We are always trying to connect the world, says VistaJet’s Leona Qi

opinion

by Fayaz Hussain

June 11, 2026

A VistaJet aircraft takes off or lands more than 100 times a day somewhere around the world. At the time of writing, there are 30 VistaJet aircraft in the air, connecting destinations from Cairo and Istanbul to London, Hong Kong and Washington.

Leona Qi, President of VistaJet US, oversees sales activities for the US region – the largest business aviation market globally and VistaJet’s biggest individual market. Her day-to-day reaches well beyond the office. Three weeks ago, she was having dinner with Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc, one of VistaJet’s customers.

But high-stakes networking and complex operations are nothing new for Qi. Before joining VistaJet in 2016, she held roles at Guggenheim Partners and BNP Paribas before co-founding Global Jet Capital, a specialist aviation finance business.

Now she splits her time between London and New York.

“I started my career on Wall Street in sales and trading,” she tells Corporate Jet Investor. “I worked on a lot of asset-backed financing for over 10 years. Alongside two colleagues from Guggenheim, I founded Global Jet Capital, a company that financed private aviation.”

It was through that role that she first encountered VistaJet. “I got to meet the VistaJet chairman and founder, Thomas Flohr. VistaJet at the time had 30 aircraft but had placed a historical order to grow the fleet – this was 2015. I was very compelled by the VistaJet model and story, because at the time, VistaJet wasn’t really in the US.” She joined as President of Vista Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, before taking over the US market in 2018.

More than a decade on, VistaJet has grown exponentially.

“We as a company are always trying to connect the world. That’s our number one priority. Wherever the business or economic growth is in the world, that’s fundamentally where our customers are going and we provide connectivity to them,” Qi says.

VistaJet released the Wealth Report alongside Knight Frank highlighting where the growth for private aviation is coming from. We sat down with Leona Qi to discuss VistaJet’s growth over the years and regions where she sees demand coming from.

Africa–Asia corridor: ‘Long-term growth’

Vista added Africa to its service zone two years ago and the logic for that expansion is evident in the results. The company’s Africa–Asia corridor grew 42% in 2025, according to The Wealth Report issued by Knight Frank. But Qi is keen to dispel any notion that tourism is behind the surge.

“I want to emphasise this because it’s not a short-term tourism spike in terms of why people are going to Africa. The specific Asia–Africa corridor is more structural. It’s based on economic growth as well as economic investment,” she says.

China’s long-term investment across the African continent – spanning mining, energy and infrastructure – has been a significant driver of demand. Qi believes this makes the trend “long-term, more structural” rather than cyclical. Asia Pacific, meanwhile, is also recovering strongly after being one of the regions with the most restrictive COVID-era shutdowns, adding further momentum to the corridor.

VistaJet’s fleet decisions reflect these realities. The operator recently took delivery of the Global 7500, which Qi says, “could connect the two continents.” The busiest city pairs include Hong Kong and Singapore to South Africa, Congo and Kenya.

The client base in the region extends beyond the boardroom. “We are not only flying the business elites to and from the African continent, but also flying some of the government representatives,” Qi notes.

New money: ‘Downshift in customer age’

Strong corridor growth aside, one of the most telling structural shifts in business aviation is demographic. Nearly half of VistaJet’s first-time flyers are now under 45, a trend Qi attributes directly to the pace of wealth creation in the technology sector.

“If you look at the wealth creation through tech in the past five years, wealth has been created very quickly. That’s why you see a downshift in terms of customers’ age,” she says.

This generation, Qi argues, has a fundamentally different relationship with luxury. Many of the younger founders built their own companies – think Airbnb, think Uber – on a model that prioritises access over ownership. That mindset carries over into how they fly.

“They look at luxury less about a position, but more about access. A lot of them are flying with Vista because we’re providing exactly that. We’re asset-free; we own our fleet, we take away the risk of owning the assets, the depreciation and the operational headache,” she says.

The contrast with older money is sharp. Traditional clients – C-suite executives at Fortune 100 companies, for example – often already own aircraft and use VistaJet as supplemental lift for peak demand or international legs where their own fleet lacks the range. Younger clients, by contrast, tend to rely on VistaJet as their sole aviation solution.

“A lot of the newer, younger generations – we are their sole solution. They don’t believe in owning an asset as much as the last generation of wealth. This is the most distinct shift, because truly access is the new luxury for the under-45s,” Qi says.

Differentiation: ‘Not just a logistics company’

As more players enter private aviation, VistaJet’s strategy rests on two pillars. The first is the idea that a flight is an extension of the passenger’s life, not an interruption to it. This philosophy informs everything from the installation of Galileo Wi-Fi across the fleet to programmes covering kids’ entertainment, wellness and private dining.

“We want to make sure that we are not just a logistics company, but very much a hospitality company. It’s an extension of their lifestyle – in the air and on the ground. That’s why we’ve set up Vista Houses around the globe wherever our customers’ passion points are. If they’re interested in racing or golf, we set up Vista House there so they can connect with other members,” Qi says.

The second pillar is safety and operational consistency. VistaJet’s US operating partner, Vista America and VistaJet Limited in Europe were the only operators to win the Diamond Safety Award from IASA this year.

“When an American passenger takes a flight to another part of the world, they understand that the consistency in terms of service and safety follows them. It’s a brand they can trust. We are truly the only global aviation company connecting them with the rest of the world,” she says.

UK–UAE: ‘Region will ultimately bounce back’

Beyond Africa, the UK–UAE corridor has been another standout performer, driven by a significant outflow of wealth from London into the Gulf. Knight Frank’s report shows VistaJet’s operated flights between Riyadh and Jeddah rose 269% following the company becoming the first foreign operator permitted to fly domestically inside Saudi Arabia.

“Through Vista Global Holding, we have our headquarters in DIFC in Dubai and we’ve been working in the region for a very long time with different government authorities. Last year, we were the first foreign operator to be allowed to fly inside Saudi Arabia,” Qi says.

The pattern of demand is nuanced. Some clients have relocated family members from the Gulf to the UK or elsewhere due to geopolitical uncertainty but remain commercially active in the region – creating a sustained commuter dynamic. Qi is firm that this is not a seasonal phenomenon.

“The region will ultimately bounce back. They have a very determined government to make sure the region stays a global hub. That is why our headquarters are still there,” she says. VistaJet gave employees the option to leave, but the company itself remains firmly committed. “The real estate is still selling. The Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia – they’re building to compete with UAE. We’re always forward-looking and we’ve been investing in the region. That’s how we got ourselves in there first.”

South America: ‘Following demand’

Despite the US holding its position as the world’s pre-eminent business aviation market, South America – and Brazil in particular – is a market VistaJet has firmly in its sights. Flights between South America and Europe grew 28% in 2025, the Knight Frank report said. For now, however, Qi describes it as a market they are developing rather than fully serving.

“For South America, it’s very much like when we looked at Africa two years ago. We’re following demand where our customers are going. As of today, South America is not officially in our service zone, so when someone flies from South America, there is a 20% premium compared to our fixed flat rate around the world,” she explains.

The threshold for inclusion, as with Africa before it, is scale. VistaJet needs a sufficiently distributed customer base across the continent to ensure aircraft departing the region can immediately pick up the next customer, rather than repositioning empty. The company has built a growing client base in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and Qi is confident that inclusion in the service zone is a matter of when, not if.

The operational picture in South America is also more complex than it might appear. High-altitude airports, challenging terrain, and varying permit frameworks across countries require bespoke regulatory and pilot qualifications.

“Being a global company is very much about being local. When we entered India two years ago, we worked with the government because obtaining a certificate to operate there is very complex. South America is no different – it’s our job to understand that complexity and be operationally prepared before we commit to a customer,” she says.

Corridors to watch: ‘We will open a new market’

Looking further ahead, Qi points to the Global 8000 as the aircraft most likely to unlock the next wave of demand. VistaJet has already converted two Global 7500s to 8000s, with a further 16 conversions expected by year-end, bringing the total Global 8000 fleet to 18 by the close of 2026.

The extra range changes the competitive calculus significantly. Routes that previously required a technical stop – New York to Hong Kong, Los Angeles to Bangkok, New York to Tokyo or Seoul – will become viable as non-stop private flights.

“I definitely believe that we will open a new market. When you’re not direct, commercial first class becomes a very viable competitor. Air France, for example, flies São Paulo to Paris direct. The Global 8000 allows us to compete for that business,” Qi says.

The corridors she expects to emerge by 2028 are those enabled by this extended range: Southeast Asia to the US West Coast, East Coast US to the Middle East and East Coast US to North Asia. “You will see city pairs popping up that didn’t exist before, because now they’re direct,” she says.

Fleet & Bombardier: ‘Deliveries imminent’

The Global 8000 upgrade programme is one part of a broader fleet expansion relationship with Bombardier. VistaJet has placed a landmark order for 40 firm Challenger 3500s, with options for a further 120 – a potential total of 160 aircraft.

“The Challenger 3500 is the best-in-class super-mid aircraft on each continent. It will cover our regional growth for the next five to ten years. The first delivery is imminent,” she says.

Alongside the order, VistaJet has signed a Smart Parts agreement with Bombardier, securing maintenance support to keep aircraft utilisation high across every corner of its network.

The commitment to this OEM is a deliberate strategic choice, even if Qi is careful not to describe it as exclusive. VistaJet operates seven of its own maintenance centres, with trained technicians in the US and Europe, all built around a Bombardier core fleet.

“Historically, because of our first and second fleet orders back ten years ago, Bombardier aircraft became our core fleet. When you in-house maintenance, it’s better to work with one manufacturer. That said, if Gulfstream came in with a deal we couldn’t refuse, we’re not exclusive. But we have a very, very long-term business partnership with Bombardier,” she says.

For VistaJet, the investment across fleet, infrastructure and new regions ultimately serves a single purpose. “We as a company are always trying to connect the world,” Qi says. “Wherever the business or economic growth is in the world, that’s fundamentally where our customers are going.”

The under-45 founder who never wanted to own an aircraft was always going to need someone to take them there. VistaJet’s bet is that it built the network before the customer arrived – and that by the time the next wave of wealth creation produces its next generation of founders, the infrastructure will already be in place to serve them, too.