Demand for private aircraft charter flights has cooled somewhat since the post-Covid revenge-travel frenzy of 2022, according to industry leaders addressing today’s Air Charter Expo (ACE) at London Biggin Hill Airport. Brokers and operators indicated the slight easing of demand has been welcome in improving the supply of aircraft and making it somewhat easier to provide a profitable, quality service.
“This year, the market has been less frantic and easier to secure aircraft,” said Claudia Watt, senior business development manager with charter broker Air Partner. “We’re now able to focus more on improving the post-booking service to make it very seamless and since the market is somewhat softer our sales teams are having to push for new business to hit targets.”
Exemplifying some of the shifts in demands, Watt indicated that some companies in the finance sector are somewhat less inclined to use only private jets for investment roadshow events. And that among wealthy leisure travelers, some are reducing their use of charters for vacations, she added.
At the same time, Watt noted that the U.S. market is stronger than that of Europe. “It’s booming and has not slowed down and in fact overall corporate travel is resurfacing more, having been the last [aspect of demand] to bounce back after Covid,” she concluded.
“Last year was a seller’s market and this impacted the supply of aircraft,” commented Yannick Monreal, Jet Aviation’s sales director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. “Demand is down a bit this year and more owners are now looking to increase capacity by putting aircraft on [air operator certificates].”
ACE conference attendees heard that charter operators and brokers are now making investments to expand the capacity of their businesses, including efforts to recruit new skilled staff. Monreal urged companies to be open to recruiting new talent from outside the industry.
“It’s easy to recruit from outside the private jet industry, but trying to recruit from outside makes sense because what matters most is finding people with the right attitude and we need new faces,” he said.
Opening the ACE event, Kevin Ducksbury, chairman of the Air Charter Association, thanked delegates for their patience with tightened security around the show. He characterized the effort as necessary to protect against possible disruption by eco-protesters who have been increasingly targeting private aviation in campaigns around environmental damage from carbon emissions.
Showgoers were required to check in for the event at a remote location on the other side of the airfield before being bussed into the show venue. Police patrolled the static display, mindful of the potential risk to aircraft parked there.
Nancy Bsales, COO of sustainability group 4Air, told conference attendees that the industry has no room for complacency. “We can’t wait for more pressure from regulators and politicians,” she said. “You can’t manage [carbon] that you can’t measure and it’s now clear that 90 percent of emissions are now coming from the aircraft tailpipe. Now we’re at 1 percent sustainable aviation fuel [use] but we will see tremendous growth quickly, and new technologies like winglets will also be important, as well as carbon offsets, that are a bridge to the future.”
According to Maureen Gautier, sustainability and future workforce manager at the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), the industry has made clear commitments to reduce carbon and has fully grasped its obligations under net zero targets to be achieved by 2050 through initiatives such as carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and an interim target of achieving a 2 percent reduction in jet-A1 fuel burn. Gautier told those at the conference that EBAA is establishing a program called STARS, which will give operators established pathways to achieving environmental and social best practices.
Acknowledging that political and social pressure will not go away, Bsales said that companies will increasingly be required to report in detail on progress in reducing emissions as part of their financial reporting obligations. 4Air has now started a registry to verify the credibility of SAF book-and-claim programs so that every gallon is only claimed by a single customer to avoid double counting.
This story was re-edited on September 15 to remove an incorrect statement about the percentage of business aircraft flights now using SAF.