Bizav Flying Rises in May Despite Economic Uncertainty

Turbine business aircraft flight activity last month rose 2.7% year over year (YOY), largely boosted by 14% growth in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and South America, according to the latest TraqPak data from Argus International. North America and Europe saw modest gains of 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, versus a year ago. The company’s analysts are predicting a 1.1% YOY increase in North American flight activity and a 0.4% YOY uptick in Europe this month.

“Business aviation activity continues to remain resilient in the midst of economic uncertainty,” said Argus senior v-p of software Travis Kuhn. “Activity in North America is looking strong heading into summer, and we got an added bonus of positive activity in Europe for May. June looks like more blue skies, but, as always, we will monitor.”

In North America, all aircraft categories except for midsize jets saw YOY gains in activity last month: light jets, +1.9%; large-cabin jets, +1.7%; and turboprops, +0.8%. Midsize jet flying was mostly flat, falling 0.1%. By operator, only fractional providers posted a gain—up 6.8% YOY—while Part 91 and charter flying (Part 135) were more sluggish, falling 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively. Two individual categories experienced double-digit increases: fractional large-cabin jets (+23.8%) and fractional light jets (+15.9%).

Europe’s “surprise gain” last month—Argus analysts expected a 3.6% drop—was thanks to a surge in activity of midsize (+1.5%) and large-cabin (+4.8%) jets, offset by turboprops (-1.2%) and light jets (-2.8%).

Meanwhile, turboprops boosted flying activity in the rest of the world with a 23.3% increase, followed by light (+10.1%), large-cabin (+9.3%), and midsize (+0.8%) jets. Argus’ heat map indicates that Brazil and Australia featured prominently in these gains.