PeakJet Starts Zurich Flights Without an Airline License
PeakJet has launched semi-private flights from Zurich, offering individual seats on executive jets through a marketplace model.
Jishan Khan 
A Swiss Startup Just Invented a Third Category of Flying, and Charged CHF 1,525 for the First Seat
PeakJet completed its first commercial flight on August 1, 2026, Zurich to Palma de Mallorca on an Embraer Legacy 650, operated under VistaJet Germany's AOC with individual seats priced from CHF 1,525. The company is not an airline. It does not hold an AOC. PeakJet defines itself as a marketplace that aggregates and sells capacity on executive aircraft operating on fixed schedules, sitting between commercial aviation and private charter in a category that barely existed in Europe eighteen months ago.
The founder who made that first flight happen ran Etihad Airways for eleven years. He knows exactly what problem he is trying to solve.
What PeakJet Actually Is, and Is Not
PeakJet's parent company Peak Plus AG was founded in 2024 by Peter Baumgartner, former CEO of Etihad Airways, alongside Gianni Tronza, former Etihad general manager for Switzerland, and two finance executives with Swiss airline backgrounds. The team is as experienced as any aviation startup Europe has produced. What they built is deliberately not an airline, no AOC, no owned aircraft, no airline liability. PeakJet is a technology platform that connects passengers with licensed operators who supply the aircraft and the regulatory paperwork.
Three weekly services to Nice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, one weekly Saturday service to Palma de Mallorca, and one Sunday service to Málaga form the initial schedule, with Paris, Munich and Milan planned for later in 2026. Passengers check in at Zurich's General Aviation Centre, not the main terminal, 45 minutes before departure, walk from their car to the aircraft in a handful of steps, and arrive at the General Aviation Centre at the destination. No security queues. No crowded gates. No baggage carousels.
The CHF 1,525 starting price for Zurich-Palma puts PeakJet well above easyJet and Swiss, Swiss offers the same route from approximately CHF 113, but significantly below the cost of chartering the entire Legacy 650 privately. That pricing band is the entire commercial premise: passengers who would pay for a business class long-haul seat, or who travel frequently enough that the time saved through private terminals justifies the premium, but who have no need or desire to book an entire aircraft.
The Model That Has Already Proven Itself in the US
PeakJet's business model is similar to JSX and Aero, both US-based operators that offer by-the-seat semi-private flights with private-terminal access at price points between commercial first class and full charter. JSX operates over 100 daily departures from private terminals across the US West Coast and Texas, having built a loyal base of frequent business travellers who pay a consistent premium for the time and friction savings the model delivers. Aero launched on high-demand leisure routes including Aspen and Miami before expanding to transatlantic European routes. Both companies validated the core proposition in a market with different geography and regulatory structure to Europe.
PeakJet is not transplanting the model directly, the European regulatory environment, airport infrastructure and passenger culture all require adaptation. Travelcoup, which PeakJet identifies as a competitor already operating semi-private by-the-seat services from Zurich using an Embraer ERJ-145 under Arcus Air's AOC, has been running for three years. The fact that a second operator has launched the same model from the same city suggests the market is real enough to sustain competition, not so mature that the opportunity is closed.
The Marketplace Bet
PeakJet's decision not to pursue its own AOC is the most interesting strategic choice in the business model. By positioning as a marketplace rather than an airline, PeakJet avoids aircraft ownership costs, regulatory capital requirements and the operational complexity of running a certified carrier. Every flight it sells uses a licenced operator's AOC, regulatory standing and aircraft. Peak Plus takes the margin on the seat while VistaJet Germany takes the operational liability.
That structure scales differently from an airline, PeakJet can add routes and destinations by signing new operator agreements rather than taking aircraft deliveries. It also means the brand's success depends on technology and distribution rather than operational performance, since the flying itself is subcontracted. If the platform attracts enough demand, the operators follow. If it does not, there are no grounded aircraft or stranded leases to manage.
Peter Baumgartner said aviation has barely tapped the technology available to it. The man who ran one of the Gulf's most ambitious airlines for a decade just bet his next chapter on a twelve-seat jet and a marketplace app. August 1 was the first flight. The real test is whether September, October and November look any different.
