Jet maker’s fleet rises as wealthy land in NZ

With $88 million you could buy 110 median-priced Auckland homes, 440 Tesla cars, or flights to and from the Gold Coast every day for 80 years.

But for some wealthy businesspeople, spending this amount of money on travel could be as normal as filling up the Suzuki Swift for the daily commute across Auckland.

French private-jet maker Dassault Aviation is looking for exactly those people to buy its new Falcon 8X jet, which has a hefty US$60 million

(NZ$88 million) price tag in New Zealand and Australia.

There are four Dassault private jets in New Zealand and all are secondhand. A used version of the earlier Falcon 7X model can cost between

US$20m and US$40m, but a brand new one would set you back about US$53m.

Elon Musk owns two Dassault jets, while New Zealand’s richest man, Graeme Hart, as well as film director Sir Peter Jackson both own private jets made by Dassault competitor Gulfstream.

Dassault’s Falcon Asia-Pacific president, Jean Michel-Jacob, likened the Falcon 8X to a ‘‘flying carpet’’ because it could land almost anywhere its owner desired.

‘‘The planes can go to international destinations that commercial airlines don’t serve,’’ he said.

The jets can land on ice in Antarctica, in the middle of London or in the rough terrains of Papua New Guinea, Michel-Jacob said.

Many businesspeople were looking for an easy commute between New Zealand and the United States, without the need for long stopovers to refuel, he said.

New Zealand’s fleet of Dassault aircraft in the past 16 months had jumped from one to four because there were more Kiwi businesses operating internationally, as well as an increasing number of high-net-worth individuals price of the new Dassault 8X private jet annual operational cost of the 8X total Dassault fleet in NZ (all secondhand) visiting New Zealand for business and leisure.

The 8X has three engines, which allow the aircraft to fly a more direct route on some ocean routes than twinengine jets can.

Dassault says the jets cannot be tracked on websites such as Flightradar, or by its competitors.

The aircraft’s customers are not limited to those on the rich list – they also include businesses, politicians and governments that may use them for medical aid and emergencies, the company said.

Its ultra-long range means the 8X can fly 16 people from Hong Kong to London non-stop. It can also fly as high as 51,000 feet (15,500 metres), compared with airliners that cruise between 30,000 and 40,000ft.

The cost of owning such a luxurious plane can mount up quickly, taking into account fuel, maintenance, landing fees, crew wages, instruments, and various air traffic control fees.

Michel-Jacob said the aircraft was fuel efficient but he would not disclose the average cost to fly the 8X per kilometre. However, filling the jet’s petrol tank would cost US$10,000.

According to private jet specialist Business Jet Traveler, the total annual cost of using the 8X would be US$2.4m

(NZ$3.5m), while the crew cost was

US$558,480.

At a fixed annual salary of $80,000 over a career span of 45 years, the average person could maybe pay operational costs for a year, by the time they reached age 65.

Michel-Jacob said the 8X had 1360 kilograms of additional fuel capacity to create the nearly 12,000 nautical mile

(22,000-kilometre) range. He said 55 of the new model were being built.