Less than most people expect. Say what you are carrying — skis, golf bags, cases — when you ask for a quote, and we pick a cabin with the hold to match.

Seat counts above are the maximum configuration for each type. An individual aircraft may be configured differently; we confirm the actual layout when we quote.

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 Many Passengers Fit in a Private Jet?