Private jet travel takes off in Hollywood amid pandemic

When veteran producer Bill Mechanic begins filming his latest movie, "The Divide," in Australia later this year, he knows he will have to charter a private jet to fly out his lead actor.

Under normal circumstances, that would be out of the question. Typically, for a limited budget indie feature, all the cast and crew — even the stars — fly commercial, which is substantially cheaper.

But the Oscar-nominated producer is willing to pay the extra costs to fly the actor (whom he declined to identify) from Los Angeles to Australia to reduce the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak on set.

"That becomes, even on a tight budget, something you don't fight, since if your stars tested positive, then you'd be shut down," said Mechanic, a former Fox and Disney executive. "There's more money lost ... not being smart. Penny-wise, pound-foolish sort of thing."

It's not only A-list celebrities who are demanding private flights. Increasingly, requests for use of such perks is coming from a wider group of cast and crew nervous about getting infected with COVID-19 while traveling on commercial flights, or because direct routes have been suspended as a result of the pandemic-related collapse in travel.

Some studios and producers have balked at the demands for private jet travel at a time when many are facing additional financial pressure brought on by new safety measures intended to prevent coronavirus outbreaks.

But, like Mechanic, many are willing to compromise because of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the health crisis.

"We initially lost a lot of business due to cancellations but ended up booking more than twice as many flights in 2020," said Richard Zaher, chief executive and founder of Paramount Business Jets, a Leesburg, Va.-based charter broker that arranges private jet flights, including out of Los Angeles.

Zaher, 46, estimates that sales more than doubled over the last year, to more than $25.5 million in 2020.

He attributes at least some of that to entrepreneurs, corporations and wealthy individuals who had never flown privately before but now do so because of the pandemic.

Zaher says the entertainment industry accounts for a small but growing share of his sales.

At the end of December, a production company filming a Super Bowl commercial decided to charter a private plane to transport the crew and stars from L.A. to Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wis., Zaher said.

One studio client wanted to lease a private jet to transport COVID-19 test samples, while another celebrity client used private jets so her assistant could travel from L.A. to visit family in December, he added, without naming his clients.

The hourly cost of renting a private jet varies from $2,000 to $10,000, Zaher said.

Flying from Van Nuys, Calif., to Teterboro, N.J. — one of the most popular routes — costs $26,000 to $32,000 one way, depending on the plane, said Zaher. Flying private can cost at least five times as much as flying commercial, he added.

Studios are already nursing billions of dollars in losses from pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020. COVID-19 has meant productions can take longer, as working hours are now limited on set under new safety measures agreed upon with unions. These also require productions to pay for the additional costs for testing and sanitization of sets and gear. That can add $1 million to a regular movie budget.

While flying private may seem like an extravagance, the downside of a key crew member such as a director or actor getting COVID-19 is an extremely costly production shutdown, which can lead to losses exceeding $100,000 a day.

With big budget films, requests to fly private are not unusual. Warner Bros. flew Keanu Reeves by private jet to the "Matrix 4" shoot in Berlin last summer, according to person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to comment. A representative for Reeves declined to comment.