Business aircraft activity experienced a notable shift in the first half of the year with consistent declines in the Part 135 market, a jump in fractional operations, and a mostly flat Part 91 sector, Argus reported in its newly released Mid-Year Business Aviation Review. Globally, business aviation flight activity ebbed by 2.6 percent during the first six months versus the first half of 2022.
“We are six months into 2023 and different dynamics are at play in the broader business aviation market, compared to the prior years,” the aviation safety and data specialist said. “We are no longer seeing the consistent growth on top of growth that was so prevalent in the post-Covid days.”
The combined dynamics between the three operational sectors collectively resulted in a 3.7 percent year-over-year decline in first-half operations in North America. Argus cautioned that this drop is against a backdrop of record highs logged in 2022 and said activity remains strong, averaging at some 288,000 flights per month during the first half of the year, compared with 260,000 during the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
By segment, fractional flights in North America were up 6.9 percent year-over-year in the first half, while Part 135 operations dropped by 10 percent and Part 91 by 1.9 percent. Flights in the region were down in all aircraft categories led by midsize aircraft (-5.5 percent) and followed by light aircraft (-4.3 percent), turboprops (-3.2 percent), and then large-cabin jets (-1.1 percent).
Europe has seen a consistent decline—down 11.9 percent year-over-year in the first half—but Argus sees signs of stabilization. Going forward, Argus expects a leveling of between 5 percent and 10 percent year-over-year, a steadying from the post-Covid highs.
Overall, Argus is projecting that activity will dip by 0.6 percent year-over-year in the back half of 2023. This will still be a 13.4 percent increase over the same period in 2019. Argus anticipates traffic to reflect normal activity with peaks this month and in October, slowing in the last two months of the year.