Private flying in 2007 was nothing less than extreme. A new class of ultra-light planes, personal jumbo jets, and billion dollar deals for fleets of aircraft all made headlines this year. The past 12 months also saw jet companies launching green initiatives as the phrase “carbon-offset” became part of the private flyer lingo. And as the year closed down, the entrance of marketing behemoth Virgin into the charter business threatened to turn private aviation on its head in 2008. It was a wild ride this year and here is a look back at the biggest stories.

VLJs roll out, redefine cramped leg-room

Ok, so you thought private flying was all about comfort: sipping champagne, being able to spread out your work files, or toting along a masseuse for an in-flight neck rub. Sure that’s true, just don’t expect to do that on a very light jet, the latest breed of affordable aircraft launched this year. Also, don’t plan on standing up for very long, or using the restroom. What VLJs lack in leg stretching spaciousness they make up for in price. The Eclipse 500 is going for $1.6 million, less than the price of many one-bedroom condos in Manhattan, while fractional provider OurPLANE took delivery of its first plane this fall and JetAlliance prepared to offer quarter shares of a VLJ for $450,000. DayJet also launched the air taxi concept, which is just what it sounds like, using a fleet of VLJs for regularly scheduled charter service on short haul routes that have been underserved by the commercial airline market.

Private flying turns a lighter shade of green

Traveling on a private jet is an inherently un-green way to get around, of course. Hey, if you were a real treehugger you’d still be waiting for your carpool to show up or figuring out how much it costs to offset the carbon output of your Southwest flight. We at Halogen Guides aren’t under the illusion that private flying could ever be truly green, that is until a Gulfstream 450 can be powered off of used french fry cooking oil, but we have taken notice of jet companies that made green moves this year. In September we reported that fractional ownership jet provider, NetJets Europe, announced a major eco-travel initiative requiring all new and existing private jet clients to pay some €4,000 per year to offset their carbon footprints. NetJets also began to fund Princeton University’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative, which investigates green jet fuel technologies for commercial and private jet use (perhaps our french fry oil powered plane isn’t a pipe dream after all?)

There were other industry green moves. Executive Charter Services started buying carbon offsetting TerraPasses for clients in January. Avantair also partnered with Terrapass to become the first provider of fractional-share planes to offset carbon emissions. Air charter Le Bas International launched their Carbon-Zero JetCard, and charter company Jets.com linked with Carbonfund.org to create its Carbon Neutral Flights Program, where flyers can pay a bit more for their flight but in return know that a portion of their flight costs are going towards reforestation programs across America. We also embarked on our own carbon offsetting quest, calculating the cost of offsetting an hour of private flying on a private jet. We found that it didn’t cost much at all, ranging from $7 to $60 an hour which is literally pocket change considering an hour of air time in a private jet can run up to $13,000.

Billion is the new million for jet orders

2007 will go down as the year of free spending for jet companies. In September charter company XOJet inked a $600 million deal with Cessna for 30 new Citation X jets and the following day announced that it was ordering 20 Challenger 300 jets from Bombardier for $450 million, with options for an additional 60 aircraft. The total value is an estimated $1.9 billion. The shopping spree came on the heels of a jumbo $363 million round of financing from TPG and Lehman Brothers GPS. Delivery of those swanky new Cessna’s should be wrapped up by 2010.

Not to be outdone, Flight Options in December announced that it has made a similarly eye popping deal with Brazilian plane manufacturer, Embraer for 100 of is Phenom 300 jets and options for 50 more models. If all of the options are exercised, the deal would top $1 billion.

Virgin finds one area that it hasn’t dominated: Charter flights

We fly Virgin to Europe and now fly Virgin’s new domestic airline from San Francisco to New York. We’ve drank the cola, seen ads for its cell phone service, and dreamed about a holiday bonus large enough to fund a space trip with Sir Richard through his Virgin Galactic project. But the one thing we haven’t done is booked a private flight through the Branson empire.

But wait! The void will be filled in early 2008. This fall, Virgin Charter formed bringing the branding machine to the world of private aviation. We met with Virgin Charter CEO Scott Duffy and over a taco lunch, he shared the Virgin vision. In short: total domination. Think of it as Expedia for the private flying set. The company is aiming to increase competition among the 2,500 existing private jet charter operators all without requiring Virgin Charter to own or operate a single plane. Our favorite talked about feature: a rating system that will both individually evaluate the safety and consumer feedback on a given charter provider. Customers will be able to rate their flying experiences but Virgin also gives the jet companies a mouthpiece since they’ll be able to rate those same consumers. A word of advice: Be nice to the flight attendant.

Saudi Prince drops a few hundred million on a plane. Yes, just one.

Oh, those Saudi royals. They certainly know how to get around in style. Like many fliers, we were drooling over the new Airbus 380, with its cool double decker design and photos of first class cabins with full-sized beds sprinkled with rose petals. In fact we were plotting how we could finagle a business trip to Asia on Singapore Airlines, the first airline to fly the new model, when news broke that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was forgoing the whole airline ticketing process altogether and simply buying an A380 for himself. The plane costs in excess of $300 million, though the minds at Halogen Guides think that the price tag could likely top $400 million once it gets a polished interior design, and well, a hot tub (a must have, we think, for any long haul flight).

Sure a personal jumbo jet seems a little excessive, but we were happy to hear that the Prince had made his purchase. For starters it got everyone to stop talking about the Google plane, a Boeing 767 owned by the billionaire founders, and prepared us to not gasp when we hear about other billionaires purchasing other gigantic aircraft for personal use. After all the Dreamliner, the latest jumbo jet from Boeing, is set to roll out soon.

Additional reporting by Eric Schaefer