VistaJet sets a record with £4.9 billion planes order

A private jet group for the super-rich that flies out of London City Airport has placed a $7.8 billion (£4.9 billion) order for dozens of new aircraft, the biggest in the history of business aviation.

Thomas Flohr, the Milan-tailored suit-wearing founder and president founder of VistaJet, which is based in London but headquartered in Switzerland for tax purposes, claimed today that this was an “historic order” for the industry.

Canada’s Bombardier will build 56 aircraft for caviar and champagne-serving VistaJet, with the first delivered in 2014. VistaJet has options for a further 86 planes as it grows its business in Russia and China, while demand for private jets to fast-growing markets such as Mongolia and Angola is rising.

VistaJet runs more than 1000 flights a year out of British airports including Farnborough and Luton as well as City. It has carried 25,000 passengers on 10,000 flights so far this year, promising customers a jet will be available at 24 hours’ notice.

Fierce rival NetJets, owned by investment magnate Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has also expanded heavily to the east. In March, VistaJet said it would team up with Air China to form a base in Beijing while NetJets revealed plans to work with two funds in Guangdong in southern China.