How The Rich Vote: Private Jets Are Taking Voters Home To Battleground States

The head of a company that books private jets says the number of reservations on the books for Nov. 1-3 is double what it was last year, and at least some of that travel is election-related.

Social restrictions enacted during the pandemic limit what the general public can and are willing to do on any given day. Wary of crowded ballot centers, millions of eligible U.S. voters have already pulled the lever for their favorite candidate, either by mail-in ballots or through early-voting.

Though for the affluent few, they’re just booking a private jet so they can vote where they want on Election Day. TMZ reports the friendly skies are crowded right now with the very, very rich.

Paramount Business Jets CEO Richard Zaher told the site that his company, a brokerage with over 15,000 private planes, has seen private air travel go up 100% for early November flights compared to 2019 bookings.

Adding insult to injury for the rest of us stuck-at-homers, Zaher said about a third of those flights are booked for international travel. Though some of the private air travel is related to voting, particularly in some battleground states, such as Florida.

Aviation company evoJets, which specializes in private charters, also revealed they have "several clients booking flights to their primary residences on Election Day, specifically to vote."

Both companies claim this level of bookings didn’t happen during the 2016 presidential election.

News of these private bookings come as most major airline carriers are reporting weak quarterly earnings during the pandemic as travelers shifted away from flying during stay-at-home orders.