Business aviation flight activity in the North American and European markets continued a downward trend in July but flourished so much in other parts of the world that operations ended up 0.9% globally year over year (YOY), according to the latest report from Argus International. Argus TraqPak data shows North American activity slid by 0.3% YOY while in Europe, flights were down 6.2%.
In North America, turboprop flying ended on the positive side, up 1.1%, thanks to a 7% gain in fractional flying and a 4.7% increase in Part 135 flights in that aircraft category. Likewise, mid-cabin flights strengthened by 2.8% as fractional flights surged by 13.9% with those aircraft. However, flight activity involving large cabins plunged 8.9% YOY, and small cabins dipped by 0.5%, even though fractional flying was up 7.1% and 16.5% in those aircraft categories, respectively.
Fractional activity in North America was up 13.5%, but Part 91 flights declined by 4.3%. Charter activity appears to be leveling after a series of YOY declines, down just 1.1% in July.
"While the industry was mostly status quo, it is worth noting that Charter activity narrowed its losses during the month, with the segment managing to produce a gain in turboprop flying,” said Travis Kuhn, senior v-p of software for Argus. “Large cabin activity was by far the biggest question mark of the month with a large decline in Part 91 and Part 135 flying for the category.”
Even with the Olympics beginning in July, European activity fell, primarily from a 15.6% YOY slide with turboprop flights and an 8.7% drop involving large-cabin jets. Midsize-cabin operations also were down by 1.2%, but small cabins inched up 0.6% in the month.
As for the rest of the world, business aircraft flights were up YOY by 26.1% in July, thanks to a 45.9% jump in turboprop operations and 22% in midsize cabin activity. Small-cabin flights also were up by 16.7% and large cabins were relatively stable at 1% in July, YOY.
“Looking ahead, we anticipate August to look pretty similar to July with a slight decrease from August 2024,” Kuhn noted. Argus forecasted flights this month to decline by 0.5% in North America and 0.4% in Europe.