While conventional wisdom and other data have always shown a correlation between GDP growth and opportunities for business aviation fleet growth, other factors such as culture, infrastructure, and government regulations are currently holding back gains in countries which are currently seeing the highest growth rates.
According to JetNet’s JetNet iQ State of the Market Briefing presented during the National Business Aviation Association’s annual conference being held here in Orlando, economic growth and private jet fleet growth isn’t always related. While industry lore says GDP increases in the 3% range and north spur orders of private jets, the five markets with the biggest growth current face multiple barriers.
India, China, Malta, Turkey and Australia each are enjoying annual growth rates between 3.2% (for Oz) to 7.4% for the land of Gandhi. Currently, they account for just 5% of the world business jet fleet. The U.S. continues to have the world’s large private jet fleet by a tenfold margin and is enjoying 2.9% GDP growth, yet the market is still in a tepid recovery that has stretched nearly a decade since the Great Recession.