Private jet from Teterboro to Nantucket: times, prices, fog and summer rules

What goes into the price

On a one-hour trip, the flight time itself is a small part of the bill. Two things matter more.

Positioning. An aircraft that drops you on Nantucket on a Friday usually has to fly back to New York empty, and comes back empty to collect you on Sunday. A one-way trip therefore often costs about the same as a same-day round trip. A weekend round trip can mean four flights: you on two, the aircraft empty on the other two.

Minimums. Some operators set a minimum charge per day or per flight, which matters most on short hops. Jake shows you how the operator has priced it.

The rest is the usual:

• the 7.5% federal excise tax and a $5.30 per-passenger segment fee in 2026
• handling at Teterboro and Nantucket’s published fees (below)
• catering

De-icing is uncommon in the summer season but possible in spring and autumn.

Nantucket’s published fees (2026). The airport charges transient aircraft a landing fee of $48 plus $3.93 per 1,000 pounds over 6,000. A 17,000-pound light jet works out at about $91. It also charges a ramp fee per trip, valid for up to 24 hours:

Aircraft weight	Ramp fee
10,001 to 15,000 lb	$129
15,001 to 25,000 lb	$200
25,001 to 50,000 lb	$396
50,001 to 100,000 lb	$676

There is a $200 call-back fee for service between 10 pm and 6 am. If a car meets you planeside, it needs an airport ramp permit, or the operator pays a $100 escort fee.

What makes this route cheaper or more expensive

Day and time. The FAA names Nantucket’s peak windows: Thursdays 5 to 8 pm, Fridays 1 to 8 pm, Sundays 1 to 8 pm, Mondays 6 to 9 am, and the Friday before and Monday after a holiday weekend. Aircraft are scarcest and most expensive then. Moving a Friday afternoon trip to the morning, or a Sunday return to Monday midday, can make a difference.

Season. Demand runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Off-season trips, such as the Daffodil Festival in April or the Christmas Stroll in December, are easier to book.

Aircraft size. A heavy jet pays more in fees and faces more parking risk on peak weekends, and on a one-hour flight its cabin hardly matters.

Empty legs on this route

Because aircraft often fly to Nantucket full on Friday and back to New York empty, and do the opposite on Sunday, empty legs are common in summer. That pattern is broker experience and follows from how the airport manages parking, not a published statistic. Charter Jet One’s figure for the saving is up to 75%.

Two illustrative examples:

• Northbound Sunday. A light jet is heading empty to Nantucket on Sunday morning to collect a family. You could fly up with it.
• Southbound Friday. A midsize jet has just dropped a group on Nantucket on Friday afternoon and is going back to Teterboro empty. You could fly down with it.

These show how empty legs arise. They aren’t flights for sale. They run on the operator’s timing and can change at short notice.

Departing from Teterboro

Teterboro is about 12 miles from Midtown, roughly 22 minutes in free-flow traffic. On summer Thursdays and Fridays allow much more. Its runways are 6,997 and 6,014 feet, and it has Jet Aviation, Atlantic and several Signature terminals. The airport asks for voluntary restraint between 11 pm and 6 am, and night departures from runway 24 are limited to 80 decibels. Neither usually matters on a Nantucket trip.

From Westchester, Tradewind Aviation runs scheduled shuttles to Nantucket. It’s a separate operator and a different product from a private charter.

Arriving on Nantucket

The airport. Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) is 3 miles southeast of town, about 2.8 miles in a straight line from Nantucket Town. ’Sconset is about 5 miles, Polpis 4, Wauwinet 6 and Madaket about 7.

Runways. There are two:

• 6/24, 6,303 feet long with instrument landing systems at both ends
• 15/33, 4,500 feet

A third runway, 12/30, was permanently closed in March 2022. The FAA says the closure reduced capacity, and arrivals at busy times are now mostly sequenced to runway 24.

The FBO. The airport runs its own full-service FBO. It’s open 6 am to 10 pm from May 15 to September 30 and 6 am to 9 pm the rest of the year, and the tower keeps the same hours. Island Kitchen and Millie’s cater from the FBO.

Noise. There is no curfew. The airport’s Fly Friendly program asks pilots to stay offshore when departing and to keep auxiliary power use short.

Ground transport. Taxis run about 18 hours a day. Rental cars need booking early in summer. Jake arranges a car with a ramp permit so it can meet you at the aircraft.

Peak weekends, parking and fuel

Nantucket doesn’t have a formal parking reservation system for jets. When the ramp is full, it manages demand with notices:

• Drop-and-go. Over the July 4th weekend in 2023, the airport closed its transient ramp, except to medical flights and scheduled quick turns. Aircraft had to drop passengers and leave. The airport manager called it “a tool for managing capacity” and not a common one.
• Size limits. For one July 2023 weekend, aircraft with wingspans over 79 feet were barred from the transient ramp, with 30-minute quick turns only.
• Fuel. Jet fuel reaches the island by truck on the ferry. In July 2023 the airport limited sales to 300 gallons a day per visiting operator.
• Overflow. The airport has pointed operators to Martha’s Vineyard, New Bedford and Hyannis for parking and fuel.

Any of these can mean the aircraft leaves after dropping you and comes back to collect you, which affects the price. Jake checks the notices for your dates and confirms parking with the airport’s FBO when he books.

Fog, and the plan if it comes in

Fog is the thing to plan around on Nantucket. We analysed ten years of hourly airport weather reports, from 2016 to 2025:

Month	Low cloud or poor visibility (IFR)	Near or below the lowest approach limits
May	26% of hours	3.5%
June	27%	6.1%
July	33%	7.4%
August	21%	3.4%
September	19%	2.9%

IFR means a ceiling below 1,000 feet or visibility under 3 miles. “Near or below the lowest approach limits” means a ceiling below about 200 feet or visibility under half a mile. This is a rough measure; actual limits depend on the aircraft and operator.

In July, about 1 hour in 13 is at or near the point where landing may not be possible. Martha’s Vineyard often shares the same marine fog, so it’s the weakest alternate. Hyannis, New Bedford and Providence are clear far more often.

If you divert to Hyannis. Hyannis (Cape Cod Gateway Airport) is 27 nautical miles from Nantucket. From Hyannis harbor, the fast ferries take about an hour:

• the Steamship Authority’s high-speed ferry, which runs roughly April to December
• Hy-Line’s fast ferry, which runs year-round

The traditional Steamship Authority ferry takes 2 hours 15 minutes. Cape Air also flies between Hyannis and Nantucket year-round.

Seasons and events

Event	Dates
Christmas Stroll	December 4 to 6, 2026
Daffodil Festival	April 22 to 25, 2027
Nantucket Wine & Food Festival	May 19 to 23, 2027
Figawi Race (Memorial Day weekend)	Late May
Nantucket Film Festival	June 16 to 21, 2027
July 4th	The busiest weekend of the year

When to book. For July and August Fridays and Sundays, and especially holiday weekends, ask for a quote as early as you can. Sunday afternoon returns go first.

Which aircraft fits best

A turboprop such as a Pilatus PC-12 or a light jet such as a Phenom 300E is the natural choice. Either does the trip in about an hour, they’re the cheapest options and they’re easy to park. A midsize jet makes sense for seven or eight people or a lot of luggage. Larger aircraft add cost and parking risk on peak weekends without saving any time.

How Jake handles this route

Jake plans summer Nantucket trips around the FAA’s peak windows where he can, and he checks the airport notices for ramp and fuel limits on your dates. He also plans the fog fallback in advance: which alternate, which ferry, and who meets you. He confirms the operator is ARGUS Gold or Platinum rated, arranges a car with a ramp permit, and often meets clients on the ramp at Teterboro before departure.