"We've seen a surprising surge in business in Ireland. Four years ago we only had four Irish customers, now we have 70, and this year we've been adding three or four people a month to that list.

Twelve of those customers own the Gulfstream 550, which is top of the line in private jets."

Traffic from private jet use has been soaring at Weston Airport, according to Kevin Davy of Citywest. "We've seen an increase of nearly fourfold in the past year. We desperately need extra hangars for private aircrafts, which we hope to have more of in the future."

Those who use private jets are totting up plenty of nautical miles, according to Davy. "There are several businessmen who use their jet for personal use, not just business. Jim Mansfield pretty much uses his Citation VI as a taxi." The millionaire entrepreneur's two sons, PJ and Tony Mansfield, are rarely seen flying with a commercial airline, said Davy. Instead, like John Travolta, they have obtained a pilot's licence for the convenience of travelling whenever they want.

One Irish-based company which sells aircrafts to the likes of Jim Mansfield is Premier Aviation, based in Leixlip, Co Kildare. Alan Nee, the company's executive director, said sales of private jets are five times what they were in 2001. Since 9/11, Nee claims, "there has been too much hassle in flying commercially. There are too many delays and businessmen are missing meetings because of it. The roads have also become a great deal busier."

And the good news for weary travellers is that you don't have to be a multi-millionaire to afford private jet travel. "Syndicates between company executives are popular, " said Nee. "This means they can share the cost between them." At NetJet, "fractional ownership" of private jets is becoming the in thing and it can be just as convenient as full ownership, said Weston. "Many of these planes are capable of flying 800 hours a year. Nobody needs to travel that much. It makes sense to share the costs."