PRIVATE jet travel has taken off in Queensland, with the super-rich shelling out tens of thousands to fly in comfort.

About 100 planes a month are being chartered out of Brisbane airport double the 2009 figure with private air travel now rated the fastest growing form of aviation by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

With charter rates ranging from $4000 to $11,000 an hour, the main customers tend to be mining companies and multi-millionaire businessmen.

Adagold Aviation director Stuart Lee said the resource sector accounted for about 70 per cent of their business, which was booming.

“We’re seeing about 150 aircraft movements through our Brisbane base a month,” Mr Lee said. “(Private jet travel) used to be a status symbol but now it’s a business tool.”

He said a mining company director needing to visit several operations could quite easily do that in a day on a private jet, when the same schedule would take several days on commercial flights.

Queensland’s richest man, Clive Palmer, who owns two jets and three helicopters, said the only reason he had them was to “do more in less time”.

“We can do more business,” Mr Palmer said. “Often you’ll find going through security and the airport takes as long as the flight does.”

He said there had been a “lot of deterioration” in the standard of airline service since the demise of Ansett.

“The airlines have gone down the drain in the last five years. Flights aren’t as frequent, the service isn’t as good, you waste a whole day just going to Sydney and back,” Mr Palmer said.

Barry Graham, from JetCorp Australia, said the market for pleasure trips was also on the increase as “high net-worth individuals” shelled out for private charter flights to exotic destinations.

“We’re already getting queries and bookings for Christmas from people getting the dates and aircraft they want,” Mr Graham said.

“For a flight to South-East Asia you’re looking at anything from $85,000 up to $200,000, and for Europe the cost is around $380,000.

“It’s all relative if you’re a billionaire or a multi-multi-millionaire. They see it as they work themselves to death during the year, then during playtime they kick back and enjoy the benefits.”

He said the increasing popularity of private air travel was a “healthy sign” for the economy that the most affluent were allowing themselves this luxury.