Return to Answer

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation series of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon series of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as the maximum Mach for its Challenger series.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or in how much of a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93) together with the Gulfstream G650/G700/G800 (Mach 0.925). The former is anyway no more in production and the latter, according to Wikipedia, have a market share of some 13%. So those high Mach values are more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 and the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to all the other business jets. Yes, sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real?) max speed, so this is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the Gulfstreams). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• the wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ all of those business jets have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passengers).

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation series of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon series of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as the maximum Mach for its Challenger series.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or in how much of a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93) together with the Gulfstream G650/G700/G800 (Mach 0.925). The former is anyway no more in production and the latter, according to Wikipedia, have a market share of some 13%. So those high Mach values are more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 and the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to all the other business jets. Yes, sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real?) max speed, so this is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the Gulfstreams). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• the wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ many of those business jets (especially Citations and Falcons) have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passengers).

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation series of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon series of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as the maximum Mach for its Challenger series.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or in how much of a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93), but that's more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 and the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to all the other business jets. Yes, sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real) max speed, so this is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the next generation). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• the wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ all of those business jets have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passengers).

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation series of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon series of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as the maximum Mach for its Challenger series.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or in how much of a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93) together with the Gulfstream G650/G700/G800 (Mach 0.925). The former is anyway no more in production and the latter, according to Wikipedia, have a market share of some 13%. So those high Mach values are more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 and the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to all the other business jets. Yes, sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real?) max speed, so this is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the Gulfstreams). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• the wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ all of those business jets have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passengers).

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation serie of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon serie of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as maximum Mach for its Challenger serie.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or how much in a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93), but that's more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 or the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to the one of all the other business jets. Yes sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real) max speed, so here is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the next generation). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ all of those business jets have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passenger).

cruise speed of many business jets... will be somewhere in the Mach 0.90 to Mach 0.94 area.

• All of the Cessna Citation series of business jets have a maximum speed (in Mach) of 0.8.

• All of the Dassault Falcon series of business jets have a maximum speed of 0.85 to 0.9 with a "long range" cruise speed of 0.8.

• Bombardier lists 0.83 as the maximum Mach for its Challenger series.

So most of the current business jets actually fly at the same or even at a lower speed than any modern jetliner (Mach 0.85; 0.9 for the Dreamliner), no matter how rich or in how much of a hurry the VIP on board is (btw, this answer gives a very nice explanation about why Mach 0.85 is the sweet spot for jetliners).

That I know only the Citation X lists a higher maximum speed (Mach 0.93), but that's more of an exception than the rule: even the ultramodern Pilatus PC-24 and the HondaJet have a maximum speed comparable to all the other business jets. Yes, sure, the next generation of business jets is being advertised with incredible max speeds just slightly smaller than Mach 1 but then next to it there's printed a more plausible Mach 0.85 as cruise (real) max speed, so this is more the marketing department at work and not physics.

How can business jets cruise so much faster than airliners in the transonic regime?

They don't. And they can't (again, except the Citation X or the next generation). To reduce transonic drag as much as possible, one or more of the following aerodynamic tricks has to be used:

• the wing is swept of a couple of tens of degrees $\rightarrow$ all of those business jets have an almost straight wing for ease of manufacturing;
• use of thin airfoils for the wing $\rightarrow$ according to this answer Cessna has used airfoils with a quite high 12 to 14% thickness; this gives higher max $C_l$ and fuel volume but at the expense of a higher drag;
• area ruling $\rightarrow$ doesn't seem to have been implemented in any of those business jets and a straight wing definitely plays against it.

In terms of speed, the real gain of a business jet is actually the much shorter "rest of the flight other than cruise" phase: no need to get to the airport two hours before the flight, no queue at the check-in, no queue at the gate, no queue for boarding and so on. This saves a couple of hours per flight. Plus, obviously, one can fly whenever and wherever wanted (and without any stinky fellow passengers).