Max Verstappen's Dassault Falcon 8X PH-UTL lands in Austin after transatlantic flight

Max Verstappen's Dassault Falcon 8X, tail number PH-UTL, flew from Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport in France to Austin Bergstrom International Airport in Texas on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The aircraft departed Nice at 13:22 UTC and landed in Austin at 00:20 UTC. The flight took 10 hours and 58 minutes.

The great-circle distance between the two airports is 4,523 nautical miles, which is about 70 percent of the aircraft's maximum range of 6,450 nautical miles. During the flight, the aircraft reached a top altitude of 43,025 feet and a top ground speed of 484 knots. Our estimates show the flight burned about 3,070 US gallons of fuel and produced about 29.5 metric tons of CO2. The Dassault Falcon 8X is an Ultra Long Range jet that can seat up to 16 passengers and has a service ceiling of 51,000 feet.

The aircraft's average ground speed on this leg was 413 knots. Its top speed is Mach 0.90, or 497 knots. The departure airport, Nice-Côte d'Azur, has a longest runway of 9,721 feet at an elevation of 12 feet. The arrival airport, Austin Bergstrom International, has a longest runway of 12,250 feet at an elevation of 542 feet. The distance from the aircraft's home base at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Austin is 4,412 nautical miles.

This was the first tracked landing by this aircraft at Austin in our records. The aircraft's home base is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft visited 12 airports in 9 countries and flew about 14,752 nautical miles. Two other tracked aircraft landed at Austin in the 24 hours before this flight: a Gulfstream G650ER linked to Elon Musk landed about 9 hours earlier, and another Gulfstream G650ER linked to Travis Kalanick landed about 4 hours earlier.

Max Verstappen is a Dutch Formula 1 driver and four-time world champion who drives for Red Bull Racing. He is based in Monaco. The aircraft registration PH-UTL stands for 'Unleash The Lion,' which is also the name of his yacht. The Falcon 8X was built in 2023 and replaced his earlier Falcon 900EX, which went up for sale in March 2025. The aircraft is operated for him by Exxaero.

In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft completed nine tracked flights totaling 34.3 hours in the air. Those flights produced an estimated 92,318 kilograms of CO2. The most common destinations in that window were Nice, with 12 landings; Olbia, with five landings; and Amsterdam, with four landings. The longest leg in that period was from Nice to Subang on September 29, 2026, covering 5,459 nautical miles in 12 hours and 46 minutes.

No public events or appearances tied to Max Verstappen or Red Bull Racing were found in the Austin area around the time of this landing. The aircraft's arrival in Texas does not correspond to any known race on the Formula 1 calendar. Max Verstappen's usual destinations include Nice, Amsterdam, and other European airports.

Before this flight, the aircraft had been on the ground for about three days, following a tracked landing at Nice on October 17. That day it flew from Castellón de la Plana to Nice in 55 minutes. Other recent flights included a trip from Luton to Faro on October 14 and from Sliven to Nice on October 12. The yacht Unleash The Lion, also owned by Max Verstappen, was last seen in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 240 nautical miles from the departure airport, according to AIS tracking from our partner site celebyachts.com.

The aircraft remains on the ground in Austin as of our last tracking data. We will continue to follow its movements.