Global Business Aviation: Resilience Amidst Variances, with an Eye on the Future

Global business aviation is holding its own in comparison to last year's summer numbers, with certain regions like the #MiddleEast showing strong growth when compared to pre-pandemic figures. Notably, fractional operators have seen the most consistent growth since the onset of the pandemic, and private flight departments in the US are flying high.

Global Overview

As of 20 days into August, both business jet and turboprop sectors experienced a slight dip of 3% compared to last year but stand impressively at 14% over August figures from four years ago. In contrast, scheduled airline activity is making strides with a 16% increase from last year and just falling short by 5% from August 2019's numbers. The major players in the commercial airline sector, such as Southwest Airlines , American Airlines , Delta Air Lines , Ryanair - Europe's Favourite Airline , and United Airlines , are forging ahead at 12% over August 2022 and 8% beyond 2019. However, global cargo activity is trailing by 7% from last year but shows a modest 2% growth over 2019.

Drilling down into business jet activities alone, there's a 4% reduction from August of the preceding year, but it's worth noting an 18% boost since 2019. Interestingly, approximately a quarter of these are international flights. While they are down 5% from last year, they're ahead by 13% since 2019. Domestic flights are flying high with a 19% increase from August 2019 and a 3% uptick from last year.

Europe

For Week 33, ending on August 20th, European business jet activity mirrored Week 32, albeit at 10% below the numbers from the same week the prior year. This rate is slightly lagging behind the last month, being 9% lower than comparable 2022 stats. With this month's figures standing 9% behind last year but 8% ahead of 2019, it paints a nuanced picture. #France and the #uk are leading in terms of market activity, but both are seeing a decrease of 9% and 11% YTD respectively compared to 2022. On the flip side, #Germany and #Austria are showing resilience, just slightly behind their 2019 figures. A mixed bag of operator types in #Europe paints a varied picture, with aircraft management programmes and branded charter sectors contrasting in their trends.

North America

Business jet activity in North America for Week 33 remains consistent with the previous week but sees a 3% reduction from the same period in 2022. However, the overarching trend is positive when compared to 2019, with an 18% growth. The #US, #Mexico, and #Canada all present distinct growth narratives, with domestic flights playing a major role.

Asia

Asia is making headway this month with business jet activity standing 13% over last year and a whopping 49% over 2019. #India and #China, as usual, are the major players, but the show-stealer is the strong performance of Gulfstream Aerospace aircraft in the region.

Middle East

Despite a slight dip from last August, the business jet sector in the Middle East is flying 30% higher than 2019 figures. Turkey stands out, especially with its international connection to #Greece.