The next time you need to make that board meeting in Berlin or power lunch in Tokyo, climb aboard one of these lean, luxurious private airplanes.
1. Cessna Citation X
Cessna eked out 0.010 more Mach than the G650, which is what makes the Cessna Citation X (read Citation Ten) the highest and fastest flier of the bunch. You can cruise comfortably above most towering thunderclouds at a nearly suborbital 51,000 feet. The cabin isn't the largest, but there are trade-offs when you want this much speed and lift. The rounded shapes of the fuselage are reminiscent of Jeff Koons's oddly sexy, custom-designed Dom Pérignon bottle. The Citation X's highly swept, supercritical wings are married to a low-drag airframe powered by two Rolls Royce/Allison engines. In English: The wing is designed to keep the aircraft stable as it nears the speed of sound. It's also great at slingshotting you off short runways. The cockpit is a pilot's dream, an electronic nerve centre built by Honeywell. The Primus Elite avionics suite not only sounds like the newest Transformer, it makes the flight crew feel like one. No one says it better than Cessna's own marketing team - "It's how to announce you've arrived without saying a thing."
2. Falcon 5X
What better place to unveil a shiny new business jet than Las Vegas? At October's National Business Aviation Association show, an annual convention devoted to toys you can't afford, French biz jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation unveiled its new Falcon 5X. The airplane is a paean to the -est: biggest cabin (a spacious 6 feet 6 inches height), longer range (5200 miles, so you can hop from your Malibu estate to London to catch a show), and a larger capacity (accommodates an entourage of up to 16). And because the French know there's no style without substance, the aircraft is equipped with the high-tech bells and whistles that are Dassault hallmarks - a digital flight-control system that now incorporates a new "flaperon," a control surface that allows steep approaches at slow speeds (think short, high runways like Aspen's) and a head-up display that combines enhanced and synthetic vision to provide the flight crew with near-superhero situational awareness (think Aspen during a winter storm, at night, with a fully loaded aircraft).
3. Gulfstream 650
Gulfstream is the American muscle car of business jets. Their airplanes are beefy and strong. The U.S. government (and 30 countries internationally) has operated Gulfstream aircraft for so-called special missions since 1967 - from medevac to photo-reconnaissance missions, VIP transport to hurricane research. The G650 is Gulfstream's leanest, most luxurious model. But it also has legs. Since 2008 it's been at the top of the biz-jet heap. Eight passengers and a crew of four can fly comfortably from London to Buenos Aires - that's a staggering 7000-nautical-mile range. And on short trips, the aircraft has the power to get you where you want to go, faster. Powered by two Rolls Royce BR725 engines, the aircraft can run at Mach 0.925 - that's just about as close as you can get to the speed of sound. Gulfstream proclaims its G650 ultra-high-speed, ultra-long-range business jet is the gold standard in business aviation. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who says otherwise.
4. Bombardier's Global 8000
The weight of the name alone gives you an idea of the power and reach of Bombardier's Global 8000. You may recognize the Canadian aircraft manufacturer's name from your last boarding pass - chances are the recent cramped, hot, bumpy flight from JFK to PBI was in a CRJ, Bombardier's commercial offering. If you're flying in the Global 8000, however, you're probably not sharing the cabin with people you don't know. This heavy-weight will fling you farther than any other business jet today - nearly 8000 nautical miles (hence the naming convention). Go from Mumbai to New York or Los Angeles to Sydney essentially in the comfort of your own living room. How do they do it? GE's aptly named Passport engines and newly designed wings combine to create a fuel-efficient mile-gobbler. Naturally, it's also the most expensive of the private jets out there.
5. Boeing Business Jet
Considering you can get a 747 in a VIP configuration, adding the Boeing Business Jet, or BBJ, to a list of the best private aircraft almost isn't fair. Next time you're sitting next to a crying baby in the centre seat of a 737, close your eyes and imagine you're the only one in the airplane. Oh, and there are about 200 fewer seats. And you have your own flight crew. And maybe an office and a king-size bed in the back…you get the idea. But if you focus only on the flash, you're missing the function. Boeing is a pro at the commercial business, and the company dumps all that technology and power into its biz jets. Which is precisely what makes it one of the best. Despite its size, however, Boeing is having trouble keeping up with the big numbers posted by its competitors with longer legs. This past spring, the company said it will develop a business-jet version of its commercial 737 Max 8, in hopes of increasing its range to 7000 nautical miles and perhaps beyond.
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