Bizav Flights in Europe Continue To Slip

Business aviation activity in Europe continued to slow last month, falling 2.5 percent year-over-year, to 90,550 departures, according to data released today by Germany-based WingX Advance. Most of the decline last month came from midsize and light jets, with this activity down 3 percent from July 2018; large-jet activity slid 1 percent. Year-to-date, flight activity slipped by 1.8 percent compared with 2018, while the 12-month trend is down 0.8 percent.

Most of the year-over-year decline last month was due to a 6 percent slowdown in flights from Germany and the UK, while activity in the busiest European market—France, at about 19,000 departures—remained flat. Of the other main regional markets, Italy was flat, Switzerland inched up slightly, and Spain fell 3 percent.

WingX said the strongest growth last month came from Turkey, which was up 4 percent, while the biggest decline came from Russia, where business aviation flights plummeted 22 percent year-over-year.

“While this is drawing a disappointingly premature end to the recovery in regional activity that we saw in 2018, the month was still one of the busiest months on record,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “The impetus is coming disproportionately from…super-mid, heavy, and ultra-long-range jets. This reflects the relatively strong growth of the active fleet in Europe at the top end of the market.”