Private jet flight times from Amsterdam

Computed block times from Amsterdam Schiphol

Charter brokers quote flight times per trip, and rarely publish the underlying numbers. We computed them instead. The table gives an indicative block time — engines on to engines off — from Amsterdam Schiphol to 15 destinations, for each of the three jet classes we charter most.

How these numbers were calculated

The model is deliberately simple, so that anyone can check it with a calculator rather than take our word for it.

• Distance. Great-circle distance between the published reference coordinates of the two airports, using the haversine formula and a mean Earth radius of 3440.065 nautical miles.
• Routing allowance. Real airways are longer than a great circle. We add 6 per cent to approximate actual routing.
• Cruise speed. The published long-range cruise speed of each class's reference aircraft: 385 kt for the light jet (Embraer Phenom 300E), 405 kt for the midsize jet (Cessna Citation Latitude), 425 kt for the heavy jet (Bombardier Challenger 605). Long-range cruise is what operators plan with, not the marketing top speed.
• Ground and profile allowance. A fixed 27 minutes covers taxi-out, climb, descent and taxi-in, which are not flown at cruise speed.
• Range check. If the routed distance exceeds the class's published range, the cell reads "tech stop" instead of a time.

Results are rounded to the nearest five minutes, because presenting them to the minute would imply a precision the model does not have.

What the model does not include

Three things move a real block time away from this estimate. Winds aloft are the biggest: a strong westerly can cost fifteen minutes on an eastbound European sector and give it back on the way home. ATC routing around military areas or weather adds track miles. And payload matters — a full cabin on a long sector may force a lower cruise level or a slower speed.

What the model deliberately ignores is the part that makes private aviation quick. There is no check-in, no security queue and no boarding process; passengers commonly arrive fifteen minutes before departure at a private terminal. On the shortest sectors in this table, that ground-time saving is larger than the flight time itself.

Reading the table

Four of these destinations have their own route guides — London, Geneva, Nice and Ibiza — covering the airport choice, the season and the per-person cost that a table cannot. The same model, run for every circuit on the calendar, is in Formula 1 by private jet.

Two patterns stand out. First, the difference between classes is small on short sectors and only becomes meaningful beyond about 1,000 nautical miles — the classes differ by 40 knots of cruise speed, which is minutes rather than hours on a European hop (the same model run for a turboprop against a light jet shows how few). Second, range, not speed, is what actually separates them: the light jet reaches 14 of these 15 destinations non-stop, the midsize 14, and the heavy jet 15.

That is the practical takeaway when choosing an aircraft. If a light jet reaches your destination non-stop, the larger classes mainly buy you cabin space and luggage capacity. Once the sector passes the range limit, the choice is no longer about comfort: a technical stop costs roughly 45 minutes on the ground plus the detour, and usually erases the hourly-rate saving. Our cost guide covers what each class does to the price, and the class comparison lists the full specifications.

Airports used

Times are computed to the primary airport serving each city, listed with its ICAO code so the coordinates can be checked. On the departure side the same logic applies: our guide to Dutch airports for private jets covers which field gets you away fastest. For several destinations a smaller field is closer to where you are actually going, which can save more time on the ground than any aircraft saves in the air.