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App-y Travels: Private Aviation Has Finally Embraced Smartphone Chartering

From A.I. bookings to fly-by-wire controls, the latest investments by names like Magellan Jets make getting around easier.
July 01, 2025
llustrated by Nash Weerasekera

New tech is flying into the private-jet aviation world at supersonic speeds. Advanced fly-by-wire controls in cockpits make aircraft intuitive and safer to pilot. In the cabin, high-def A.R. screens will replace windows, offering a choice of realities during flight. Reverse auctions and artificial intelligence are also transforming the ways clients book private jets, using increasingly sophisticated apps. 

While this might look seamless to clients, private aviation’s back end is chaotic and labor-intensive. Charter brokers often sift through hundreds of aircraft, among thousands available, to find a match. It typically takes more than 100 emails between a client and charter operator to finalize a flight. Magellan Jet’s new app, instead, uses A.I. to read client requests and source the planes. “Everything’s happening at a quicker rate and, most importantly, with less error,” says Anthony Tivnan, founder and president of Magellan Jets. 

Having spent millions on app and text-to-book programs, Sentient expects to do about $100 million in digital bookings this year, or about a third of its annual business, up from zero in 2017. “We’re going to have text 2.0 and a new app with generative A.I.—not A.I. for A.I.’s sake, but in a very harnessed way that aligns with our brand,” says Sentient CEO Andrew Collins. 

Start-ups are also using apps to advance new technologies. Opes Jet favors a reverse auction, where aircraft operators make bids for flights a client has posted via the app. “A client can see what each operator is bidding, make the choice, and we upload the contract to the website,” says founder Richard Hekker. “It provides greater transparency than a traditional charter firm and puts decision-making back in the hands of the customer.”

New York–based FlyJets, meanwhile, is focusing on untapped markets. Clients can use its app to buy existing charters (“re-sales”) or seats (“spaces”) on routes listed on its new Exchange. “We see ourselves as the StubHub of private jets,” explains founder and CEO Jessica Fisher. “If someone can’t make a charter, they can resell it or sell individual spaces. Operators are keen to work with us because we offer an official exchange. This wouldn’t be possible without a really good technology application.”

That could be private aviation’s new mantra: Tech is the new turbine.

This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.

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