Private jet from Los Angeles to the Maldives

Los Angeles to Malé is one of the longest trips a business jet can make: more than 15,500 km on the map, longer than any aircraft in our table can fly without refuelling. A private jet still makes it one journey in one cabin, with a landing for fuel instead of the airline connections a scheduled trip involves. Departures are from Van Nuys Airport in the San Fernando Valley, and the fastest jets reach Velana International Airport in 19 h 56 min with one stop.

The lowest guide price is €185,000 one way for the whole aircraft, in a Challenger 650 with two fuel stops; with a single stop, prices start at €245,000. Maldives Private Jet is a broker: we put your request to operators holding an Air Operator Certificate and send you the aircraft that fit.

Private jet prices from Los Angeles to Malé

Four jets are quoted from Van Nuys to Velana. Not one of them covers the route in a single hop. Three refuel once on the way (Falcon 7X, Gulfstream G650, Global 7500), and the heavy Challenger 650 refuels twice. Each row assumes a routing of 16,141 km including the detour to the fuel stop.

All figures are guide prices for the whole aircraft, one way, without passenger taxes and airport charges, which the quote lists separately. The Challenger 650 saves €60,000 against the Falcon 7X, but its second landing adds about two and a half hours to the trip, and the cabin has up to 12 seats rather than 14 or more.

Shared by a full cabin, the Global 7500 at €280,000 comes to €16,400 per person for 17 travellers, and the Gulfstream G650 to €15,900 each for 16.

A return from this far away needs planning. The aircraft can wait in the Maldives, with parking and crew accommodation in the quote, or fly back to its base and return for you, which means two more crossings of half the globe. On a stay of a week or two the operator prices both, and an aircraft already in the region for another client sometimes makes the second option cheaper. Prices for all departure cities are on our private jet prices page.

Prices from Los Angeles for every aircraft size

Which aircraft for Los Angeles? The table puts 6 of them side by side, with flight time and guide price. Every row assumes a departure from Van Nuys Airport.

Nothing in the table reaches Malé from Los Angeles without stopping; the Gulfstream G650 is quickest, 19 h 56 min with one fuel stop. At €185,000 the Legacy 650 is the cheapest, taking 22 h 57 min. Filled to its 13 seats, the Legacy 650 comes to €14,200 a head.

Price per person by group size

How much per person? Three aircraft from Los Angeles, one way, divided by group size; over capacity means the group would not fit.

The per-person figures exclude the US$960 that every private jet passenger pays when leaving the Maldives (US$7,680 for a group of eight).

Return flight and Empty Leg prices

A return trip from Los Angeles is priced as two separate flights: the aircraft takes you to the Maldives, leaves, and comes back for the journey home.

An Empty Leg on the same route usually costs 30 to 60% less than a charter, which for the Challenger 650 means roughly €74,000 to €129,000. Whether one comes up on your dates is uncertain, so ask for an alert on the Empty Legs page. A jet that waits in the islands costs parking and crew accommodation, and in the high season it often parks at Gan or Maafaru.

Leaving from Van Nuys

Van Nuys Airport, run by Los Angeles World Airports, is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, with more than 200,000 take-offs and landings a year and four fixed-base operators (private terminals) on the field. Its main runway of about 2,440 m (8,000 ft) has an instrument landing system and suits the long-range jets in our table, which leave with full tanks for the first sector.

A route across half the globe: stops and crew

The shortest line between Los Angeles and Malé runs north over Alaska and the Arctic, then south across Asia. The routing actually flown depends on the winds, the overflight permits and the airspace open to the aircraft. It can go east across the Atlantic with a stop in Europe or Turkey, or west across the Pacific with a stop in Asia; our table assumes a stop in Istanbul as an example, and the operator chooses the airport.

A trip of almost 20 hours goes beyond what a standard two-pilot crew may fly in one duty period, so operators plan extra crew for long sectors: on this route that usually means additional pilots resting on board in turns, or a fresh crew waiting at the fuel stop. Some clients prefer to break the trip with a night in a hotel at the stop; that adds about a day but lets everyone arrive rested.

Arriving in the Maldives

From Los Angeles the four Maldivian airports open to business jets differ by under 40 minutes of flying. The table prices the Global 7500 to each, with one fuel stop:

Most groups land at Velana International Airport, where passengers are driven to the VIP lounge and complete immigration there. After a trip this long, a resort in the North or South Malé atolls has an advantage: speedboats run around the clock and take 20-60 minutes. Seaplanes to Ari, Baa or Lhaviyani fly only in daylight. Maafaru in Noonu Atoll suits the northern resorts, while Gan serves Addu Atoll in the south. How the boats, seaplanes and domestic flights connect is explained on our page on transfers from the airport.

Documents and taxes for a flight from Los Angeles

Americans receive their tourist visa at the border in Malé, as travellers of every other nationality do: it covers up to 30 days and needs no application beforehand. What each passenger needs:

• a machine-readable passport that is still valid for at least one month on arrival (passports with extended validity are refused);
• the IMUGA traveller declaration, sent online within 96 hours before landing; for a trip of almost a full day, file it shortly before you leave;
• a confirmed, prepaid booking at a resort, hotel or guesthouse, confirmed travel out of the country and sufficient funds.

US charges on international departures, where they apply to the flight, are included in the quote, along with the fees at the fuel stop. Flying home from Malé by private jet costs every foreign traveller two Maldivian charges, a US$480 departure tax (waived for children under two) and an airport development fee of the same amount, so US$960 per head. A Green Tax of US$12 per person per day is charged by the resort.

Best season and booking from California

In the islands, December to April is the drier half of the year, brought by the north-east monsoon, and May to November the rainier one, under the south-west monsoon; the thermometer reads 25 to 31 °C in both. Seen from Los Angeles, the dry months are the Californian winter, and the peak dates are Thanksgiving week, Christmas and New Year, and the spring break.

Christmas and New Year are also the busiest weeks at Velana itself, with private-jet parking and landing permits in short supply. On a route that already needs overflight permits for several countries, send a request for these dates as soon as they are fixed.

Ways to make the trip cheaper

Send the dates, the number of travellers and the resort, and say whether a night at the stop is welcome:

Calendar for a private flight from Los Angeles

Weather in the islands, holidays at home and a practical departure time for Los Angeles: one row per month.

For planning: leave Los Angeles by 06:34 the day before in winter or 07:34 the day before in summer, local time; Malé does not change its clocks. Requests for April, July and December from Los Angeles should go in early.

Other departure points in North America and the North Atlantic

The table compares the lowest guide prices to Malé from other cities we quote in North America, plus Reykjavik on the way across the Atlantic:

Los Angeles to the Maldives: frequent questions

• • What does a private jet from Los Angeles to the Maldives cost?

  • The cheapest option is a Challenger 650 at €185,000 one way for the whole jet, with two fuel stops. With one stop the Falcon 7X costs €245,000, the Gulfstream G650 €255,000 and the Global 7500 €280,000. Taxes and charges come on top.

• • Is there a nonstop private flight from Los Angeles to Malé?

  • No. The distance is beyond the range of every business jet we quote, so at least one fuel stop is needed. The G650 and the Global 7500 need 19 h 56 min in total, the Falcon 7X 20 h 33 min.

• • Where does the jet stop for fuel?

  • The operator decides, depending on winds, permits and airspace. Depending on the routing, the stop can be in Europe, Turkey or East Asia.

• • Can the crew fly the whole way?

  • Not a single standard crew. Operators either carry additional pilots who rest on board or change crews at the stop. If you prefer, we plan a night in a hotel at the stop instead.

• • Which Los Angeles airport do the jets leave from?

  • Our prices are calculated from Van Nuys, the large general aviation airport in the San Fernando Valley. Louder jets cannot depart there between 22:00 and 07:00, which we take into account when planning the time.

• • Do Americans need a visa for the Maldives?

  • Not in advance. A tourist visa of up to 30 days is issued at the airport in Malé; the passport must be machine-readable and valid for at least another month.

• • How much luggage is allowed on the seaplane?

  • The business jet has plenty of room, but Trans Maldivian Airways takes 20 kg of checked luggage and 5 kg in the cabin per person; extra weight costs US$5 per kg plus taxes.