Story ID: 
Charter Demand Actually Rising
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: In last Thursday’s issue of AINalerts, we inadvertently reported Avinode’s price index data instead of the demand index for the coming month.
Word Count: 160
In last Thursday’s issue of AINalerts, we inadvertently reported Avinode’s price index data instead of the demand index for the coming month. In fact, the demand index shows rising charter demand with the index for April 1 standing just over four points up on the March 1 index at 85.98. The April 1 demand index was also almost 14 points higher than where it had stood 12 months earlier when it reached 72.09 on that day in 2009. According to figures released this morning by Avinode, this week’s demand is 13.16 points above the year-ago period, a 16.5-percent increase. Meanwhile, the latest charter flight hour data from CharterX showed rising activity in all sectors of the market. Demand for midsize jets was the strongest at 21 percent above the previous month, with 16,241 flight hours. Light jet flying climbed 5 percent to 15,492 hours and heavy by 5.3 percent to 9,007 hours. Online charter portals Avinode and CharterX have agreed to merge and expect to close this deal within a few weeks.