On Special Report, the Fox News nightly newscast with Bret Baier, there is a segment called Common Ground. The host interviews elected representatives from the Republican and Democratic political parties who have found an issue they agree on and are working together to pass bipartisan legislation.
The idea is that even in today’s world of divisive politics, there are some problems that warring legislators can agree on. Business aviation now has a potential partner in Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Sanders has been under fire for his use of private jets for his Fighting Oligarchy tour.
The Washington Free Beacon, citing campaign filings, reports Sanders spent $221,723 chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025.
Friends of Bernie Sanders also spent $63,830 on commercial airline tickets.
There was $41,000 on lodging.
Event production cost $248,240.
The New York Post reported the cost of Sanders’ charter jet at $15,000 per hour.
That infers roughly 15 hours of private flights.
In fact, the tour included stops in Omaha, Nebraska, Iowa City, Iowa, Kenosha and Altoona, Wisconsin, Warren, Michigan, North Las Vegas, Nevada, Tempe, Arizona, Greeley, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, Tucson, Arizona, Los Angeles, California, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nampa, Idaho, Folsom and Bakersfield, California, and Missoula, Montana, before winding down in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
It was probably a lot more than 15 hours and a good number of events were in April and May.
Sanders was challenged by Baier about using a private jet for his the tour.
He called flying by private jet “the only way to get around.”
“You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week…the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people. You think I’m gonna be sitting in a waiting line at United…while 30,000 people are waiting?” Sanders told Baier.
He concluded, “No apologies for that. That’s what campaign travel is about. We’ve done it in the past. We’re gonna do it in future.”
News Night on CNN discussed the Baier interview with Sanders.
Their host, Abby Phillip, noted, “(Sanders) is going from rally to rally. I’ve covered a lot of campaigns, and everybody flies private, including the press, because you cannot make those stops commercial.”
Former Biden-Harris National Coalitions Director Ashley Allison added, “That’s the American dream—to start out in the middle class and go up the economic ladder.”
She added flying privately is “a means to an end because he has to get a lot of places.”
Allison also noted Sanders’ hypocrisy.
She told fellow CNN panelists, “I think when you’re saying there should be no billionaires, well, billionaires fly on private jets.”
While former NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd took issue with Sanders’s defense of his private usage, the fact is that criticizing people who can afford to fly privately for doing so is the same as criticizing somebody for driving their car to work instead of walking three miles, taking a bus and a subway, and spending more half their life commuting.
Door-to-door time savings (69%) compared to airlines is the top reason private aviation flyers spend the money to fly privately.
This was followed by being able to use more convenient airports (52%) and not having nonstop flights (46%).
It’s worth noting that 35% fly privately to save time versus long trips in the car.
In fact, 89% of private aviation users surveyed by Private Jet Card Comparisons use scheduled airlines and private jets.
We can only hope that Senator Sanders and some of his colleagues, who have used private jet travel as a lightning rod to make their points about wealth inequality, social programs, and tax policy, will focus future commentary on substance instead of hyperbole.
After all, according to Climbing.Fast, an industry advocacy group, business aviation supports over 1.3 million jobs per year in the U.S. alone.
Private aircraft connect more than 5,000 airports compared to less than 500 by scheduled airlines.
The same aircraft politicians use also fly thousands of relief flights annually. These flights bring aid and medical services to places that would be hard to reach by road or that airlines don’t serve.
Moreover, private aviation is also the expressway for time-sensitive life-saving organ transplants.
Sanders has long been an advocate of American workers.
Perhaps one of the aircraft manufacturers or major flight providers will invite Sanders to visit their plants and facilities to meet some of the 1.3 million people who make the private jets fly.
Perhaps, they will may find some common ground.