Jeff Bezos flies to Paris the week of a catastrophic Blue Origin rocket explosion

Jeff Bezos flew from San Gabriel Valley Airport to Paris–Le Bourget on the night of June 10, arriving early on June 11 aboard his Gulfstream G700, N11AF. The nine-hour, 23-minute transatlantic crossing landed the same week Blue Origin’s New Glenn mega-rocket exploded during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Bezos is in Paris for Haute Couture Week, where he and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, attended the Schiaparelli and Dior runway shows on Monday, per Firstpost. The trip comes just days after the May 28 explosion, which Ars Technica described as “the most spectacular rocket explosion since N1” and which TechCrunch reported caused extensive damage to Launch Complex 36. Bezos posted on X that it was a “very rough day” and that the company would rebuild.

The flight continues a pattern of high-profile personal travel during periods of corporate crisis. Bezos’s recent flights show hops between Texas and Florida in the days before the explosion, likely related to Blue Origin operations. The G700, delivered in July 2024, is the newest addition to a four-aircraft fleet worth over $200 million, per Aerocorner.