Great Wealth Transfer Could Reshape Air Charter Demand

An $84 trillion generational transfer of wealth, already underway, could push future aircraft buyers toward leasing rather than ownership, largely because of how capital gains taxes apply to owned assets, according to UBS Global Wealth Management chief economist Paul Donovan.

“Do you want to own assets like that, which might be subject to capital gains tax, or do you want to perhaps consider leasing them where capital gains tax does not apply and it comes out of income?” Donovan said today during a JIQ Fireside Chat webinar hosted by Richard Koe, managing director of WingX by JetNet. “All these sorts of questions will start to come in more and more.”

Donovan, who has worked at UBS for 34 years, said the wealth transfer is moving primarily from baby boomers to Generation X and older millennials, as well as laterally to surviving spouses. He predicted that within 15 years, women will control a majority of global wealth—a shift he said is likely to produce more research-driven purchase decisions because, in his view, women are less impulsive investors.

The discussion followed JIQ data presented by Koe showing that fractional and charter flying accounted for nearly all of business aviation’s 2026 growth in departures, up 9.9% and 4.3%, respectively, compared with only a 0.6% increase in owner-flown activity. Business aircraft backlogs remain above $60 billion, near decade-high levels, he noted.