Florida has seen a notable increase of billionaires moving to the state over the years. Data evaluated from the Forbes Billionaire List shows that over the past decade, Florida’s share of America’s billionaires has increased by more than 150%.
The industry following that growth to the Sunshine State: Private aviation.
WLRN’s Sofia Zarran spoke with Paul Kloet, the Executive Vice President of Sales at Jet Linx— one of the largest private aviation companies in the U.S., about how the industry has evolved and what its growth means for Florida.
READ MORE: Billionaires keep buying homes in Miami. What does that do to the housing market?
In raw numbers, Florida had the most private jet flights in the country last year— with Palm Beach International Airport ranked as the second-busiest in the nation for private aviation flights— according to data from Private Jet Card Comparisons.
“ Florida exceeds the growth nationwide,” Kloet said. “Global departures are up about 4% year over year. Our Florida markets are up anywhere from 8 to 12%.” Kloet said that it wasn’t just West Palm or Miami that saw an increase in private flying, but the whole state.
The booming industry can be seen through the jet hangars popping up around South Florida.
But the growth also brings questions about safety, especially following the recent Learjet crash in Palm Beach County.
Commercial airline travel remains extremely safe. The NTSB recorded no fatal accidents involving scheduled airlines in 2024. Private aviation is different, with risks varying by aircraft and type of operation. Kloett says that in general the industry is very safe.
" When we talk about the growth of private aviation, safety is such an important part of that," he said. "If this industry were one that was viewed as not safe, the growth would not be there, the customers would not be there." Kloett said JetLinx has three safety auditors.
Miami International Airport has been working on its Sky Harbour Hangar for private, luxury travel since 2024, four hangars are in progress in Tampa, and two new hangars were just announced in Fort Lauderdale.
Setting up the infrastructure for this growth is not a quick process either.
“ Once we get in front of the city council, once you get in front of the airport authority, I would say [it] usually can take… minimum of two to three to five years,” Kloet said.
Relatively low taxes and good weather has drawn billionaires to South Florida over the years, but Kloet told WLRN that Florida— with its well known aviation schools and agreeable flying weather— has always been a hot spot for aviation and it’s just evolving.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
WLRN: So, to start more broadly, how is the private aviation industry doing nationally? Are there any trends that you're seeing when it comes to demand for private aviation?
KLOET: Private aviation is very much growing. We saw kind of a huge bump post-COVID when flyers were really concerned about being on a plane with 100 of their 50 closest friends and things like that.
That has really sustained itself, and now what you're seeing is a different kind of customer that's coming in. These are primarily customers who are looking at private aviation from an efficiency perspective. I think if you look back, like, 10 years or so, this was a true, luxury, high-end, aspirational utility for people.
And today, what we're seeing more and more of are people who are using it... you know, we call them "time machines," right? And it really is. The ability to get on the plane, go right to where you're trying to go, to visit multiple locations where people have businesses in a given day— that's just not possible with commercial airlines.
There's a little over 5,200 airports in the United States, and only about 500 of those are served by commercial airlines. When I'm talking about commercial, of course, like United, American, Southwest and so on. They serve a very small segment of the broader aviation population in the United States and private aviation has really stepped in to fill in some of those gaps.
As we look at Florida specifically, the millionaire population in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach has grown like 112% over the last few years. The Florida [private aviation] market itself, it's up– it's been up pretty much 10% year over year for the last few years. West Palm Beach is big, Boca, Miami, but even on the West Coast— Sarasota, Tampa, Naples of course, even Venice, Fort Myers and Key West, all very, very popular destinations for private aviation folks both from a business and leisure perspective.
What do you think is driving this continuous growth? Would you say the majority is business travel, leisure? Is it concentrated because of population growth, or is it something else?
I mean, I think it's all of those. If you have a highly paid CEO and if you take their working days in a year and divide their salary like a math problem, and compare what it looks like to fly commercial…
I mean, there's certainly a physical element to this, right? Where you wanna feel refreshed and at your best every day when you're leading a company. But with the private aviation opportunity, that's something we can absolutely do. The D.C. to Florida corridor is a big one. Boston down to Florida. New York, of course, down to Florida, but even in the Midwest too.
Our market is tracking similar to the overall market numbers. If you just wanted to talk about business jet travel alone, not to Florida, they did almost 2 million departures worldwide in just the first half of 2026. That's up about 4% year over year.
Has your customer base changed over the past five years, or has business people always been the people who are utilizing private aviation most?
Yeah, that's right. So it's, it's business executives, it's CEOs, their management teams. It's entrepreneurs, it's self-started individuals who often have their hands in a lot of different businesses.
If you had 100 people that used private aviation for the first time in the last 12 months, almost half of them now are under 50. That has definitely been a shift. So we are seeing wealth be pushed down a little bit, whether that be through a family transition or something like that.
Or people that are working at companies where they are having an IPO or a liquidity event, right? Going public. When those people have been working at some of these businesses for 10 years, something like that, a lot of times their compensation is highly skewed towards stock compensation.
What kind of physical and regulatory infrastructure is required to support private aviation?
In Florida, it'll probably be a little bit unique in that those buildings will have to be hurricane rated. I'm sure that the FAA will be involved in that, the local airports authorities will be involved with that, and just along with the general building code, too. [It’s] critically important that those structures are able to withstand some of the worst weather down there.
The overall market for hangars at airports and for people to have spots for their aircraft at these airports has been a challenging one. The demand for hangar space has not kept up with the inventory of hangar space. It is not a simple project to do. The local codes can make those projects drag out a little bit. Generally speaking, when we talk about the growth of private aviation, safety is such an important part of that. If this industry were one that was viewed as not safe the growth would not be there, the customers would not be there.
In Florida, I haven't been actively involved in any construction for new hangars. I can tell you in Omaha it took us in terms of when we first talked about doing it to when it actually opened up, it was 10 years. That wasn't all just because of the regulatory piece, but that was also just kinda, "Yeah, we should do this," or "Do we think this... we can support it?"
But I would say once we kinda got in front of the city council, once you get in front of the airport authority... I would say it usually can take a minimum of two to three to five years.
What do you think this growth in private aviation is telling us about where business investments are going, how wealthy people are migrating, and that effect on the economy?
It's an indicator that moves in sync with that, absolutely. When you look at the growth of private aviation—yes— there's no doubt about it, there are more wealthy people today than there were five years ago. We've really seen a boom in that. Private aviation has been one of the industries that has benefited from it.
But purely from an efficiency standpoint, I think what it is, it is a little bit about the wealth and the business part, but it's also just about the value of time and how much people are really kind of placing an emphasis on that and the efficiency that's associated with it. When you're running a business in today's world, it's a 24/7, 365 thing where hours matter and certainty of arrival and getting to where you need to go when you need to be there is truly paramount.
For everyday commuters— people who may never fly on a private jet, why do you think they should care about this industry, the health of the industry, and the fact that it's growing?
It's because your next-door neighbor might be a pilot for us.
Your friend down the street may be a maintenance tech for us. We are locally based in the communities that we operate in. It's an industry that is growing and is an increasingly important part of the overall travel and transportation community.
Our customer service folks, they're not working at a call center. They're based here in the United States, and they're answering the phones down the street from you at the airport and adding to the tax base, both from a wages perspective and from a business perspective.
