Jeff Bezos owns a hangar and three private jets worth over $100 million. The smallest is registered to a firm specializing in privacy enhancement.
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Like most billionaires, Jeff Bezos often flies around the world, and having his own planes lets him save time and improve his security.
The world's second-richest person owns three private jets, according to public records seen by Business Insider and data from JetSpy.
Two of them are Gulfstream G650ERs, which cost around $65 million each. The G650ER is a popular choice for the world's richest people — Elon Musk and Bill Gates also own one — thanks to its long range and high speed.
From Bezos' home in Miami, the G650ER can fly as far as Cape Town, Dubai, and Beijing, according to Gulfstream's website. Only Australia and southeast Asia would necessitate a fuelling stop.
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The range is slightly reduced if it's traveling at its top speed of Mach 0.90, equivalent to 690 miles per hour. But the 22-seater can still fly for an impressive 7,365 miles. There aren't many other private jets on the market that allow for a more than 10-hour flight.
Bezos also owns a Piltaus PC-24 with the tail-number N194PJ, according to data from JetSpy. The light business jet with 10 seats was manufactured in 2020 and usually costs about $9 million. But with a maximum range of 2,200 miles, it would need a fuel stop to travel between Bezos' Miami home and Amazon's Seattle HQ.
Proving Bezos' ownership of the jets isn't simple. JetSpy's data lists Bezos as the operator of the PC-24, although it's registered with the Federal Aviation Administration under a company called TVPX Aircraft Solutions.
TVPX's website says it provides trust services for US business aviation, either due to rules on citizenship or for "privacy enhancement."
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The two Gulfstreams are registered to a holding company called Poplar Glen LLC, per the FAA registry.
BI found Washington state records from the firm's creation in 2004 which say it is owned by Bezos. The manager was listed as Zeffram LLC, another of Bezos' holding companies. In the most recent records, Poplar Glen's governor is listed as Paul Dauber, one of Bezos' attorneys.
Bezos bought a Dassault Falcon 900EX the same year as Poplar Glen's creation. According to the manufacturer's website, a pre-owned one costs around $10 million.
Taylor Swift also used to own a Falcon 900 until she sold it in January. According to FlightAware, Bezos sold his in 2015.
The same year, Poplar Glen paid $5.5 million for a hangar at Boeing Field in Seattle, according to property deeds seen by BI. The Puget Sound Business Journal first reported the sale.
Those documents show it was owned by Costco, and measures nearly 18,600 square feet. A sales brochure for the space, Hangar H-1, is still visible online.
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Bezos then bought his first Gulfstream G650ER in 2016. It's registered as N271DV — the number previously used by his Falcon 900EX.
The Amazon founder's second Gulfstream jet was purchased in 2019, and registered as N758PB. It has newer Rolls Royce engines than his other jet, providing a couple hundred extra pounds of thrust, per FlightAware.
If you try to look up these jets on Flightradar24, you'll see that they can't be tracked. That's because the site uses some data from the FAA, which lets jet owners protect their privacy by signing up for the "Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed" program.
However, these planes can still be tracked via sites like ADS-B Exchange, built on a network of plane enthusiasts and institutions with receivers that detect aircraft signals. ADS-B Exchange's data is used by Jack Sweeney, the college student who was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 after tracking Musk's jet.
Bezos has also taken the extra step of reserving 36 other N-Numbers which aren't in use, per the FAA registry. Some of these, like 271EV and 271DX, resemble his Gulfstreams' N-Number, so they could help maintain his security.
