Class overview
Super-midsize jet
Close to heavy-jet range and cabin size, at a lower hourly rate. Fast, quiet, and happy to fly long legs without a fuel stop.
- Passengers
- 8–10
- Range
- 5,300–7,400 km
- Cruise speed
- ≈ 850 km/h
- Best for
- Transcontinental flights in full comfort
Transcontinental comfort without airliner size. A super-midsize like the Challenger 350 offers a flat-floor, stand-up cabin and the range to fly non-stop across Europe or into the Middle East — great for eight or nine travelling together.
We don’t own the jets — we source them. With access to 4,500+ aircraft, we pick the exact tail that fits your route, your group and your budget. These are estimated from-prices per flight hour, to give you a sense of cost. Your exact quote depends on the aircraft, route and dates — just ask.
The aircraft
Aircraft in this class
Pick a model to see its cabin, range and indicative hourly rate. We source the exact tail that fits your trip.
In detail
In practice
Super-midsize is where an aircraft stops being a European tool and becomes an intercontinental one. Four types carry the class here: the Bombardier Challenger 350, the Cessna Citation Sovereign, the Embraer Legacy 500 and the Embraer Praetor 600. Eight to ten seats, 5,300 to 7,400 km, around 850 km/h, from about €5,800 per flight hour. The trade is heavy-jet reach and cabin at a lower hourly rate, in a smaller airframe that still uses the airports you want. The band is unusually wide, so the class name tells you less than the specific aircraft does — the difference between its ends is 2,100 km. Avily owns no aircraft; we charter from operators across Europe, and here the individual tail decides the trip. Also written super mid-size, and occasionally sold as a small heavy jet; what the label actually covers is the four aircraft below.
Who charters a super-midsize jet
Eight or nine people on a leg a midsize cannot hold: London to Dubai, Geneva to Almaty, Milan to Riyadh, Zurich to Mumbai, and — on the Praetor 600 — London to New York without a stop. Six to nine hours in the air, long enough that the cabin, not the schedule, becomes the point.
That is why three of the four here have a flat floor and a 1.83 m cabin you can walk down upright, with the Challenger 350 the widest at 2.19 m. The Citation Sovereign is the exception and the reason to read the specifications rather than the class name: 1.73 m measured down a trenched aisle, 1.68 m wide, no flat floor. It is the cheapest way into the class and the one to check before a long night sector.
Against a midsize, and against a heavy jet
Midsize starts at about €4,000 an hour, super-midsize at about €5,800. That €1,800 is the biggest step on the ladder, and it buys distance rather than seats: 5,300 to 7,400 km against 4,250 to 5,200, plus cabin width, in-flight baggage access on most of the class, and a cabin altitude low enough to matter on a nine-hour leg.
Heavy jets start at about €7,500, another €1,700 an hour — and their range band, 5,200 to 7,400 km, is the same as this one. What the money buys there is volume and seats: ten to fourteen passengers, a cabin you can partition, and space to sleep properly. If eight people need to cross a continent, super-midsize is the efficient answer. If twelve do, or the cabin has to work as a bedroom, it is not.
Why the band runs 5,300 to 7,400 km
The Sovereign sits at the bottom and the Praetor 600 at the top, and the spread between them is the most useful fact on this page. It also hides a measurement problem: Cessna quotes the Sovereign at full fuel and maximum take-off weight, where payload is 543 kg — five or six people — while Bombardier and Embraer quote four passengers with NBAA reserves. The two ends of our own band are not measured the same way, so compare aircraft, not brochures.
Full-cabin figures settle it. The Sovereign realistically plans 4,600 to 4,800 km with nine aboard. The Challenger 350 holds roughly 5,450 to 5,600 km, the Legacy 500 about 5,300 to 5,500. The Praetor 600 publishes a seats-full range of 6,956 km — a loss of under 500 km, the best retention in the class.
What moves the price
Positioning, crew duty and season work as lower down the ladder, but the numbers are larger and duty binds sooner: past about six hours in the air, a second crew or a night stop often decides the quote. Landing and handling fees scale with weight, so the same route costs more here than on a midsize before a litre of fuel is counted.
Airport access and fitment vary by tail. The Challenger 350 is steep-approach certified for London City, though the modification is retrofitted and confirmed per aircraft; the Sovereign's approval is newer (2017) and not carried by every tail, so it too is confirmed per aircraft. Cannes-Mandelieu at 1,610 m and Samedan at 5,600 ft mean weight limits rather than a refusal. Wi-Fi is standard on none of the four — Ka-band is common on Praetor tails and often absent on European Sovereigns — so we confirm it before quoting.
Frequently asked questions
- Super-midsize or heavy jet?
- The range bands overlap almost exactly — 5,300 to 7,400 km here, 5,200 to 7,400 for heavy — so the extra €1,700 an hour buys cabin, not distance: ten to fourteen seats instead of eight to ten, and room to sleep. For eight people crossing a continent, super-midsize is the efficient choice.
- Which of these is transatlantic?
- The Praetor 600 is the one marketed as flying London to New York non-stop, and westbound it remains wind- and payload-dependent. The Challenger 350 and Legacy 500 cross eastbound comfortably and usually need a stop westbound. The Citation Sovereign is not a transatlantic aircraft; treat it as a European and Middle East tool.
- Can I stand up in the cabin?
- In three of the four, yes. The Challenger 350, Legacy 500 and Praetor 600 all have flat floors and 1.83 m of height. The Citation Sovereign does not: 1.73 m measured down a dropped centre aisle, and 1.68 m wide, the narrowest cabin in the class. It is worth knowing before a six-hour leg, not after.
- How much range do we lose with every seat sold?
- It varies more than the class band suggests. The Praetor 600 publishes 6,956 km with the seats full, under 500 km off its headline. The Challenger 350 and Legacy 500 give up roughly 300 to 500 km. The Sovereign is the weakest trade: plan 4,600 to 4,800 km with nine aboard rather than 5,300.