Business aviation activity worldwide continues to be diminished by the Covid-19 pandemic but the overall dip in flights appears to be stabilizing, according to the latest data from WingX. As of November 26, the company’s Global Market Tracker showed activity during November to be 19 percent lower than the same period in 2019 and also slightly weaker than the October trend.
According to the industry analyst, the business aviation sector is still doing far better than the airlines, which it said have suffered a 62 percent decline in year-on-year activity for the same period. Since November 16, private jet and turboprop activity has picked up, “with a rolling seven-day average close to regaining the post-pandemic peak from mid-October.”
In the most recent period reported by WingX, North America has shown a 22 percent decline, while European traffic has been 18 percent down. But with U.S. activity bouncing back over the last week and European activity flagging, the two regions appear to be converging. By comparison, the Asia-Pacific region has seen a 30 percent dip in flight hours, even though the number of business aviation sectors recorded is only down by 10 percent.
WingX managing director Richard Koe indicated that U.S. traffic associated with the Thanksgiving holiday may compensate for reductions in travel seen during the presidential election. Lately, charter flight hours in the country have been just 3 percent down, while year-on-year fractional ownership operations have been within 15 percent of 2019 levels.
It continues to be private and corporate flight department activity that has been most soft at almost 30 percent below 2019 levels. Probably reflecting a higher proportion of domestic U.S. flights, smaller jets are generally busier than larger, long-range equipment.
Likely reflecting continued border restrictions and seasonal trends, flights from the U.S. to Canada have been 54 percent below par. By contrast, trips to Mexico were only 3 percent lower than in 2019. Domestically, Florida has been the most in-demand state, and Arizona the only one to show marginal growth compared with the same period last year.
In Europe, a second-wave of Covid lockdown restrictions has severely dented travel plans for the past three weeks. Flight activity out of the UK was down by as much as 43 percent and in Germany by 33 percent. By contrast, Spain’s traffic dip was just 9 percent, and Russia, Turkey, and Greece all enjoyed increased flight activity through most of November. Generally, charter activity has done better throughout the continent than private and corporate flying.