Private Jet Verbier to Tempe

Verbier and Tempe are separated by 5,014 nautical miles, a distance that calls for a heavy jet with genuine long-range capability. A Gulfstream G550 covers the crossing in around nine and a quarter hours, cruising at altitudes up to 51,000 feet with a cabin typically arranged for up to fourteen passengers, including a private aft suite for passengers who prefer to rest through the flight. Departures run from Sion Airport, the gateway to the Val de Bagnes region, with operators well used to handling the alpine airfield’s mountain approach procedures. The G550’s private aft suite can be configured as a proper sleeping berth, a useful feature on a flight approaching nine and a half hours. Landing into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, travellers arrive in Tempe, a city defined by Arizona State University’s sprawling campus and the waterside restaurants of Tempe Town Lake. Verbier’s steep pistes and alpine chalets give way to the flat desert plains of the Phoenix valley, where the saguaro cactus replaces the pine forest as the defining plant life. A number of Verbier’s seasonal residents also keep a winter base in Arizona, splitting the year between the two destinations’ very different definitions of a sunny day, while others are drawn by the golf resorts of Scottsdale and the desert sunsets that draw photographers to South Mountain Park most evenings. A handful of Verbier-based ski instructors and guides also spend the off-season working in Arizona’s outdoor recreation industry, treating this long-haul route as a routine part of a split-hemisphere career.