Private Jet London to Paris

Le Bourget is the reason this route works as well as it does

Paris has an airport given over entirely to private aviation, and it is the busiest of its kind in Europe. Le Bourget sits fourteen kilometres from the centre, closer than Charles de Gaulle, and carries more business aviation terminals than any other European field. What that means at ground level is a short taxi, a private building rather than a wing of a commercial one, and a car brought to the aircraft. On a sector of under an hour that ground handling is a larger share of the journey than the flying, which is exactly why the airport matters more here than on a longer route.

The day return is the shape this route is built for

Out at seven, in the eighth arrondissement by nine, back in London for the evening. On a sector of under an hour the aircraft waiting at Le Bourget costs the crew’s day and a parking fee rather than two more sectors, which is why a return adds roughly a fifth to the one-way figure instead of doubling it. Book the two together and you also fix the aircraft: the same cabin, the same crew and no question of what is available at five in the afternoon when the meeting finishes.

Two caveats on those figures

– Fashion week in March and September, Roland Garros at the end of May and the Paris air show in its year all lift these figures and tighten availability. Those dates are worth naming at the enquiry;

– Air Passenger Duty is charged per passenger leaving the United Kingdom and sits inside the figures. It applies to the outbound leg only, not to the return from Paris.

On a sector this short the drive decides more than the distance

Eight minutes separate the closest field from the furthest in the air, and up to an hour separates them on the road. For a meeting in the City, London City is the obvious answer and its slightly longer sector is irrelevant. For Mayfair, Northolt if a slot exists. Anyone starting west of the capital reaches Oxford or Farnborough sooner than they would Luton or Stansted. The second question is what is already there: an aircraft based at Farnborough and quoted for a Farnborough departure carries no positioning cost, and on a route priced this low that single factor moves the figure more than the choice of cabin does.

Why the case is stronger from Manchester than from Mayfair

From the regions the rail option barely exists as a comparison: it means travelling to St Pancras first, which adds two hours and a change before the international leg has begun. A direct flight from your local field removes that entirely, and at eighty minutes from Manchester the whole journey is shorter than the English portion of the train alternative. The same holds for Birmingham, Leeds and the Scottish cities, and it is the reason we quote these departures as often as the London ones.

Le Bourget for almost everything, and the exceptions are narrow

Le Bourget is the default because it is closest, takes any aircraft and has the deepest choice of handling agents in Europe. Toussus is worth raising if the destination is Versailles or the western suburbs and the aircraft is light, since it saves a crossing of the city on the ground. Charles de Gaulle enters the picture when the Paris leg feeds a long-haul departure. And once every two years the air show fills Le Bourget itself for a week, which is the one date when we plan around the airport rather than through it.

What the aircraft gives you that neither of the others can

The table compares three ways of covering the same ground, and what separates them is not the journey time. A private flight leaves when you are ready rather than when a timetable says, waits at Le Bourget when the meeting runs long, and carries whoever and whatever you bring without a hold, a carousel or a queue. Your party travels together in one cabin, works on the way across and steps out at a private building fourteen kilometres from the centre. The train is quick between two stations and the airlines are inexpensive in a seat; neither of them builds the day around you, and on this corridor that is what clients are actually buying.

Three situations where clients choose the aircraft

– The day that has to hold. A meeting at ten and another in London at five works by air and is uncomfortable by rail, because the return train has to be caught rather than waited for;

– Starting outside London. From Manchester or Edinburgh the train means reaching St Pancras first, and the direct flight removes that leg entirely;

– Something aboard that a train carriage handles badly: samples, a stand, equipment, or an animal that would otherwise travel separately.

Positioning is the largest single factor on a sector this short

Under an hour of flying is a small part of what an operator charges for. The aircraft has to reach your London field and then go somewhere afterwards, and on a route this brief those empty sectors can exceed the paid one. It follows that an aeroplane already sitting at Farnborough, quoted for a Farnborough departure, is a materially different price from the same type flown down from Scotland for the job. Ask what is already there before you fix the airport, and on this corridor the answer is usually something, because the traffic between the two cities is heavy enough to keep aircraft moving in both directions all week.

Four levers you control

– Ask what is already positioned. On a route this short it changes the figure more than any other decision;

– Book the return with the outbound. A fifth more rather than double, and the same aircraft waits for you;

– Name the London field last. Tell us where the day starts and let us price the options against it;

– Say if the dates fall in fashion week. We will check them before quoting rather than after.

How to read those figures

– Each price is for the whole aircraft rather than per seat. A Legacy 600 at 5,400 pounds carrying thirteen works out at a little over four hundred a head, which is inside a walk-up train fare;

– Compare each line with the same class in the price table above. A Citation XLS+ at 3,400 against a fresh charter at 7,000 is the discount in plain terms;

– Because the traffic is corporate, the legs appear midweek as readily as at the weekend, which is unusual and works in your favour.

Two points on rotary legs here

– Paris airspace is among the most tightly controlled in Europe and rotary routing is arranged in advance rather than improvised. A leg agreed with the booking goes smoothly; one requested on the morning frequently does not;

– Landing at a chateau or an estate needs the site’s permission as well as the authorities’, and that takes days. Where the destination is a private property we start that process at the enquiry.

The paperwork, in order

Microchip first and rabies vaccination second, never the reverse, with three weeks between the jab and the day you land. Then an Animal Health Certificate from an Official Veterinarian, dated no more than ten days before you cross into the European Union, which afterwards covers return journeys for six months. The worming treatment governs only the flight home and is given by a French vet between one and five days before you leave, written into the certificate with the date and the product. Nothing is needed on the way in.

Three practical points

– The vet appointment for the journey home happens in Paris, and on a two-day trip the window can be tight. We book it alongside the aircraft rather than leaving it to the client;

– This is one of the few international routes where an animal can travel and return inside the same week without difficulty, which is why we see it as often on day trips as on longer stays;

– There is no hold on a private aircraft, so a large dog travels exactly as a small one does and stays at your feet throughout.

Related pages

Both ends of this route in depth: private jet charter from London, private jet charter to Paris and the wider France guide.

Elsewhere in France: Nice, Cannes, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille.

The London fields: Biggin Hill, London City, Farnborough, RAF Northolt, Stansted, Luton and Oxford.

Departing from the regions: Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

And besides: the empty legs currently on offer, plus everything on travelling with pets.