Magnifica Air Wants to Bring Luxe Flying to Travelers Who Can't Afford Private Jets

“There’s a big white space between flying first and flying private, and we’re right in the middle,” Black told Corporate Jet Investor. “We’re going to redefine the category. We call it ‘private class.'”

Unlike traditional private jet charters, which can cost anywhere from $4,500 per hour for midsize jets to $15,000 or more per hour for larger luxury planes, Magnifica’s business model will be the same as commercial airline companies, allowing anyone who buys a ticket to come aboard. Unlike your average United or Southwest flight, however, every seat is premium.

Photo: Magnifica Air

According to Black, each of the six initial planes will have between 45 and 54 seats, plus a small handful of enclosed suites. All seats will be in a two-by-two configuration, with a bar and service area in the back of the plane. Gone will be the overhead bins, replaced with higher ceilings to create a feeling of more space. Planes will have adaptive lighting and high-end materials, with renderings of the new fleet more akin to private planes that the economy seating with which most flyers are familiar.

Services on board are set to be a cut above commercial air, with high-end dining curated by chefs and sommeliers, and car service available to the terminals. Passengers will only need to arrive 30 minutes ahead of departure time, with access to white-glove security. Magnifica Air also promises to unload luggage within 15 minutes of landing.

Photo: Magnifica Air

According to the release that followed the announcement, the airline will begin operations with six or seven daily departures between hubs like Miami, NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. It also plans seasonal routes to Napa Valley, California, and to-be-announced destinations in the Caribbean. Occasionally, it will host one-time “experience trips” centered around special events, such as Art Basel in Miami or various Formula 1 events. To attend those events, and to received even higher end service on board, families and corporations will be able to join the Magnifica “Seven Club,” an optional service. While standard ticket prices haven’t been announced, membership in the club will start at $14,950 for families and $29,950 annually for corporations.

Photo: Marharyta Gangalo/Shutterstock

With Magnifica’s launch about two years away, it’s a little too far out to know if everything the CEO has announced will come to fruition. But the company has announced it plans to prioritize the use of technology to streamline the flying experience. Black told reporters in mid-October 2025 that personalization will be a major part of flying with Magnifica. The company plans to use facial recognition to speed up the check-in process and will be able to personalize seats for each passenger based on saved preferences ranging from favorite meals to preferred cabin temperature.

Sustainability is part of the Magnifica game plan, per the release, as the airline will be entirely carbon-neutral when it launches in fall 2027. It plans to partially use sustainable aviation fuel, aiming to reach 100 percent sustainable fuel use by 2030. This will be achieved by using newer and more efficient planes, including the potential for adding electric hybrid planes to the fleet. As of 2025, it’s estimated that private plane passengers produce roughly 500 times more CO2 per year than your average commercial flyer.

The announcement likely isn’t extremely surprising to travelers who follow aviation news, as more and more airlines have announced changes designed to draw in higher-net-worth passengers. Air France recently debuted enormous private suites, while Delta’s new redesigns include fewer economy seats in favor of more premium offerings. In 2025, the growth in premium flyers has outpaced the growth for economy passengers, and recent research from financial powerhouse Morgan Stanley shows that the US airline industry is prioritizing its most profitable options going forward — i.e., premium seats. Though previous attempts at similar models have yet to gain traction, such as Surf Air and EOS Air, more recent companies such as JSX and FlexJet are currently operating similar business models.