Business aviation traffic dipped slightly in September, with most regions of the world buffering declines in North America and Europe.
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Global business aviation flight activity inched down by 0.3% in September as the North American market was off by 3.4% and Europe by 3.2%, according to the latest report from industry analyst and safety specialist Argus International.
"Another month of status quo for business aviation. North America and Europe remain in a familiar trend while the remaining regions of the world are looking very strong so far in 2024,” said Travis Kuhn, senior v-p of software for Argus. “We say it every month, but our focus remains on the Part 135 market for signs that this cooling period is coming to an end. Right now the market is stable but it continues to see lower demand in the large cabin market.”
In North America, traffic was in line with Argus’ forecast of a 3.6% dip with fractional activity as the only segment up, by 6.9%, in September year-over-year (YOY). Part 135 continued a downward trend of 5.4% while Part 91 activity similarly dropped by 5.6%. Traffic decreased in all four aircraft categories with large cabins posting the biggest YOY decline of 8.1%. This was followed by turboprops, down by 4.7%, small cabins at -2.3%, and midsize jets at -0.8%.
Despite the overall decline in Europe, activity edged up by 0.8% in the large cabin segment and by 0.2% with midsize jets. However, light jet activity was still off by 4.4% and turboprops by 10%.
The rest of the world posted a 28.9% jump in business aviation flight activity with turboprops showing a 36.9% improvement. Midsize jets followed closely behind, up 36.9%. Small jets showed strength with a 29.1% increase in activity, and large-cabin jets also saw an increase, up 10.1%.
Argus forecast that traffic will remain down YOY in October, by 2.7% in North America and 3.6% in Europe.
Global business aviation flight activity inched down by 0.3% in September as the North American market was off by 3.4% and Europe by 3.2%, according to the latest report from industry analyst and safety specialist Argus International. It is forecasting that traffic will remain down year over year (YOY) in October, by 2.7% in North America and 3.6% in Europe.
In North America, traffic was in line with Argus’ forecast of a 3.6% dip with fractional activity as the only segment up, by 6.9%, in September YOY. Part 135 continued a downward trend of 5.4% while Part 91 activity similarly dropped by 5.6%. Traffic decreased in all four aircraft categories with large cabins posting the biggest YOY decline of 8.1%. This was followed by turboprops, down by 4.7%, small cabins at -2.3%, and midsize jets at -0.8%.
Despite the overall decline in Europe, activity edged up by 0.8% in the large-cabin segment and by 0.2% with midsize jets. However, light jet activity was still off by 4.4% and turboprops by 10%.
The rest of the world posted a 28.9% jump in business aviation flight activity, with turboprops showing a 36.9% improvement. Midsize jets followed closely behind, up 36.9%. Small jets showed strength with a 29.1% increase in activity, and large-cabin jets also saw an increase, up 10.1%.