How does booking a private jet work, step by step?

The process looks nothing like booking a scheduled flight – there is no fixed timetable, just an individual setup tailored to the route:

Submit a request

Provide route, date, number of passengers, luggage and any special requirements (pets, wheelchair access, a cold chain for medical equipment) – free and non-binding, via PrivatJet One.

Compare offers

Several charter operators from the PrivatJet One network submit offers with different aircraft, which are then compared by price, availability and cabin configuration.

Contract and booking confirmation

Once you choose an offer, a charter contract follows, covering flight time, price, payment terms and the operator’s details (Air Operator Certificate).

Preparation

Passport details and customs paperwork for international flights, catering preferences, luggage dimensions and – if needed – the limousine transfer are finalised.

Departure day

Arrival at the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) is usually 15–20 minutes before departure, with boarding directly at the aircraft – no classic security line to wait in.

That’s it.

PrivatJet One compares charter offers by jet class, route and price, making the otherwise opaque pricing of the business aviation market transparent.

Which aircraft types and jet classes are available?

Not every aircraft suits every route. Short distances and smaller airports call for different models than intercontinental flights:

A detailed breakdown of extra costs such as landing fees or de-icing can be found in our private jet rental experience report. Anyone wanting to compare individual models in detail can dig deeper on PrivatJet One.

What sets the classes apart?

Besides passenger count and range, three factors mainly decide which class fits a trip: cabin height (in turboprops and light jets you often have to stoop, from midsize upward you can stand upright), cruising speed (typically Mach 0.74 to 0.90), and equipment – ultra long range jets usually offer a sleeping cabin and sometimes a separate shower, which makes a real difference on a ten-hour nonstop flight.

How is the price made up: block hours and empty legs

Billing is based on block time – the time from closing the cabin door to opening it at the destination, not just the minutes actually in the air. Depending on the jet class, the hourly rate typically runs between about €2,000 and €10,000. On top of that come:

• Landing fees and handling: €800 to €2,500 per airport, sometimes considerably more at busy airports (for example during major trade fairs or sporting events).
• Positioning flight: If the aircraft is not already at the departure airport, the empty leg to get there is billed too – often at half the hourly rate.
• Crew overnight stay: On round trips with a stopover, hotel and meal costs for the crew are added.

Empty legs: cheap, but inflexible

An empty leg happens when a jet has to fly back to its home base without passengers after a charter, or needs to be repositioned for its next assignment. These legs can be booked at discounts of 50 to 75 percent compared to a regular charter price. The catch: the date, route and aircraft type are already fixed and can shift at short notice or fall through entirely – an attractive way to save money for flexible frequent flyers, but not ideal if you need to be at a fixed real estate appointment the next morning.

What charter services exist – private, business, medical and more

Charter flights aren’t just for leisure trips. Depending on the occasion, different aircraft and additional services come into play – a weekend trip for three needs a different setup than a medical repatriation with a doctor and nursing staff on board, or a delegation trip for ten people with its own security detail. Anyone looking for the right setup for their occasion will find in the table below which jet class is typical and what extra equipment or personnel can be booked alongside it:

For the medical segment, PrivatJet One offers more detail directly on privatejets.one, and the same applies to corporate travel, including how billing and tax treatment typically work.

How does the ground transfer work – limousine, driver and FBO

The comfort of chartering doesn’t end at the aircraft door. A good part of it happens on the ground:

1. FBO instead of terminal: Charter flights depart from and land at a Fixed Base Operator – a small, dedicated terminal away from scheduled traffic, with no long security or check-in lines.
2. Limousine service: A driver picks you up at home or at the office and drives directly onto the apron, right up to the aircraft – no changing between terminal and gate.
3. Handover at the destination: At the destination airport, another vehicle is usually already waiting, while the FBO ground staff take care of the luggage.
4. The last mile: For hard-to-reach destinations such as islands or ski resorts, a helicopter transfer sometimes covers the final leg.

Limousine service, FBO handling and, where needed, a helicopter connection can all be booked directly along with the request, so the result is one continuous door-to-door transfer instead of separately organised legs.

Who is this service for?

Real estate investors with nationwide appointments

Anyone who regularly views properties in several cities or buys real estate directly often saves an entire travel day with a charter flight – especially for appointments away from the major airport hubs. Investors reviewing properties as a capital investment across several regions at once can bundle multiple viewings into a single day, something scheduled flights can rarely match.

Business travellers

Short-notice meetings, several stops in one day, or destinations without good scheduled connections can be planned far more flexibly with a charter flight than with regular airline routes.

Group and delegation trips

For family offices, teams or larger groups, a Light Jet often already pays off from around four to six people – frequently costing about the same per head as a business-class ticket, without connections or waiting times.

Frequently asked questions about booking a private jet

Is the request with PrivatJet One free and non-binding?

Yes. The request via PrivatJet One is free of charge, you receive non-binding offers and only decide afterwards whether to book.

How quickly will I get an offer?

Depending on the route and availability, initial offers are usually ready within a few hours, and sometimes on the same day for short-notice requests.

Do I have to book a whole jet even if only two of us are travelling?

Yes, charter flights are billed per aircraft, not per seat. For smaller groups, a Very Light Jet is usually the better fit than a larger class.

What does an empty leg cost compared to a regular charter?

Empty legs typically cost 50 to 75 percent less, since the aircraft has to fly the route anyway. The trade-off is that the date and route are already fixed and can no longer be changed.

Is the limousine transfer included in the price?

The transfer to and from the aircraft can be added directly to the request and is billed separately – it isn’t automatically part of every offer, but it is standard with most operators in the network.

Anyone wanting to see live fleet availability can find the current overview on privatejets.one – or submit the request directly and easily right there.

The low point: 2025 and 2012 in direct comparison

The figure of 206,600 only becomes tangible in historical context. For comparison: in 2020 — the most recent peak — 306,376 dwellings were still completed in Germany. In just five years, construction output has thus collapsed by around 100,000 units per year. In 2012, at the low point after the financial crisis, there were 200,500 dwellings — the current figure has returned to that level.

Building permit statistics show even more clearly what lies ahead in the coming years: only 215,300 dwellings were approved in 2024 — a decline of 16.8 percent. Since an average of 26 to 27 months pass between approval and completion (2020: still 20 months), completions in 2026 and 2027 are already foreseeably low. The construction backlog — dwellings already approved but not yet built — amounts to 759,700 units, of which only 330,000 are actually under construction.

The 400,000 target: promised, never achieved

The traffic-light coalition had set the target of 400,000 new dwellings per year, including 100,000 social housing units, in its 2021 coalition agreement. Chancellor Scholz stuck to the target even under growing pressure. The result: the target was not even approximately achieved in a single year.

In 2024, completions reached 63 percent of the target — in 2025 just 52 percent. Construction Minister Klara Geywitz became the face of the construction crisis, and as early as 2023 Tagesspiegel called the 400,000 promise a “castle in the air”. Historically, an average of 405,000 dwellings per year have been built in the Federal Republic since 1950 — the current level is thus far below the long-term average.

Why is new construction collapsing? The five main causes

The interest rate turnaround

The ECB raised its key interest rate from 0 percent (2021) to over 4 percent (2023). Mortgage rates jumped from around 1 percent to 4 to 5 percent. For project developers with variable-rate debt capital and thin margins, this meant the end of many calculations.

Exploding construction costs

The energy crisis, inflation and supply bottlenecks since 2021 drove up material and labour costs sharply. Concrete, steel, timber — all significantly more expensive than at the offer-planning stage. Many projects approved in 2020 were no longer economically viable in 2023.

Wave of insolvencies

Real estate insolvencies rose by 70 percent in 2024. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, 630 real estate and construction companies went bankrupt — an increase of 18.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The consequence: 320,000 jobs were at risk or disappeared.

Bureaucracy and approval procedures

Changing energy standards (Efficiency House 55 standard), the lack of a federal building code and cumbersome approval procedures structurally slow down construction projects. The average time from approval to completion has increased from 20 to 27 months since 2020.

Collapse in demand for owner-occupied flats

The interest rate turnaround reduced purchasing power. Project developers were left sitting on completed dwellings that couldn’t be sold — and cancelled their next projects.

Regional extremes: Berlin, Cologne, Munich

The IW Köln institute estimates an annual housing need of 372,600 units nationwide — only 206,600 were actually built in 2025. The annual gap thus stands at over 165,000 dwellings.

Regionally, extreme imbalances are evident:

Berlin: largest supply gap nationwide

Need according to IW Köln: 31,300 dwellings per year. Building permits in 2024: only 9,772 — that’s 31 percent of demand. No other urban district has a bigger absolute gap.

Cologne and Munich

Cologne has the worst coverage ratio among the metropolises: only 37 percent of demand is met. Munich fares best at 93 percent, yet thousands of units are still missing. Hamburg is the only positive exception, with +39 percent completions in 2024.

Eastern Germany: decline twice as severe

The decline hits the East with –34.3 percent (2025), more than twice as severe as Western Germany (–16.7 percent).

What the construction crisis means for rents and purchase prices

The housing gap has long since arrived in the market. Listed heritage properties in particular are gaining attractiveness in this environment. The Pestel Institute puts Germany’s housing shortage at 1.4 million units — a record level. By 2030, 2.4 million new dwellings will be needed.

Rents are reacting accordingly: nationwide, asking rents for new lettings rose by 7 percent in 2024, in Berlin by 10 percent — a total of 22.2 percent between 2022 and 2024. Munich stands at €20.50 cold rent per square metre (+4.4 percent). The DIW Berlin institute notes that the real estate market remains tight — rents and housing prices continue to rise.

For investors, this means: rental yields in German metropolitan areas are rising structurally — not because purchase prices are falling, but because supply is not catching up in the foreseeable future. Anyone investing now in existing properties or new builds in growth regions benefits from a market where the supply problem will not be solved before 2027 at the earliest. Anyone planning a purchase now should factor in the structural supply deficit as a long-term tailwind.

Video: housing market in turmoil

Outlook: when will the market turn around?

The signals are mixed. The Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB) expects 215,000 to 220,000 completions in 2026 — hardly better than 2025. Positive completion figures are not expected before 2027 at the earliest.

A silver lining: building permits rose again in 2025 for the first time, by 10.6 percent to 238,100 — in September even by 59.8 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Since permits precede completions by two to three years, this points to a moderate recovery from 2027 onwards.

Structurally, the problem remains: the IW Köln institute forecasts increasing market tension in major cities, even though nationwide demand is calculated to decline slightly from 2026. In metropolises such as Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, the gap persists — and is growing.

In five years, Germany has wiped out all the construction progress made since the financial crisis. The 400,000-dwelling gap will not be closed by political promises, but only once interest rates, construction costs and approval processes structurally return to a level that lets project developers make their calculations work. Exactly when that will happen remains open.

A million euros in the bank – what a feeling! But this sudden increase in wealth also comes with responsibility. Whether through hard work, an inheritance or a lottery win, the most important question is: what to do with the money? Without a clear strategy, a large sum can melt away quickly. Many people tend towards impulsive spending or ill-considered investments. Learn here how to invest 1 million euros safely and profitably, to benefit from your wealth in the long term. Back to overview: Inheritance.

1 million euros – what you should do first

The first step with a large sum is to stay calm. Emotional decisions often lead to mistakes that can be avoided. Take the time to get an overview of the situation and develop a structured approach. Experts recommend parking the money safely at first and seeking professional advice before investing it.

What should you do?

• Park the money safely.
• Do long-term planning.
• Seek professional advice.

Tip: An overnight deposit account offers short-term security and protects against impulsive spending.

Why not spend it all?

It’s tempting to spend large sums quickly. But studies show that many people who suddenly become rich lose their wealth within a few years. The main reasons are ill-considered purchases, lack of investment expertise and rising fixed costs from an elevated standard of living. A well-thought-out plan is essential to secure and grow your wealth in the long term.

Example: An acquaintance immediately bought himself a sports car. After a few months he had to sell it at a loss because the running costs exceeded his budget.

The best strategy: 70% real estate, 30% capital markets

With a million euros you can pursue a balanced investment strategy that combines security and growth. The 70:30 rule has proven itself: 70% in real estate for stability and 30% in liquid investments for flexibility and returns. This combination allows you to stay flexible in the short term while profiting in the long term.

Investing 70% in real estate

Real estate provides a solid foundation for wealth preservation. It is inflation-proof and offers long-term appreciation. With €700,000 you can invest in multi-family houses or condominiums that generate stable rental income and offer tax advantages.

Advantages of real estate:

• Stable appreciation in good locations.
• Protection against inflation through rising rents.
• Tax-free profits after ten years.

Example: With €100,000 in equity and a bank loan of €400,000, you can acquire a property worth €500,000. The rental income covers the loan costs.

More information can be found here: Should you invest a lottery win in real estate?

30% in ETFs and other capital investments

You should invest the remaining €300,000 flexibly to diversify your portfolio. ETFs, shares and commodities like gold are ideal forms of investment, offering both security and return potential. ETFs allow you to invest broadly in international markets, while high-dividend shares generate additional income. Some also use currency trading.

Suitable forms of investment:

• ETFs for broad diversification and solid returns.
• Shares with stable dividends and growth potential.
• Gold as inflation protection and crisis hedge.

Tip: Choose ETFs such as the MSCI World or S&P 500 for broad market coverage.

Comparison: real estate vs. overnight deposits

How does real estate compare to overnight deposits? Real estate offers higher returns in the long term and, through the leverage effect, enables significantly stronger wealth accumulation. Overnight deposits offer short-term security but cannot keep up with the returns and appreciation of real estate.

Simplified example – leverage means you contribute €1 million in equity (20%) and your bank finances 80%, a full €4 million. That brings you to a total investment sum of €5 million. If you have a track record, perhaps even already own real estate, your equity share will reduce significantly. With full financing you only pay the purchase-related costs, and with 110% financing you don’t even have to invest a single euro of your own.

Invest instead of squander

Whether your wealth arose from an inheritance or a lottery win: 1 million euros requires a smart strategy. With the 70:30 rule, you combine secure real estate investments with flexible capital investments. Real estate offers stability and regular income, while ETFs and shares enable growth and diversification. With professional advice and a long-term perspective, you secure your wealth and maximise its potential.

More tips and information can be found here:

• Inherited money? Step-by-step guide
• Should you invest a lottery win in real estate?

Frequently asked questions about investing 1 million euros

How much interest does 1 million euros earn?

At a safe interest rate of 3.5 percent (overnight deposits, government bonds), that’s €35,000 a year — before capital gains tax. With a mixed strategy (real estate + ETFs + bonds), €50,000 to €70,000 p.a. is realistic. Crucial: avoid concentration risk and secure liquidity.

How much real estate should you hold with a million euros?

Classic recommendation: 30 to 40 percent in real estate (€300,000–400,000), the rest in liquid investments. This corresponds to a high-quality condominium as a capital investment in a German A-city, combined with an ETF portfolio and an overnight deposit reserve.

Should you invest 1 million euros all at once?

No — cost averaging over 12 to 24 months significantly reduces timing risk for ETFs. For real estate, market entry is possible year-round. Important: keep 3 to 6 months’ salary as a cash reserve. Independent financial advice (fee-based advisor) is strongly recommended at this amount.

The German rental market found a new equilibrium in 2026 — at a structurally higher level. According to Immowelt market data for Q1 2026, the nationwide average asking rent stands at 12.96 euros per square meter. That corresponds to an increase of around 4.2 percent year-on-year — and is thus clearly above the general inflation rate.

For investors holding existing properties or considering new acquisitions, this figure should not be viewed in isolation. It is the result of a structural imbalance: too little housing meets growing demand in economically strong urban centres. This lays the foundation for further rent increases.

The front-runners: Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin

Germany’s most expensive rental markets are concentrated in three metropolises, whose rent levels are reaching new record highs in 2026:

• Munich: 19.79 euros/m² — Munich thus remains the undisputed front-runner. Anyone looking for a 70-square-metre apartment pays an average of 1,385 euros in cold rent per month.
• Frankfurt am Main: 19.75 euros/m² — almost on par with Munich, and a clear sign of the strength of Frankfurt’s financial-market ecosystem as a rent driver.
• Berlin: 17.98 euros/m² — the capital has recorded the strongest relative increase of any German major city over the past five years. In 2019, Berlin’s average was still below 12 euros.

It is worth noting that these figures represent asking rents — i.e. what landlords advertise. In-place rents under existing tenancies are, on national average, around 25–30 percent lower, which explains the structural pressure for rent adjustments whenever tenants change.

Second tier, first-place growth rates: Leipzig and East German cities

The dynamics in second-tier cities are particularly striking. According to empirica-regio data for 2025/2026, Leipzig recorded a rent increase of 12.7 percent year-on-year — the highest figure among German cities with more than 400,000 inhabitants.

Behind this lies a relocation dynamic: those priced out of Munich or Frankfurt do not move to the countryside, but to more affordable major cities. Leipzig, Dresden and Erfurt benefit from this search behaviour and are increasingly developing their own scarcity patterns.

For investors, this means: the most attractive rental yields in 2026 no longer arise in the most expensive markets, but at the growth margins — cities with catch-up potential on rents but rising demand from inward migration.

Why rents will not structurally fall

Demand remains stable: Germany’s cities are growing in population, household size is decreasing (more single-person households), and urbanisation continues. On the supply side, the housing construction crisis is having its full effect: in 2023, only 295,000 dwellings were completed, and fewer than 200,000 are expected for 2025.

The German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne puts the annual housing need at 400,000 new units. The gap between need and completions is 2026 as large as it has been in decades. Even if the construction industry picks up again within 24 months, this will only affect supply from 2027/2028 onward.

Rent forecast: +3.5 to 5 percent in metropolises for 2026

Leading market analysts expect a further rent increase of 3.5 to 5 percent on annual average in 2026 for the major metropolises. This forecast is based on three factors:

1. Supply gap: completions in 2026 clearly below need
2. Index-linked rent adjustments: many current contracts are indexed — at an inflation rate above 3 percent, this triggers automatic rent increases
3. Loss of social housing: more social-housing commitments expire each year than are newly created

The new 2026 tenancy law reform (Miete II) will partly dampen this dynamic, in particular by capping index-linked rents once CPI growth exceeds 3 percent. However, the structural effect is likely to remain limited.

What this means for investors

A 4 percent rent increase on an existing portfolio equates to a direct yield gain without any capital outlay — provided the rent-increase potential is actually realised. The decisive differentiation in 2026 lies between:

• New-letting rent vs. in-place rent: the gap is 25–30 percent. Turnover or vacancy creates considerable re-letting gains.
• Prime vs. B/C locations: while Munich and Frankfurt show high absolute levels, growth cities like Leipzig deliver higher rates of increase.
• Furnished vs. unfurnished: furnished lettings are largely exempt from the rent brake and rent cap — a regulatory advantage that still applies in 2026, but will be limited in future by the new rule (max. 10 percent furnishing surcharge).

Anyone buying a property today benefits, with a stable holding strategy, from a rental market that will structurally remain tight for the foreseeable future. The question is not whether rents will rise — but by how much, and in which markets.

The EY Real Estate Trend Barometer 2026 is the most important annual investor survey of the German real estate market. The result for 2026 is clear: 84 percent of investors surveyed name residential real estate as their preferred asset class — the highest figure since the survey began.

For comparison: in 2021, at the peak of the office real estate boom, this figure stood at 67 percent. The shift toward residential is not a short-term reaction to a market downturn, but a structural reassessment of risk and return.

In second place comes logistics with 57 percent — also a sign of the times: e-commerce and nearshoring are structurally driving demand for logistics space. Office real estate, on the other hand, is favored by only 38 percent of investors in 2026 — a dramatic decline from pre-COVID levels.

JLL Q1 2026: subdued activity — but selective, not pessimistic

The actual transaction data paints a more nuanced picture. JLL reports subdued transaction volume for Q1 2026 — no large transactions above 500 million euros, hardly any forward-deal closings for new-build projects, and reluctance around project-development investments.

But that doesn’t mean pessimism: it means selectivity. In 2026, institutional investors are scrutinising deals more closely. The transactions that do close are concentrated on:

• Standing assets with stable rental income in prime locations
• Residential portfolios with short remaining lease terms (rent upside potential)
• Micro-apartment concepts and student housing in university towns
• Care/nursing real estate as a demographically secured segment

Prime vs. B-locations: the decisive differentiation in 2026

The most important investment decision in 2026 is not a question of asset class, but of location. The market is running at two speeds:

Prime locations (top cities, best micro-locations)

Prices have fully offset or exceeded the downturn. Net initial yields of 3.0–3.8 percent for residential real estate are accepted because rental growth and value stability are seen as secure. Institutional investors pay premiums of 10–15 percent over the median.

B-locations and peripheral areas

Higher yields (4.5–6.5 percent net initial yield), but also higher risks: possible rent stagnation, higher vacancy risk in an economic downturn, weaker exit options on resale. Institutional investors largely avoid these segments; the private investment market remains active here.

For large-volume investments from 10 million euros upward, a prime-location focus is essential — liquidity and exit options are severely limited in B-locations.

Why residential beats office and retail in 2026

The persuasive case for residential over other asset classes rests on four structural advantages:

1. Demand resilience: Housing is not an optional good. Remote work, recession, digitalisation — nothing reduces the underlying demand for housing.
2. Supply deficit as a permanent condition: With 1.4 million missing housing units, there is structurally no oversupply in sight.
3. Short terms, high rental flexibility: Residential leases are open-ended, and rent adjustments upon tenant turnover are possible immediately. Office landlords, by contrast, commit for 5–10 years.
4. Manageable regulatory risk: Despite tenancy law reform, the core return from ordinary residential letting remains largely protected from a regulatory standpoint.

Outlook: what institutional investors will do next

The subdued Q1 2026 activity is expected to pick up in the second half of the year. Market observers anticipate a revival of the transaction market once the first ECB key-rate cuts have pushed forward rates down further and sellers have finally adjusted their price expectations to the new interest-rate environment.

The capital is there — European open-ended real estate funds, insurers and pension funds have earmarked significant allocations for German residential real estate. The 2026 market is waiting for the right entry points. Selective and data-driven — not opportunistic.