Flying commercially from, say, Phoenix to Burbank can take as long as the six-hour drive — arrive two hours before the 1.5-hour flight, sit on the tarmac for about 30 minutes, and then wait for luggage. 

Traveling on a private jet, with carriers like FlyUSA, have on‑demand charters and manages aircraft for owners across the country. The company touches as many as 140 airports a month, and CEO Barry Shevlin said the mindset of the typical private‑aviation customer has changed dramatically since the pandemic.

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More than 84% of C‑suite leaders say they’re interested in private aviation, driven by time savings and schedule control. Corporate spending reflects that interest: according to Equilar’s 2025 analysis of the 500 largest U.S. companies, private air travel spending is up nearly 77% compared with 2020. Even Apple requires CEO Tim Cook to fly privately “in the interests of security and efficiency,” a detail tucked into its SEC filings.

“People want control over their time and their schedules,” he said. “Executives really value their time. They want certainty that they’re going to be able to get to where they need to go.”

Shevlin’s introduction to private aviation mirrors what many of his clients now experience. When he bought his first plane in 2012, he logged about 100 hours a year. The payoff wasn’t prestige. It was presence. “I estimate that I’ve got to spend an extra 20 or 25 nights a year in my own bed,” he said. “That’s time you don’t get back when you’re growing a family.”

One of FlyUSA’s strong referral sources, wealth managers tell him that before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly 30% of its clients flew private. Today, it’s closer to 70%, and few expect to return to commercial travel, he said, because of unpredictable airline schedules, TSA bottlenecks, and the operational drag of losing hours to delays and missed connections. Private flights, by contrast, run through FBOs — private terminals designed for speed and discretion. 

“While we do vet passengers through TSA, they don’t have to wait in lines,” Shevlin said. “It’s a much more streamlined experience.”

FlyUSA’s business reflects that demand. The company’s charter brokerage remains its largest segment, but its aircraft‑management division has grown steadily as more owners seek turnkey support — hangar space, maintenance, pilots, insurance, detailing, ground transportation, catering, and everything in between. FlyUSA also holds a charter certificate that allows owners to place their aircraft into the company’s charter pool, offsetting some of the cost of ownership.

“They are time machines,” Shevlin says. “That’s really what they are.”

For Shevlin, flying eventually became more than a business tool. He became a pilot himself, drawn to the freedom to take off whenever he wanted. Some of his most meaningful hours in the air came while flying his daughter back and forth between the University of Florida and Savannah, where her boyfriend was stationed. “What an amazing time that was for me,” he says. “To be able to spend that type of time with the kids.”

FlyUSA’s biggest challenge now is scale. Growth has been rapid, and the industrywide pilot shortage makes hiring and retention a constant pressure point. But Shevlin is confident the demand isn’t a bubble. Executives have tasted the efficiency of private aviation, and they’re not eager to give it up.