Picture this. You're on a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A321 at New York's LaGuardia Airport at 4 pm on a rainy afternoon. Your flight was scheduled to depart at 2 pm but due to weather, congestion, and air traffic control, the Federal Aviation Administration has implemented a two-hour delay program so you and your 150 seatmates are not even close to taking off.
You were already unhappy because you think the major airline solely operating this route gouged you on airfare--which it did.
Then out there through the window you suddenly see a Gulfstream G650 (list price: $70 million) taxiing into position for takeoff. There are only two passengers onboard--149 fewer than on your flight--a Wall Street hedge funder and his latest client, en route to a film festival.
And here's what you don't know. Unlike every other plane on LaGuardia's soggy tarmac, that private jet isn't running late. Since it doesn't have a scheduled departure time, the operator fudged it and requested the FAA release it at 1 pm--knowing that would allow an on-time takeoff at 4 pm.
You also don't know that even though the FAA has been restricting takeoffs and landings at congested LGA for the last 58 years---thereby driving up your fare on American or Delta or United because Spirit and Frontier are prohibited from adding more flights--that same FAA somehow allows three takeoff and landing slots per hour for private jets.
Of course, the hedge funder could have departed across the Hudson River at Teeterboro Airport in New Jersey (the busiest general aviation airport in the country). But the bridge and tunnel traffic was lighter to Queens so the Wall Street billionaire further helped delay your flight rather than limo it to Jersey.
You probably also don't know that not only is that private jet contributing to delays, congestion, and higher fares at one of the busiest airports on the planet, but it's also producing something like 45 times the carbon footprint per passenger as the airliner you and 150 others are sitting in. And you'll probably hate to learn that Donald Trump gave that hedge fund guy a 100% tax write-off on the G650 in his “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Good thing you don't know all this. The captain just announced a further delay.
Unfair Access
We have a congestion problem at commercial airports nationwide, and it's contributing to higher fares and less competition. The United States hasn't seen a brand-new commercial airport, built from scratch, since 1974 (Dallas/DFW). That’s meant the airlines that were in place back then were the ones that locked in takeoff and landing access. Most of the shifts since the 1970’s have had to do with airline mergers, with ever larger entities inheriting access to the limited number of flight slots airports can accommodate. (More on this below.) That’s left the flying public with jammed facilities increasingly dominated by major airlines offering higher fares.
And instead of easing access for smaller and low fare airlines, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and its subsidiary the FAA, allow the richest Americans to clog the nation's busiest airports with private jets. Not to mention clogging our skies with carbon.
The fact is, we're all being cheated of more choices and lower fares because private aircrafts fly in and out of aging airports designed for airlines carrying the other 99%.
More and More Private Planes
Earlier this month American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) published a paper entitled "Making Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share: How Private Jet Travel Congests America's Airports." It noted that by late 2025 there were a record 348,000 monthly private jet flights globally, with 70%--some 243,600 flights--in the U.S. alone.
Why the uptick? For one thing, corporate jet usage for senior executives rose 50% since 2020. But an even bigger reason is President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which contained a 100% bonus tax depreciation for those buying or renting private jets.
As a result the uber-rich cram airspace for large events such as Davos, Cannes Film Festival, FIFA World Cup, and--irony alert!--the United Nations Climate Negotiations. This despite the average CO2 footprint per passenger is 7,913 pounds for private jets vs. 174 pounds for airlines.
For Super Bowl LX on February 8th, more than 1,000 private jets flooded the Bay Area. In the two hours after the game ended, 95 of those planes contributed to an 1,136% increase in air traffic, snarling airline operations.
Airport overload
There are 506 commercial airports in the U.S. providing airline service, but there are ten times as many general aviation airports (5,082) they can use, in addition to another 14,551 private airports that are accessed by many of the richest flyers.
So why do so many billionaires, corporate executives, and politicians insist on flying into the busiest maxed-out commercial airports? Impatience. Sometimes it’s a shorter drive to access a public rather than a private airport. And the federal government allows it.
How Private Jets Increase Air Delays
At a Senate hearing last year, the then CEO of low fare Frontier Airlines Barry Biffle said private jets "game the system" by fudging estimated departure times when air traffic control implements delay programs due to weather, or other factors such as air traffic control or IT outages. Because of this strategy, private aircraft often jump to the front of the line to take off—and this wreaks havoc on commercial airline schedules and protocols. "Sadly, airlines often end up having to cancel because these delays stack up and time out our crews," Biffle noted.
To add insult to injury, ticketed airline passengers pay mandatory taxes that support our airways and airports, but those flying private—i.e., the richest among us—pay considerably less, amounting to just 2% of the FAA's funding.
And How Limited Airline Choice Increases Airfares
As Frommer's noted, the Big 3--American, Delta, and United--along with Southwest now control an unprecedented 80% of the U.S. airline market. Delays and high fares can be even worse at the majors' "fortress hubs."
An MIT study found base fares are 8% lower on average in markets served by Low Cost Carriers (JetBlue, sometimes Southwest), and 21% lower when served by Ultra Low Cost Carriers (Allegiant, Avelo, Frontier, Spirit, Sun Country).
Consider Charlotte, which has the dubious distinction of being the most monopolized hub in America; American Airlines operates 90% of all passenger flights at CLT. An analysis by labor union SEIU found fares to and from CLT were 33% higher than national averages (an additional $5.6 billion) over the last decade. To varying degrees, the same is true at other “Big 3” hubs nationwide.
Playing the “Slots”
As noted earlier, airway and airport congestion isn't a new phenomenon. Back in 1968, the FAA began monitoring and regulating takeoff and landing slots at a handful of our busiest airports. Currently FAA permanently limits flights at New York/LaGuardia, New York/JFK, and Washington/DCA and temporarily limits at Newark. It also continually monitors departures at Chicago/O'Hare, San Francisco/SFO, and Los Angeles/LAX.
So who benefits most from these grandfathered slots? The large legacy airlines that keep fares high and have been flying for about a century: American (1926), Delta (1925), and United (1931).
But here's the shocker: FAA restricts airline flights at these airports (thus raising average fares), yet it allows private jets to fly in and out of these facilities via slot exemptions. At LaGuardia, those 3 slots per hour are held for private jets while at DCA it's 12 slots per hour; at JFK, 20% of all slots daily are designated non-airline. The averages for private aircraft are 29 daily at O'Hare, 77 at SFO, and 92 at LAX. Imagine the downward effect on fares if those slots were given to low cost carriers.
Unfortunately, FAA doesn't provide statistics on private jets flying at every airport. But we do know that among America's "Core 30" busiest airports, five of those 30 are also in the top 20 airports for general aviation flights: Las Vegas, Washington/IAD, Chicago/Midway, Salt Lake City, and Fort Lauderdale.
Even during the recent government shutdown, when FAA was forced to restrict airline flights nationwide at 40 busy airports, the agency still allowed private jets to operate at 28 of them.
Time for an overhaul
For billionaires, flying into the busiest airports means cutting minutes off their limo rides. For the rest of us, it means they're contributing to more delays and even higher fares.
If this angers you, let your Congressional representatives know congested commercial airports are for airlines. But also file a complaint with the DOT; normally such filings are about specific airlines, but you can also complain about the department itself.