New York ↔ Los Angeles
The transcontinental leg, flown nonstop in both directions on the two longest-legged aircraft in the fleet.
2,129 NM
Great-Circle Distance
4h 24m
Fastest Block Time
2 of 5
Fleet Types Nonstop
TEB → VNY
Primary Airports
A private jet from New York to Los Angeles covers about 2,129 nautical miles and blocks from 4h 24m nonstop on a Citation X. Teterboro Airport (TEB) to Van Nuys Airport (VNY) — 2,450 statute miles, inside the nonstop range of the Citation X and the Challenger 350.
New York to Los Angeles is the route where aircraft choice stops being a matter of comfort and becomes a matter of whether the trip happens in one leg. It is the longest domestic pairing most travellers fly regularly, and it is the one where the westbound and eastbound flights are meaningfully different journeys rather than mirror images. Getting it right means matching the aircraft to the harder of the two directions, not the easier one.
Flight time
A private jet from New York to Los Angeles is airborne for about 4h 03m and blocks from 4h 24m 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 | 2,129 NM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citation CJ3+ | Light Jet | 6 | — | 1 fuel stop |
| Citation Excel / XLS | Midsize | 8 | — | 1 fuel stop |
| Citation X | Super-Midsize | 8 | 4h 24m | Nonstop |
| Challenger 350 | Premium Super-Midsize | 8 | 5h 06m | Nonstop |
| Cessna Grand Caravan | Turboprop | 8 or 9 | — | 2 fuel stops |
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 New York to Los Angeles normally use Teterboro Airport (TEB) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY), 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Teterboro Airport (TEB / KTEB) | Teterboro, NJ | The default business-aviation field for Manhattan, 12 miles from Midtown. |
| Westchester County Airport (HPN / KHPN) | White Plains, NY | Serves Westchester, Fairfield County and northern Manhattan. |
| Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU / KMMU) | Morristown, NJ | Northern and western New Jersey, without the Teterboro slot pressure. |
| Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP / KISP) | Ronkonkoma, NY | The practical field for Long Island and the East End. |
| 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. |
Only two aircraft in the fleet reach Los Angeles from New York without stopping: the Citation X and the Challenger 350. The leg is longer than the published maximum range of the Citation CJ3+ and the Excel/XLS, so those aircraft are planned with a fuel stop in either direction rather than dispatched marginal. Among the two that do fly it nonstop, westbound is the constraining direction: flown against a winter jet stream it takes materially longer and burns materially more fuel than the same leg eastbound, which is why the aircraft is matched to the harder direction rather than the easier one.
New York ↔ Los Angeles
Cost
flyExclusive prices New York to Los Angeles 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 4.4 to 5.1 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 New York to Los Angeles privately saves time on the ground, not in the cruise, and on a leg of 2,129 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 | Teterboro Airport (TEB) | Nearest major hub |
| Time in the air | 4h 03m | 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
Demand is steadier here than on the leisure routes, because the traffic is largely business and entertainment rather than seasonal. The predictable compressions are the awards run from January to March, the upfronts in May, and the first week of the new year westbound. Winter is the operationally interesting season: the jet stream strengthens, westbound headwinds add time and fuel, and the aircraft that flies it comfortably in July is not automatically the aircraft that flies it nonstop in January.
Teterboro and Van Nuys are both dedicated business-aviation fields with private terminals at each end, so the ground time on a six-hour trip is no longer than on a one-hour one. Against a commercial transcon out of JFK, that difference compounds: the airline itinerary spends roughly three hours on the ground for six in the air.
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 New York to Los Angeles is airborne for roughly 4h 03m and blocks from 4h 24m on the quickest aircraft in the fleet, the Citation X, flying Teterboro to Van Nuys in still air. Westbound in winter, headwinds routinely add thirty to sixty minutes; the eastbound return is correspondingly quicker.
Yes, on the right aircraft. The great-circle distance from Teterboro to Van Nuys is about 2,129 nautical miles. In the flyExclusive fleet the Citation X and the Challenger 350 fly it nonstop in both directions year-round. That distance is beyond the published maximum range of the Citation CJ3+ and the Excel/XLS, so both are planned with a fuel stop on this route whichever way they are going.
The default transcontinental pairing is Teterboro to Van Nuys, both dedicated business-aviation fields close to their city centres. Westchester County and Morristown are the New York alternates; Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach are the Los Angeles alternates, and Burbank is usually the shorter drive to downtown Los Angeles and the studios.
flyExclusive quotes New York to Los Angeles per trip. On a transcontinental leg the two largest cost drivers are the aircraft required to fly it nonstop and the direction of travel, because a westbound winter crossing burns more fuel and more crew duty time than the same leg eastbound. Passenger count, baggage and how far ahead the trip is booked account for most of the rest.
In the air the two are close, and on a bad winter day an airliner cruising higher and faster can be quicker. The saving is the three hours a commercial transcontinental itinerary spends on the ground at JFK or Newark, and the fact that a private departure from Teterboro can be moved by a few hours on the day without rebooking anything.
Route facts on this page last reviewed .
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Teterboro to Van Nuys, nonstop, with the working day intact at both ends.
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