Private jet cabin classes explained

Turboprop

A turboprop is a propeller aircraft with a jet engine turning the propeller, and for a short hop it is often the sensible choice. It typically suits a few people flying an hour or two: Dallas to Houston, Boston to Nantucket, a mountain town from the nearest city. It flies lower and slower than a jet, which on a short leg costs minutes rather than hours, and it can use short runways a jet cannot, so more small airports are within reach.

The cabin is compact. You duck through the door, the seats face each other in pairs, and the luggage goes in a baggage area behind the seats or in the nose. It is a comfortable hour and a fair two; past that, a light jet earns its price.

Typical turboprops in this class:

• Pilatus PC-12
• Beechcraft King Air 350
• Beechcraft King Air 250

Light jet

A light jet is one of the most common cabins on the empty leg board: a small, fast cabin with the range for a typical two to three hours, which covers most trips inside a region. Think Los Angeles to Aspen, New York to Nashville, Chicago to Miami. It climbs quickly, cruises well above the weather a turboprop sits in, and lands at the same small airports.

It suits a small group with soft luggage: a couple, a family, a team of four on a day trip. Everyone gets a seat, usually facing another; there is a lavatory at the back and a ceiling you stoop under. It is comfortable for the flight times it is built for and cramped beyond them, which is why the class is priced for hops rather than crossings.

Typical light jets in this class:

• Embraer Phenom 300
• Cessna Citation CJ3
• Bombardier Learjet 75

Midsize jet

A midsize jet adds cabin more than it adds range: more headroom, a longer aisle, an enclosed lavatory and real luggage space. Typical trips run three to four hours, so it covers New York to Miami, Dallas to Los Angeles or Chicago to Aspen with fuel in hand, and the extra cabin matters more the longer you sit in it.

It suits a group that wants to work, eat or sleep on board, or anyone who has flown a light jet and found it tight. Most people can nearly stand in a midsize cabin; a few types have a flat floor, and most have a dropped aisle you walk along with your head bowed.

Typical midsize jets in this class:

• Cessna Citation XLS
• Hawker 800XP
• Bombardier Learjet 60

Super midsize jet

A super midsize jet is the first class most adults can stand up in, and the first that crosses the country without a stop in ordinary conditions. Typical trips of four to five hours are its home ground: Los Angeles to New York, Miami to Aspen, Seattle to Miami with something in reserve.

It suits a full team or two families, a flight long enough for a meal, and anyone who wants a wide seat and a wider aisle. The cabin is typically a club section up front and more seats behind it, with a galley by the door for the catering to come out of, and the hold takes skis and golf bags without a fight.

Typical super midsize jets in this class:

• Bombardier Challenger 350
• Cessna Citation X
• Gulfstream G280

Heavy jet

A heavy jet is a room with wings: a wide, stand-up cabin usually divided into two or three areas, a galley a flight attendant can work from, and a lavatory you would recognise from home. It flies coast to coast with fuel to spare, reaches Hawaii from the West Coast and Europe from the East, and typical trips run five to seven hours.

It suits a larger group, a long day, or an overnight flight you intend to sleep through. It is also the class where the crew often includes a cabin attendant, and where the galley can serve a hot meal rather than a tray.

Typical heavy jets in this class:

• Gulfstream G450
• Bombardier Challenger 605
• Dassault Falcon 900EX

Ultra long range jet

An ultra long range jet is a heavy jet with the fuel and the wing for the longest routes: the United States to Europe, the Middle East or Asia without a stop, or the country crossed twice on one tank. Trips of about eight hours and more are what it exists for, and it flies them higher, and usually faster, than anything below it.

The cabin is the largest of the six, typically split into separate rooms with a full galley, seats that make into beds and a rest area for the crew. These aircraft appear on the board too: they reposition across the country between long trips, and a short domestic empty leg on one is the same cabin at a fraction of its charter price.

Typical ultra long range jets in this class:

• Gulfstream G650
• Bombardier Global 6000
• Dassault Falcon 7X

The board also carries a few piston twins below the turboprops and a few VIP airliners above the ultra long range jets. Both are rare enough that this guide leaves them out; the cabin filter on the board lists all eight classes, smallest to largest.

The six classes side by side

Trip lengths are typical rather than limits: a light jet can fly four hours with two people and a tailwind, and a heavy jet is perfectly happy on a forty-minute hop. The rate column is the aircraft-only hourly rate for a charter, the number a quote multiplies by your hours before it adds crew, positioning, fees and taxes into one total. The charter cost guide walks through that arithmetic route by route.

How the class shows up on UpLeg

Every listing on the board carries its cabin class, alongside the aircraft type and the seat count when the operator published them, and the filter strip lets you narrow the board to one class or several. Because an empty leg is priced to move rather than by the class rate, a heavy jet leg on a short route can list below what a light jet charter would cost the same day, so it pays to leave the filter wide and sort by price before you narrow it.

The Empty Leg Index publishes the median operator-listed price by cabin across every leg on the board, recomputed on every request, and the guide on what empty legs cost reads that table class by class. If you know which cabin you want, a flight alert can be set for a route and a window of dates, and it emails you when a matching leg posts.

Which class does your trip need?

Start with hours, not miles. A quote is built on block time, and the class that flies your route in one comfortable sitting is the one to price first; a class above it buys comfort, a class below it buys a fuel stop. A two-hour flight in a light jet is a pleasant two hours. A five-hour flight in the same cabin is a long afternoon.

Then count heads and bags. Skis, golf clubs and hard cases fill a light jet's hold quickly, and a group that fits a midsize cabin on paper may want a super midsize for a five-hour flight. If the trip is fixed and the numbers are yours, ask for a charter quote and name the class you have in mind; the operator may propose a neighbour that fits better, and the quote comes back as one total for the whole aircraft from an FAA-certificated Part 135 operator, named before you pay.

If the dates can move, an empty leg is whatever cabin happens to be repositioning on your route that week, and the price is for the whole aircraft however many of you fly. The empty leg or charter guide helps you decide which to ask for, and what an empty leg is explains why the cabin class matters more than the seat count in the listing.