In 1995, one of the first small-group wing, reimagining the fanciful adventure of fictional character Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days through the real-life luxury lens of a reconfigured commercial airliner. Organized by TCS World Travel and the American Museum of Natural History, the flight, which included a handpicked crew and rock-star scientists attached to the museum, revealed a thirst for long-distance, multi-week travel built around bucket-list itineraries.
The niche continues to mature, recently expanding into even more aircraft types and remote destinations. A half dozen providers fly long-haul jumbo jets, while other firms use midsize jets and even bush planes for visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites in China, Machu Picchu, Easter Island, and plenty of even harder-to-access hinterlands such as the Gobi Desert, Kazakhstan, and the Himalayas. Others loop through Scandinavia, South America, and Africa. TCS recently added Antarctica to one of its itineraries. “People want to be transformed,” says Jennifer Lew, vice president of product at TCS World Travel. “It’s about having the experience, not checking a box, as much as having something few can.”
The air-tour niche’s diversity in global experiences includes discovering ice caves in Antarctica.
