The bizjet market´s bright spot this summer is Europe, with the Olympics drawing record numbers of private jet movements to France, the UK also enjoying the influx of sports fans into the region. Bizjet demand in the US seems to have hit the brakes in the last couple of weeks, having had a relatively strong July.
Global
In Week 31 (29th July – 7th August), there were 70,212 business jet sectors flown, 1% below Week 31 in 2023, and down from 76,524 flights in the peak week 26. The trend over the last 4 weeks is 0.2% up on the same period last year. Part 135 & 91K bizjet activity, just over half of all traffic at 37,386 sectors, was 1% up on last year, trending 3% up over the last 4 weeks, but down 6% compared to week 30.
North America
In North America there were 47,809 bizjet sectors flown from regional airports in week 31, 1% fewer than in W31 in 2023. The dominant US market is tracking 1% fewer bizjet flights year on year, though 1% up over the last 4 weeks and trending 3% up in charter and fractional. This reflects a relatively strong July, bizjet sectors 3% ahead of July 2023. The Cloud Strike virus had a notable impact last month; on July 19th US Bizjet activity was 9% higher than the same date last year, in contrast US airline departures were down 5% compared to last year. Bizjets appeared to plug gaps caused by scheduled disruption, bizjet departures out of New York airports for example were up 26% YOY, scheduled airline departures fell 15% YOY.
Chart 1: US Bizjet and Scheduled airline city flows on Cloud Strike day, 19th July 2023 vs last year
In contrast, the start of August (1st – 4th) has seen a sizeable dip in US bizjet activity, down 8% compared to last year. There have been 577 bizjet departures out of Teterboro this month, 23% fewer than last August. Vista Global however, just 490 recorded bizjet departures in the opening 4 days of August, 11% fewer than August last year of Vista bizjet departures in the US were across the two types. Almost 20% of Vista´s fleet activity came from Cessna Citation Ultra and Citation X aircraft, noting the announcement this week that Vista Jet are selling off these aircraft in the near future.
Europe
In Week 31 European bizjet activity enjoyed a 6% bump on last year. Olympics host country France is seeing the strongest trends, bizjet departures 19% ahead of W31 last year; in the first few days of August, bizjet movements in France are up by more than 25% YOY. The men’s 100m sprint final took place on Sunday 4th August, the gold medal won by US athlete Noah Lyles, Le Bourget taking the gold medal for bizjet arrivals on the day, arrivals up 73% compared to August 4th last year. Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom are also seeing a busier than normal start to August. In Germany, the boost from the UEFA Euros tournament has faded, activity trending down by 4% in the first few days of August.
Chart 2: Busiest origin airports, arrivals into Le Bourget during Olympics events 2nd – 4th August 2024.
Rest of World
Outside of North America and Europe, which represents some 90% of global bizjet activity, the last 4 weeks has seen an overall decline in flights, most obvious in Africa, with a 4 week trending decline of almost 20%. In the Middle East, origin of 25% of ROW bizjet traffic, week 31 saw a 3% recovery, contrasting with the 7% drop last month. The bright spots were in UAE, with a notable increase in bizjet connections between London and Dubai.