Taylor Swift's Private Jet: Inside the Falcon 7X and the Eras Tour Flights

Taylor Swift flies a Dassault Falcon 7X, a long-range business jet built in France. During the Eras Tour, her jets flew over 178,000 miles in one year, according to flight tracker Jack Sweeney. That made her the most tracked and most talked-about private jet owner in music.

This article looks at the jet as an aircraft: what it can do, why it suits a world tour, what it costs to fly, and the two rows around it. One is about emissions. The other is about whether the public should be able to follow it at all.

Which jets does Taylor Swift own?

For years Swift owned two jets, both from Dassault Aviation:

• Dassault Falcon 900LX: a three-engine jet for up to about 14 passengers, with a range of about 4,750 nautical miles. This is the jet with the number 13 painted near the door, her lucky number. She was born on 13 December.
• Dassault Falcon 7X (N621MM): a larger three-engine jet for up to 16 passengers, with a range of about 5,950 nautical miles.

In February 2024, Business Insider reported that she had sold one of the two jets and kept the Falcon 7X. That left one long-range aircraft to cover the international legs of the tour.

Aircraft	Range	Passengers	Engines	Best for
Falcon 900LX	4,750 nm	Up to about 14	3 Honeywell TFE731-60	US and short international trips
Falcon 7X	5,950 nm	Up to 16	3 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307A	Long trips across oceans

Why a Falcon 7X suits a world tour

A stadium tour has an odd flying pattern. Shows end late at night, the next city can be a continent away, and the crew and close team need to leave quickly. The Falcon 7X fits that pattern well.

Range. At 5,950 nautical miles, the 7X can fly Tokyo to Los Angeles or London to Singapore without a fuel stop. The older 900LX would need a stop on many of those routes.

Three engines. Most business jets have two engines. Dassault's big Falcons have three. Long flights over water are allowed for twin jets too, but some owners like the extra margin of a third engine on ocean crossings.

Small airports. The 7X can use shorter runways than an airliner. That lets the team land at quieter business aviation airports and their FBOs, away from crowds at the main terminal.

A cabin you can sleep in. A 7X cabin is usually split into three areas: a front lounge, a dining or work area, and a rear area that can be fitted with a bed. Dassault offers a galley and a full washroom, and many owners add a shower. The exact layout of Swift's jet has not been published, so any detailed "inside look" is a guess based on how the type is usually fitted.

The Super Bowl flight

The flight that made headlines came in February 2024. Swift played a show in Tokyo on Saturday 10 February, then flew across the Pacific to reach the Super Bowl in Las Vegas the next day, where Travis Kelce was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The flight covered roughly 5,500 miles. Crossing the date line helped: she landed in the US on the same calendar day she left Japan. Flight trackers showed the jet landing at Los Angeles first, before the short hop to Las Vegas. It is a good example of what the Falcon 7X's range makes possible: one long leg, no fuel stop in between.

How far the jets fly

Jack Sweeney, a student who tracks celebrity jets using public data, estimated that Swift's two jets flew about 178,000 miles in 2023. That was the first year of the Eras Tour, which ran from March 2023 to December 2024 with 149 shows on five continents.

To put 178,000 miles in context:

• It is about seven times around the Earth.
• At a typical business jet cruise speed, it works out to roughly 350 to 400 hours in the air.
• It includes tour flights, crew and positioning flights, and personal trips. Not every flight carried Swift.

That last point matters. A jet often flies empty to pick someone up or to return to base. Tracking shows where the aircraft went, not who was on board.

What it costs to run a Falcon 7X

The price of the jet is only the start. A Falcon 7X costs several thousand US dollars per flight hour to run once you add fuel, crew, maintenance, insurance and hangar space. A jet flying 350 or more hours a year can cost well over US$1 million a year before the purchase price.

Used Falcon 7X jets sell for a wide range of prices, depending on age, hours and cabin. Many owners and operators manage costs by placing the jet with a charter operator, who flies it for other clients when the owner is not using it. There is no public sign that Swift does this.

The emissions row

In 2022, the UK marketing firm Yard ranked celebrities by private jet emissions. Swift came first, with about 8,293 tonnes of CO2 from 170 flights. Yard said that was about 1,184 times the yearly emissions of an average person.

Her team pushed back hard. They said the jet was often lent to other people, so the flights were not all hers. Still, the number stuck and was repeated across the press for the next two years.

Ahead of the Eras Tour, her team said she had bought more than double the carbon credits needed to cover her tour travel. Critics, including writers at Skift, pointed out that the quality of carbon credits varies a lot, and that buying credits does not cut the fuel the jet burns.

The aviation answer is simple. A large business jet burns roughly 1,500 to 2,000 litres of fuel an hour. Per passenger, that is far more than a seat on an airliner, because the airliner splits its fuel across 150 to 300 people. Sustainable aviation fuel is the most likely way to cut that number over time, but supply is still small.

The fight over tracking her jet

Every jet flying in US airspace broadcasts its position by ADS-B, a system that helps air traffic control and other aircraft see it. Anyone with a cheap receiver can pick up the signal, and sites like ADS-B Exchange and FlightAware collect it from thousands of receivers worldwide.

Jack Sweeney uses that data to run automated accounts that post where celebrity jets fly. In December 2023, Swift's lawyers sent him a cease-and-desist letter. They said the posts put her safety at risk and gave stalkers a map. The letter became public in February 2024.

Sweeney said he only shares public information, and that his posts did not show where Swift lived or was staying. He kept the accounts running.

It was not his first such fight. In 2022 he tracked Elon Musk's jet with an account called @ElonJet. Musk offered him US$5,000 to stop, which he turned down. After Musk bought Twitter, the account was suspended in December 2022. Sweeney moved it to other platforms.

Can an owner hide a jet?

Partly. In the US there are two main tools:

• LADD (Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed): the FAA asks flight tracking companies that use its data not to show the aircraft. It does not stop the jet's own ADS-B signal, so hobby receivers still see it.
• PIA (Privacy ICAO Address): the jet broadcasts a temporary code that is not linked to its registration in public databases. It makes tracking harder, but trackers can sometimes match the code to the jet over time.

Owners also register jets through trusts or companies so their name is not on the record. None of these steps hide a jet that is photographed at the airport with its tail number in view.

Why celebrities fly private at all

For a touring artist, a private jet is less about luxury and more about logistics and security:

• Timing: leave right after a show, at midnight, from an airport close to the stadium.
• Security: no public terminal, no crowds at the gate, a small and known group on board.
• Routing: fly direct between tour cities that airlines connect badly or not at all.
• Rest: sleep on board on long legs, which matters across a two-year tour.

The critics' answer is that some trips, such as short domestic hops, could be made on airlines. That debate is not going away, and it now covers every celebrity whose jet can be tracked.

Frequently asked questions

What private jet does Taylor Swift have?

A Dassault Falcon 7X, registration N621MM. It has three engines, seats up to 16 and can fly about 5,950 nautical miles without stopping.

Did Taylor Swift sell one of her jets?

Yes. In February 2024 Business Insider reported that she had sold one of her two Dassault jets and kept the Falcon 7X.

How many miles did Taylor Swift's jets fly?

About 178,000 miles in 2023, according to estimates by flight tracker Jack Sweeney. That figure covers both jets and every flight they made, not only flights with Swift on board.

Why is 13 on Taylor Swift's jet?

Thirteen is her lucky number. She was born on 13 December, and the number is painted near the door of her Falcon 900.

Sources

• Business Insider, "Taylor Swift quietly downsizes to one private jet", February 2024
• Mercury News, "Taylor Swift's two private jets flew 178,000 miles in 2023", April 2024
• Harper's Bazaar, "Everything we know about the Taylor Swift private jet drama", 2024
• Skift, "Taylor Swift bought carbon credits for her private jet. Do they work?", February 2024
• Dassault Aviation, Falcon 7X and Falcon 900LX specifications