Los Angeles ↔ Las Vegas
A one-hour hop that replaces a four-hour drive across the Mojave, and turns a two-day trip into an evening.
199 NM
Great-Circle Distance
44 minutes
Fastest Block Time
5 of 5
Fleet Types Nonstop
VNY → LAS
Primary Airports
A private jet from Los Angeles to Las Vegas covers about 199 nautical miles and blocks from 44 minutes nonstop on a Citation X. Van Nuys Airport (VNY) to Harry Reid International (LAS) — 229 statute miles, inside the nonstop range of every aircraft flyExclusive operates.
Los Angeles to Las Vegas is the shortest trip on this list and the one where private aviation changes the day most completely. The drive is four hours before traffic and closer to six on a Friday. The airline option costs an hour in the air and three hours around it. A private departure from Van Nuys is airborne in minutes and on the ground in Las Vegas in about the time it takes to reach Barstow by road, which is why this pairing runs as day trips in a way that longer routes never do.
Flight time
A private jet from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is airborne for about 23 minutes and blocks from 44 minutes on the quickest aircraft in the fleet, the Citation X. The table gives the block time for every aircraft type flyExclusive owns and operates on this leg, and which of them fly it without stopping.
| Aircraft | Class | Passengers | Block time | 199 NM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citation CJ3+ | Light Jet | 6 | 50 minutes | Nonstop |
| Citation Excel / XLS | Midsize | 8 | 49 minutes | Nonstop |
| Citation X | Super-Midsize | 8 | 44 minutes | Nonstop |
| Challenger 350 | Premium Super-Midsize | 8 | 48 minutes | Nonstop |
| Cessna Grand Caravan | Turboprop | 8 or 9 | 1h 26m | Nonstop |
How these figures are produced. Block time is great-circle distance divided by published cruise speed plus 21 minutes for taxi, climb and descent. Actual block time varies with routing, winds, weight and ATC. Nonstop calls below apply a 15% allowance to published maximum range to cover IFR reserves, an alternate, and typical winds. It is a planning figure, not a dispatch figure. Block time is shown only for aircraft that fly the leg without stopping: on the others it would exclude the time on the ground at the fuel stop and read as a trip time it is not. Range figures are the maximums flyExclusive publishes on each aircraft page. The Citation CJ3+ cruise figure is the one flyExclusive publishes on its own aircraft page. The other four are manufacturer-published high-speed cruise. Maximum range is flown at long-range cruise rather than high-speed cruise, so on a leg close to an aircraft's range limit the two figures cannot both apply; where they would conflict, the nonstop call is the one to trust.
Airports
Private flights from Los Angeles to Las Vegas normally use Van Nuys Airport (VNY) and Harry Reid International (LAS), both dedicated business-aviation fields close to their city centres. These are the alternates at each end, and when each one is the better call.
| Airport | Location | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Van Nuys Airport (VNY / KVNY) | Van Nuys, CA | The San Fernando Valley field and the busiest general-aviation airport in the United States. |
| Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR / KBUR) | Burbank, CA | Closest to the studios and to downtown Los Angeles by road. |
| Long Beach Airport (LGB / KLGB) | Long Beach, CA | Orange County and the South Bay. |
| Santa Monica Airport (SMO / KSMO) | Santa Monica, CA | Westside and the beach cities. Short runway; light aircraft only. |
| Airport | Location | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Reid International (LAS / KLAS) | Las Vegas, NV | On the Strip's doorstep, with dedicated private terminals. |
| North Las Vegas Airport (VGT / KVGT) | North Las Vegas, NV | The reliever field when Harry Reid is at capacity on event weekends. |
| Henderson Executive Airport (HND / KHND) | Henderson, NV | South of the Strip, and the quietest of the three on a busy weekend. |
Because the leg is so short, the aircraft choice is driven almost entirely by cabin and baggage rather than by range: every aircraft flyExclusive operates covers it comfortably, including the Grand Caravan turboprop. Groups travelling with golf bags or show freight are usually better served by the Citation XLS or Challenger 350 for baggage volume rather than by anything faster.
Los Angeles ↔ Las Vegas
Cost
flyExclusive prices Los Angeles to Las Vegas per trip rather than from a published fare, because the number moves with the aircraft, the date and whether the aircraft has to reposition to collect you. These are the four things that move it most, in the order they usually matter.
What is not a variable is the flying itself. This leg is 0.7 to 1.4 occupied hours depending on the aircraft, and that figure is on this page whether or not anyone publishes an hourly rate against it.
Why flyExclusive quotes rather than publishes. flyExclusive owns and operates its own aircraft rather than broking someone else's, so a quote is priced against real availability in the fleet on your date instead of against a market rate. That is also why the answer to “what does this route cost” is a number for your trip and not a fare on a page.
If you fly this route repeatedly, the relevant comparison is not a single charter but a Jet Club deposit or a Fractional share, both of which fix the hourly rate ahead of the trip.
Private vs commercial
In the air the two are closer than most people expect. Flying Los Angeles to Las Vegas privately saves time on the ground, not in the cruise, and on a leg of 199 NM the ground is where the hours are.
| On this route | Private | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| Arrive before departure | About 15 minutes | 90–120 minutes |
| Security queue | None | Yes |
| Departure airport | Van Nuys Airport (VNY) | Nearest major hub |
| Time in the air | 23 minutes | Comparable |
| Change the departure time | Same day, no rebooking | Fare rules apply |
| Arrival ends at | The aircraft steps | Baggage reclaim |
Commercial figures are typical published guidance for a domestic departure from a major hub, not a measured average. The private figures describe a departure from a dedicated business-aviation terminal.
Planning
The route runs year-round with sharp event spikes rather than a season. CES in early January, the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, and championship fight weekends each compress a week of demand into two days and fill ramp parking at Harry Reid before they fill lift. Summer brings a different constraint: Las Vegas afternoon temperatures above 43C degrade takeoff performance, so mid-July departures are often planned for early morning or after sunset.
Van Nuys is the busiest general-aviation airport in the United States and has the private-terminal capacity to prove it. Harry Reid sits on the Strip's doorstep with dedicated private terminals of its own, so the transfer at the Las Vegas end is measured in minutes. On event weekends Henderson Executive and North Las Vegas take the overflow and are frequently the faster arrival despite the longer drive.
The fleet
Every aircraft below is owned and operated by flyExclusive, maintained by our own technicians and flown by our own crews. Block times are for this leg.
A private jet from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is airborne for roughly 23 minutes and blocks from 44 minutes on the quickest aircraft in the fleet, the Citation X, flying Van Nuys to Harry Reid. On a leg this short the taxi, climb and descent are a large share of the total, so the spread between a light jet and a super-midsize is only a few minutes.
Private flights out of Los Angeles normally use Van Nuys, Hollywood Burbank or Long Beach, and arrive at Harry Reid International, Henderson Executive or North Las Vegas. Van Nuys to Harry Reid is the default pairing; on event weekends Henderson Executive is often the quicker arrival because it is not competing for ramp space.
flyExclusive quotes Los Angeles to Las Vegas per trip rather than from a published fare. On a leg this short the price is driven less by flying time than by aircraft availability on the date, by whether the aircraft has to reposition into Southern California to collect you, and by whether an event weekend has already absorbed the local fleet.
The case is strongest for a group and for a same-day return. Four people driving spend eight to twelve hours on the road across the two legs; the same four flying privately spend about two and a half hours in total and keep the working day. Against a commercial ticket the saving is the three hours spent at LAX rather than the hour in the air.
Yes, and so can every aircraft flyExclusive operates. The great-circle distance from Van Nuys to Harry Reid is about 199 nautical miles, which is inside the range of even the Grand Caravan turboprop. Range is never the constraint on this route; the schedule is.
Route facts on this page last reviewed .
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Wheels-up from Van Nuys. On the Strip before the drive would have cleared Barstow.
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