The ultimate boys' toys – there really is some special cachet about flying in an executive jet and not too many people get the chance, other than top business executives, pop stars and top sports stars. We are going to take a look at – and inside – a few of them. To those more accustomed to flying "cattle class" in many of today's airliners, the luxury will surprise you. Maybe it's time to win the lottery and try it out !

Executive jets (and executive prop aircraft) are made by several major companies including Cessna, Embraer and Bombardier. Boeing and Airbus are also joining the market, in their case using scaled-down versions of their smaller commercial jets, which has many benefits for maintenance and crew training. Some of the planes on the market have excellent range (they can cross the Atlantic safely non-stop) as well as the ability to land at smaller airports with restricted runway lengths. The majority of large companies have the use of an executive jet for their top executives and, used in the right way, these are a valuable tool in business, allowing company chairmen and presidents to get to meetings and back rather than having to wait around for commercial flights – and suffer all the airport security and check-in hassles.

Apart from business executives many sports and pop stars have the use of an executive jet, not necessarily their own (like tiger Woods for example) but on a shared-time basis, which makes it far more economical.

These "time-share" jets, operated to high standards by reputable companies, are also available for ad hoc rentals – so if you fancy jetting across to Lisbon for the day with a group of friends, it could work out quite cost-effective, rather than being something just for lottery winners.