Midsize jets

Mid-size jets seat 6 to 10, with seven or eight the comfortable number for longer legs. The cabin is the step change from a light jet: a flat floor, close to six feet of headroom, an enclosed lavatory and a real galley, so the aircraft works as an office or a lounge rather than a capsule.

The newest ones can. The Praetor 500 we feature covers about 3,300 nautical miles, which makes Los Angeles to New York nonstop in both directions a working reality. Legacy mid-size aircraft typically manage 2,000 to 2,500 nautical miles, meaning one quick stop on westbound transcontinental legs.

In recent months, all-in mid-size rates have typically run about $6,000 to $8,000 per flight hour. Peak quotes one fixed, all-inclusive number for the trip: aircraft, crew, fuel, handling fees and standard catering, with no membership fee in front of any of it.

Effectively yes. Most of the class offers 5 feet 10 inches to six feet of cabin height on a flat floor, which is the difference between crouching to your seat and walking to it. Add the enclosed aft lavatory and galley and this is the smallest class that feels like a room instead of a vehicle.

Range, cabin and margin. You get nonstop reach on legs a light jet has to break up, a cabin you can stand and work in, roughly double the baggage volume, and more performance in reserve for weather and high-altitude airports. On a three-hour leg with six aboard, most clients call it money well spent.

Because it flies like a bigger aircraft than its price point. Full fly-by-wire, the lowest cabin altitude in the class, genuine coast-to-coast range and short-field manners that keep mountain strips in play. It is the mid-size jet we would pick for our own families, which is the standard we apply.