BJT Editor Retires After 20 Years

Business Jet Traveler editor Jeff Burger is retiring from his post after 20 years of informing, enlightening, and engaging a savvy and devoted readership in print and online. 

That “20 years” is not an approximation, incidentally. Jeff chose to retire exactly two decades after joining BJT in March 2004, just a few months after the publication debuted. 

Besides editing dozens of writers, Jeff has authored many opinion pieces for the magazine as well as columns about the fractional business. He also introduced BJT’s annual Buyers’ Guide and such popular features as the Book of Lists and Readers’ Choice surveys. In addition, he has produced penetrating profiles for the magazine of luminaries such as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville (“I love my wife so I excuse things that I otherwise wouldn’t”), Suze Orman, Daymond John, F. Lee Bailey (“If I had it to do all over again, I would have stuck with aviation [rather than law]),” Stevie Van Zandt, and Donald Trump (who complained, “I don’t like the tone of these questions” and hung up).

During Jeff’s years with BJT, the publication has won more than 120 editorial awards, including Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. In addition, the publication has won several Folio: Eddie Awards for Best Consumer Travel Magazine, most recently in 2020. In 2011, Jeff received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association; the year before, he garnered the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. 

Before joining AIN Media Group, Jeff served as editor of several other publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and was a consulting editor at Time Inc. In addition, he spent 14 years in senior positions at Medical Economics magazine, the country’s largest business magazine for doctors. His freelance articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and Family Circle.

Jeff’s music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com, and his passion for popular music has resulted in four book projects: Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters; Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters; Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon; and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters—all published by Chicago Review Press. The first of those books includes an interview that Jeff conducted with Springsteen in early 1974 when the Boss was a little-known musician earning $75 a week.

Jeff’s gifts as a wordsmith, journalist, and editorial leader have been on full display during his long career, and among his colleagues he is known for his sensitivity and character—and for being a patient and supportive mentor to the writers he has worked with, demonstrated by the fact that he is handing over the editorial reins to former BJT contributor Drew Limsky. 

“I’ve stayed so long at BJT for many reasons,” Jeff said, “but the most important reason is the terrific group of people I’ve worked with—they respect one another and care deeply about their journalistic mission. I will miss them all.”