Story ID: 
October Air Charter Demand Looking Flat
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: Demand for charter flights during October looks set to remain somewhat flat, according to the latest projections from online charter portal Avinode
Word Count: 209
Demand for charter flights during October looks set to remain somewhat flat, according to the latest projections from online charter portal Avinode. On Friday, the company’s forward-looking demand index stood at 124.75, marginally down on where it had been on August 31, but nonetheless, almost 26 points from 12 months ago. Avinode’s price index for the next 30 days indicates that rates will be almost unchanged compared with how things looked on August 31, standing at 99.16 for the global market, 99.55 in Europe and 98.76 in the U.S. However, all three sectors were between one and three points up on where they had been 12 months earlier, reinforcing the impression that the market is continuing a very slow recovery from the lows of 2009. At the same time, Avinode’s latest data for actual average flight hour rates now being paid gave a mixed picture geographically, with the North American market seeing no more than between 1 or 2 percent increases over the last few months and international markets generating healthier increases of between 1 and 7 percent. As of Friday, the average charter rates in North America for the Citation Excel, Hawker 800 and Challenger 604 were, respectively, $3,186, $3,404 and $4,830 per hour. In the rest of the world, the average rates for the same business jets were €2,888 ($3,812), €3,221 ($4,251) and €4,795 ($6,329) per hour.