Global business aviation flight activity remained stable in November, according to industry data analyst Argus International's latest monthly TraqPak report. Compared to November 2022, last month was up by 0.4 percent but activity declined by 6.7 percent month-over-month.
The dominant North American market saw a year-over-year (YOY) decrease in activity of 0.3 percent. While fractional flying posted a more than 16 percent increase from a year ago, Part 135 activity dropped by 8.7 percent, with only large-cabin jets in this operating category seeing any gains from November 2022. Part 91 usage overall was up by 1.5 percent YOY.
“Where we see declines in Part 135 activity, we see strength in fractional activity, and November saw the first positive results for Part 91 activity since January, which is a welcome sign,” said Argus senior v-p of software Travis Kuhn. “We have expected activity to officially turn positive these last few months but November's change of -0.3 percent is right in line with where the industry has been.”
For December, the TraqPak analysts predict an improvement of half a percentage point in North American flight activity. “We are sticking with our expectation of an increase in December activity year-over-year, but with how the industry has operated, we could end up down 1 percent as well,” said Kuhn. “Either way I expect the market to stay right around 285,000 to 290,000 flights for the month of December."
While the report noted that European activity has seemingly returned to its normal patterns, overall usage was down from November 2022 by more than 8 percent as the continent enters its slowest travel period of the year. Following that typical trend, a similar YOY decrease is anticipated for December.
For the remaining regions, including Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America, November activity was strong, with a 16 percent increase overall, and all segments except for large-cabin jets posted an improvement over the previous year.