Elon Musk is a frequent user of private aviation, which is considered a necessity for managing his sprawling business empire across Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and xAI. As of 2026, he famously operates a fleet of high-end Gulfstream aircraft. His primary long-range jet has historically been the Gulfstream G650ER, though he was one of the first customers for the newer, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G700. These aircraft allow him to travel between his headquarters in Texas, Tesla’s engineering hubs in California, and international locations like Giga Berlin or China with maximum efficiency. His jet usage gained significant public attention through the "ElonJet" social media accounts, which tracked his flight coordinates using public ADS-B data. Musk has defended the use of private jets as a vital tool for his productivity, allowing him to work during transit and bypass the time-consuming nature of commercial travel, though the high carbon footprint of these frequent flights remains a point of criticism among environmental advocates and the general public alike.