VistaJet has turned the private jet into the ultimate membership programme—close encounters with Formula 1 luminaries included.
The Wajer tender pulls away from Port Fontvieille and, for a few seconds, we are surrounded by spray and open water. We round the bay beneath the Oceanographic Museum, built into the rock, before slowing as we enter Port Hercule. As we weave between the superyachts inside the marina, an expectant silence falls, shattered moments later by Formula 1 cars tearing through the harbour circuit, close enough that you feel them as much as hear them. We make our way towards Liquid Sky, a 47 m superyacht transformed into a floating private club for Scuderia Ferrari during the 2026 Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Grand Prix de Monaco. Moored beside the track with a direct view of the iconic harbour chicane, it offers one of the most dramatic vantage points in motorsport.
Onboard, guests move between a Pernod Ricard tasting and a SkinCeuticals treatment station while qualifying plays out on screens beside glasses of Champagne. At one point, a few feet away, Scuderia Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur discusses the session ahead as though this were the most natural place in the world to spend an afternoon. Watching from the water, the Grand Prix no longer feels like a spectator event. For a couple of hours, you become part of it.
This is more than Grand Prix hospitality. The afternoon forms part of VistaJet’s Private World, available to members of its private aviation programme. VistaJet has built its business around the promise of access.
Founded in 2004, the company offers the advantages of private aviation without aircraft ownership. Members gain privileges to its global fleet without buying a jet of their own. The company calls its membership the ‘Program’. Members commit to a number of flying hours each year and, in return, are guaranteed an aircraft with as little as 24 hours’ notice, almost anywhere in the world, at a fixed hourly rate. Those flying between 25 and 49 hours annually can opt for VJ25 (the entry-level membership), while larger organisations have access to Corporate membership with additional hours and benefits. Individual charter flights are also available through VistaJet Direct.
Flight experience
Bombardier is one of VistaJet’s principal aviation partners, ensuring that members encounter a consistent cabin experience whether boarding in Nice, New York or Riyadh. Indeed, VistaJet’s collection of planes is the largest privately owned fleet of Bombardier business aircraft in the world, spanning the super-midsize Challenger family and the ultra-long-range Global series. And VistaJet continues to invest heavily in its line-up. Earlier this year, the group announced an order for 40 Challenger 3500 aircraft, with options for a further 120, while earlier Global 7500 purchases are being retrofitted to the newer Global 8000.
Our aircraft for the journey from London to Nice was the flagship of the roster: Bombardier’s Global 7500, one of business aviation’s most capable long-range jets. Its range is around 7,700 nautical miles, allowing it to fly from Nice to Hong Kong—but the figures quickly become secondary once the cabin door closes. The Global 7500 has four distinct living spaces, including a lounge, a dining and conference area, and a private suite with a full-sized bed. It also features a full galley and Bombardier’s Nuage swivel seats, alongside cabin technology designed to minimise jet lag.
VistaJet has devoted as much attention to life onboard as the aircraft themselves. Through its Private Dining programme, members can request dishes from 7,000 restaurant partners worldwide, while Cabin Hosts receive training from institutions such as the British Butler Institute and the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. To mark its 20th anniversary in 2024, the company introduced ‘Culinary Gems in the Sky’, a collection of 20 destination restaurants whose signature dishes can be served at 45,000 feet. The list includes Hong Kong’s two-Michelin-star Tin Lung Heen, Singapore’s three-star Les Amis and Langosteria Paris at Cheval Blanc.
Among them is Mirazur in Menton. Chef Mauro Colagreco’s three-Michelinstar restaurant has long drawn diners with menus inspired by the lunar calendar and produce grown in its hillside gardens. VistaJet passengers departing from Nice can also preorder a selection of Mirazur dishes to enjoy onboard, extending the experience of the Côte d’Azur into the journey home.
Beyond air time
VistaJet’s experience-led approach also shaped our Monaco Grand Prix itinerary, supported by its network of top-tier partners on the ground. Guests were collected from home by chauffeur before boarding a Global 7500 at Farnborough, UK, for the flight to Nice, where a Bentley Bentayga Speed was waiting on the tarmac for the drive to Les Terrasses d’Èze. Over the following days, the programme moved between some of the Riviera’s best-known addresses: cocktails with F1 driver Charles Leclerc at Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, dinner at La Môme, an evening at Château de la Chèvre d’Or and lunch at Mirazur, reached by Wajer tender from Beaulieu-sur-Mer. The Monaco Grand Prix brought everything together.
Standing aboard Scuderia Ferrari’s yacht, it became obvious that the real luxury was not the view. Throughout the weekend, intimate conversations with key figures from the team, including principal Fred Vasseur and Charles Leclerc, arose naturally away from rope lines and autograph queues, revealing the proximity available to VistaJet members.
Indeed, VistaJet increasingly resembles a private members’ club, combining guaranteed access to aircraft with a wider programme of experiences. The flight remains central, but it is only part of what membership provides. This is most evident in Private World, which spans more than 600 partners across travel, hospitality and lifestyle. Its calendar ranges from The I.C.E. St. Moritz concours to private islands, yachts, sought-after hotel stays and cultural events, alongside experiences created exclusively for members. Most recent additions include Bentley Speed Society’s Transfagargasan Experience, tennis’s Legends Team Cup and the Monaco Yacht Show, of which VistaJet is now an official sponsor.
Back on the Scuderia Ferrari yacht, the F1 cars thunder through the harbour once more as guests gather on the aft deck, cheering for Charles Leclerc as his machine glides around the chicane. The aircraft may have brought everyone to Monaco, but the memories were made after landing.
