How much does it cost to land a private jet?

The landing fee itself is set by the airport operator — in Spain, Aena — and is calculated from the aircraft's maximum take-off weight and the airfield's category: a 1.2-tonne single-engine aircraft at a regional airport pays a token amount, while a 45-tonne Gulfstream at Madrid-Barajas or Barcelona pays by the tonne and by time slot. On top of that come the approach fee, which pays for terminal air traffic control, and Eurocontrol's en-route charges for the distance flown.

At major airports, regulations require hiring a ground handling agent, and in business aviation that role is taken on by FBOs. Their fee covers reception, towing, stairs, crew transport, customs coordination and liaison with the tower, and it's what makes an operation expensive: at hubs like London, Paris or Geneva, the handling bill often exceeds the landing fee itself. Some FBOs waive or reduce it if a minimum amount of fuel is uplifted.

Every hour on the ramp is billed, and at congested airports the price rises sharply after the first night, to push operators into repositioning the aircraft to a secondary field. Add to that passenger fees, security, winter de-icing, and, in the United States, the quirk that many general aviation airports charge no landing fee at all but require a minimum fuel purchase from the FBO. That's why operators plan their stops by comparing nearby airports: the difference between landing at the hub or at the neighbouring airfield can be an order of magnitude.