In 1995, one of the first small-group wing, reimagining the fanciful adventure of fictional character Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days through the real-life luxury lens of a reconfigured commercial airliner. Organized by TCS World Travel and the American Museum of Natural History, the flight, which included a handpicked crew and rock-star scientists attached to the museum, revealed a thirst for long-distance, multi-week travel built around bucket-list itineraries.
The niche continues to mature, recently expanding into even more aircraft types and remote destinations. A half dozen providers fly long-haul jumbo jets, while other firms use midsize jets and even bush planes for visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites in China, Machu Picchu, Easter Island, and plenty of even harder-to-access hinterlands such as the Gobi Desert, Kazakhstan, and the Himalayas. Others loop through Scandinavia, South America, and Africa. TCS recently added Antarctica to one of its itineraries. “People want to be transformed,” says Jennifer Lew, vice president of product at TCS World Travel. “It’s about having the experience, not checking a box, as much as having something few can.”
The air-tour niche’s diversity in global experiences includes discovering ice caves in Antarctica.
Marko Prezelj
TCS runs its own trips for 52 clients while also operating journeys for the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience, which accommodates 48 passengers who often stay at its hotels along the way. The TCS Airbus A321s are 150-seat airliners morphed into luxury aircraft with lie-flat beds and top-tier wine and cuisine. The Four Seasons version includes a lounge. Abercrombie & Kent utilizes converted commercial jets for 48 and 50 guests, and the aircraft for its Small Jet Journeys carry 10 to 16 passengers. National Geographic Expeditions offers similar airborne voyages in converted Boeing 757s for 75 guests. Crew on the airliners typically include flight attendants, a physician, an executive chef, expedition leaders, experts, and a photographer.
A TCS safari in Tanzania.
Courtesy of TCS World Travel
“The luxury of flying better than first class in a private 757 is the biggest positive,” says Larry King, a private pilot based in Texas, who, with his wife, Judy, did his first group trip with National Geographic’s 21-day tour of Africa. The couple has flown their Citation M2 light jet on nearly a dozen multi-week trips outside the U.S., including a 72-day around-the-world adventure, but, impressed by the 757’s ability to cover multiples of his M2’s range in a fraction of the time, King decided to trade the stresses of the cockpit for a carefree and curated alternative with his wife and four friends.
“I wanted to hit the high spots while not missing anything, and not taking two months [to do it],” he says, calling the trip “near-flawless,” including the organizer’s ability to anticipate security concerns—one reason for shortlisting National Geographic. “You get on board, eat, sleep, and wake up… refreshed for your next adventure,” King adds.
Aman’s converted Airbus 319 redefines airborne luxury for just 16 passengers, with side-facing lounges and plenty of room to roam.
Joshua Holko
Aman Jet Expeditions promises even greater exclusivity, building trips for up to 16 guests aboard an Airbus A319 with lounge seating and expanded bathrooms. Accommodations are provided at Aman’s distinctive hotels. On the ground, each passenger or group gets its own chauffeured car and private guide. “We have a lot of celebrities and prominent people who wouldn’t want to do a group tour or be put in vans or large hotels,” says Catherine Heald, C.E.O. and cofounder of Remote Lands, Aman’s partner in organizing the trips.
The all-inclusive nature appealed to Blaine Adams and her husband, both financial advisers from Houston, who have taken three Aman Jet journeys and have a fourth scheduled for October. “We don’t do group travel,” Adams says, admitting her initial trepidation quickly gave way to relief because of the fluid, private nature of the Aman itinerary. “We love the ability to get off and have our own driver and guide. It was easy to move between doing things on your own and being with the group.”
Navigating Phuket’s crystalline cruising grounds.
Courtesy of Aman Resorts
Travel providers Blue Parallel and Sienna Charles tailor air journeys around anonymity and usually unheard-of access, such as private tours of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel or French wineries normally closed to the public. “We are particular about every single piece of the journey,” says Jaclyn India, founder and C.E.O. of Sienna Charles. “It’s not just a room in London, it’s the Library Suite at the Connaught.” Blue Parallel, meanwhile, infuses adventure into its private tours: ice-trekking on Patagonia’s Perito Moreno Glacier, dogsledding in Lapland or biking in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. As air transport makes the world smaller, more boutique air-travel operators are offering increasingly intimate and immersive forms of exploring it.
