When Peter van Dyk started his private jet service business nearly 30 years ago, it handled about six aircraft a year, mostly from the United States.

That had risen to almost two private jets a day, or about 45 to 50 aircraft at month at his Queenstown base alone.

It was getting busy before Covid-19 with travellers from places such as the US, China, Europe, and even Russia, but now the borders have opened, so have the floodgates.

“Since Covid, I think people have now realised that travelling on a commercial airliner with 200 or 300 other people isn’t a good idea,” said van Dyk, owner and chief executive of Capital Jet Services and Queenstown Corporate Jet Services.

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“Since July this year, when the borders opened, it’s just been nonstop flights coming into New Zealand, all tourism, mainly from the US.”

Whereas previously people might have flown commercially to New Zealand then chartered an aircraft to get around the country, now they are buying their own or chartering an aircraft the whole way.

To charter a jet from Los Angeles to Auckland for five people return would cost between US$207,000 (NZ$330,734) and US$455,000, depending on the aircraft model, according to New York-based private jet charter company Evojets.

That is still…