Story ID: 
Global Business Aircraft Flying Drops in June
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: North America and Europe lag, but the rest of the world sees an increase in activity
Word Count: 255
Business aircraft flight activity last month fell 3.4% year over year (YOY), with North America down 4.9% and Europe falling 8%, offset by an 18.5% increase in the rest of the world, according to TraqPak data from Argus International. The company’s analysts had forecast a 3.2% decline in North America; for July, they expect flying in North America to see a marginal 0.2% increase while European activity would decrease by 5.1%.
In North America, fractional activity climbed by 12.1% YOY in June, while Part 135 and 91 flying activity eroded by 5.3% and 10.2%, respectively. By aircraft category in the region, midsize jets saw the least erosion, down 0.2%, followed by light jets, -5.9%; turboprops, -6.3%; and large-cabin jets, -10.4%. In individual segments, fractional midsize jets came in on top, increasing 14.8% YOY, while Part 135 large-cabin jet flying fared the worst, falling 15.2%.
Looking at Europe, light jet activity eked out a 0.8% YOY gain, while midsize jets were flat and turboprops and large-cabin jets dipped 20.7% and 11.2%, respectively. In the rest of the world, turboprop and light- and midsize-jet flying surged by more than 20% from a year ago, while large-cabin jets saw only a 0.5% increase.
“June was mostly status quo for our activity levels around the globe. North America and Europe are sluggish, but still remain up from pre-Covid levels, while the remaining regions of the world continue to see yearly growth,” said Argus senior v-p of software Travis Kuhn. “We continue to monitor Part 135 activity closely, and now the Part 91 market after the segment reported a double-digit yearly decline in June.”