Passenger charter out of Salt Lake City runs across 135 aircraft in eleven categories, from a three-seat single up to an airliner carrying a hundred and seventy. The right one is decided by how many people are traveling, how far, and what the airports at both ends will take.
Categories and Hourly Rates
Rates below are industry hourly ranges across the aircraft we list in each category as of 10/2026. Every individual aircraft page carries its own rate, specifications and gallery.
- Piston Aircraft: 9 aircraft, $800 to $1,800 per hour
- Helicopters: 6 aircraft, $1,200 to $5,000 per hour
- Turboprops: 15 aircraft, $1,500 to $3,500 per hour
- Very Light Jets: 8 aircraft, $2,000 to $4,700 per hour
- Light Jets: 16 aircraft, $3,000 to $5,500 per hour
- Super Light Jets: 6 aircraft, $3,500 to $5,800 per hour
- Midsize Jets: 11 aircraft, $4,000 to $6,500 per hour
- Super Midsize Jets: 13 aircraft, $5,500 to $9,500 per hour
- Heavy Jets: 17 aircraft, $6,500 to $11,500 per hour
- Long Range Jets: 17 aircraft, $10,000 to $18,500 per hour
- VIP Airliners: 17 aircraft, $8,000 to $45,000 per hour
Choosing a Category for a Salt Lake City Trip
Under about ninety minutes, a turboprop or a piston twin often lands closer to where you are actually going than a jet does, and Catalina Island can only be served by them. Between ninety minutes and three hours, light and super light jets do most of the work. Past three hours the cabin starts to matter more than the hourly rate, which is where midsize and heavy aircraft earn their cost. For the Pacific Rim and Europe, only the long range category goes nonstop.
Group size helps us narrow our options to present. Nine passengers rules out most light jets on baggage before it rules them out on seats. When the group consists of more than nineteen passengers the aircraft required would fall into regional airliner, or airliner-size, and the trip would no longer fall under the FAR Part 135 standards but possibly operate under FAR Part 121 or foreign equivalent standards.
Vetting Behind Every Trip
Every operator, aircraft, and crew goes through our internal due diligence before we present any options. Our internal standards meet or exceed what the FAA requires:
- FAR Part 135 charter operators for traditional private aircraft, or FAR Part 121 for airliner-size and group trips (or the foreign equivalent on international legs)
- Operator subscription to Wyvern and ARGUS reviewed where the operator participates.
- Pilot experience and operator incident history reviewed before we recommend an aircraft.
- Fewer than 60 brokers worldwide hold Premium Wyvern Broker Member status, and Air Charter Advisors is one of them.
Salt Lake City Patterns We Plan Around
A few things shape charter availability out of Salt Lake City more than anything else. The first is the ski season, which runs December through March and puts steady pressure on the resort fields as well as on the city. A February request made in November is a very different market from the same request made the day of. The second is elevation and weather. Every field along the Wasatch Front sits above 4,200 feet and Heber Valley Airport (KHCR/HCR) is higher than that, so on a warm afternoon the thinner air lengthens the takeoff roll and can cost payload or range on a fully loaded aircraft. In winter a departure may include de-icing, which the airport reports takes eight to ten minutes for frost and 20 to 40 minutes for snow, and the valley inversion produces ice crystals that are hard to see. The operator confirms the performance figures for your aircraft on your date. The canyon roads are the other half of the plan: they are among the most weather-affected in Utah and the Cottonwood canyons close for avalanche control, so we treat the drive as part of the trip rather than a detail to settle later.
Contact
For a passenger charter quote in or out of Salt Lake City, call 1-888-987-5387 or use our contact page. See our safety page for the vetting behind every trip and the aircraft directory for cargo and medical options. The National Business Aviation Association sets the broader operating standards we work within.
The hourly rates provided are estimates based on 2026 market data and are for informational purposes only. These figures are subject to change and do not constitute a final offer. Final pricing is dynamic and depends on real-time factors including, but not limited to, specific itinerary requirements, aircraft positioning (“ferry” fees), fuel price volatility, and current market availability. These estimates exclude all applicable taxes, de-icing, landing and handling fees, special event fees, international surcharges, overnight crew expenses, and premium catering. Please contact Air Charter Advisors directly for a firm, all-inclusive quote tailored to your specific travel needs.