N943FL flies 45 miles from Pensacola to Destin in 22 minutes

Ron DeSantis's aircraft, a 2019 Cessna Citation Latitude registered as N943FL, flew from Pensacola International Airport (KPNS) to Destin Executive Airport (KDTS) on Monday, October 19, 2026. The flight departed at 18:21 UTC and landed at 18:42 UTC, spending just 22 minutes in the air.

The aircraft is a 2019 Cessna Citation Latitude, model 680A, with serial number 680A0234. It is powered by Safran Arrius 2B2 turbofans and has a maximum takeoff weight of 30,800 pounds. The jet costs Florida taxpayers approximately $1.2 million annually in financing.

The great-circle distance between the two airports is 39 nautical miles, or about 45 miles. The aircraft averaged a ground speed of 108 knots and reached a highest altitude of 4,725 feet. Based on our estimates, the flight burned about 84 US gallons of fuel and produced roughly 805 kilograms of CO2, about the same as driving a car 1,992 miles. The Cessna Citation Latitude is a super midsize jet with a range of 2,700 nautical miles, a top speed of Mach 0.80, and a ceiling of 45,000 feet. It typically seats eight to nine passengers.

In the 30 days before this flight, N943FL made 38 tracked flights, with 16 landings at its home base of Tallahassee International Airport (KTLH). Destin Executive Airport saw two earlier landings in that period, the most recent on October 11, 2026. The aircraft's most common destinations in that window were Tallahassee (16 landings), Pensacola (5 landings), and Pinellas Park (4 landings). Before this flight, N943FL had been on the ground at Pensacola for about one hour, having arrived from Tallahassee earlier that day.

In the 30 days before this flight, N943FL made 38 flights covering about 9,341 nautical miles across 20 airports. The longest leg in that period was from Delray Beach to Philadelphia on October 6, 2026, covering 836 nautical miles. Total air time was 28.9 hours, producing an estimated 63,928 kilograms of CO2.

Ron DeSantis is the 46th Governor of Florida, first inaugurated on January 8, 2019, and re-elected in 2022. He is a former U.S. Navy JAG officer and U.S. Representative. The state-owned jet, operated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has faced scrutiny in the past for its use during DeSantis's 2024 presidential campaign, with questions about whether state resources were used for political travel. No public event or official appearance by DeSantis was listed for Destin on this date.

The state jet attracted scrutiny during the 2024 presidential campaign. Open-source tracking showed the aircraft was deployed to New Hampshire, Iowa, and other early primary states at the same time as DeSantis campaign events. This raised questions about whether state resources were used for political travel, leading to ethics complaints and FOIA requests for flight logs.

The flight from Pensacola to Destin covered about 1 percent of the aircraft's total range.