November 14, 2024
An analysis of private aviation departures from WingX data by Private Jet Card Comparisons reveals a wide disparity in how COVID-19 impacted private jet travel on a country-by-country basis.
There was only one country that saw departures increase during the period and at the bottom of the list, 10 countries saw flying less than 50% of 2019 totals.
Looking at the 50 countries and territories with the most private aviation departures between March and July 2020, Nigeria’s private flights are at 103% of 2019 levels, up 3%.
Still, it was a bumpy ride powered by a 57% increase in flights during July. During the five months of data reviewed, Nigeria’s private aviation departures were ahead of 2019 levels in four months, although April departures dropped 73%.
Globally, private aviation flights were at 60% from March through July this year compared to the same period last year.
Colombia (95% of 2019 flight levels), Serbia (93%), Brazil (89%), Kazakhstan (83%), Australia (81%), Sweden (80%), U.S. Virgin Islands (77%), Norway (76%), Croatia (76%), South Africa (72%), and Turkey (70%) were the only other countries besides Nigeria where private flights remained within 70% of 2019 levels from March through July.
Costa Rica (34% of last year’s levels), Mexico (35%), Bahamas (36%), St. Barth’s (38%), Italy (45%), Ireland (46%), Israel (48%), United Kingdom (48%), Dominican Republic (49%), and Saudi Arabia (49%) saw the biggest drops, with private aviation departures at less than 50% of 2019 levels.
Morocco, St. Maarten, Slovakia, Indonesia and Malaysia dropped off the list of the 50 largest markets in 2020.
Among the 10 countries with the most private aviation activity, the United States saw levels for the period at 61% of 2019 totals, Canada was at 63%, followed by France (56%), Mexico (35%), Australia (81%), U.K. (48%), Germany (68%), Italy (45%), Spain (55%), and Switzerland (61%).
In terms of those Top 10 private jet markets, Australia was the clear winner and sixth-best performer on a percentage basis in the Top 50. The U.S. finds itself smack in the middle, ranked 25th in terms of 2020 activity compared to 2019 (story continues below table).
| Rank | Country | March | April | May | June | July | Variance to 2019 |
| 1 | Nigeria | 26.9% | -73.3% | 13.9% | 4.3% | 56.5% | 103% |
| 2 | Colombia | 4.6% | -42.9% | -24.6% | 10.2% | 24.1% | 95% |
| 3 | Serbia | -13.7% | -63.0% | -41.5% | 23.8% | 34.1% | 93% |
| 4 | Brazil | 4.3% | -52.5% | -26.6% | -9.1% | 28.8% | 89% |
| 5 | Kazakhstan | -1.2% | -61.8% | -11.3% | -13.2% | -0.4% | 83% |
| 6 | Australia | -21.2% | -40.5% | -23.8% | -4.7% | -2.2% | 81% |
| 7 | Sweden | -2.8% | -29.2% | -26.2% | -23.5% | -19.5% | 80% |
| 8 | U.S. Virgin Islands | -10.9% | -69.5% | -48.5% | 0.0% | 9.6% | 77% |
| 9 | Norway | -23.1% | -33.2% | -29.8% | -25.0% | -10.0% | 76% |
| 10 | Croatia | -32.2% | -86.9% | -65.7% | -6.3% | 4.1% | 76% |
| 11 | South Africa | 21.2% | -79.3% | -68.2% | -15.4% | -3.6% | 72% |
| 12 | Turkey | -45.1% | -61.8% | -46.4% | -21.7% | -4.5% | 70% |
| 13 | Hungary | -47.2% | -74.2% | -60.8% | -31.9% | 38.3% | 68% |
| 14 | Cyprus | -3.4% | -73.9% | -72.7% | -30.8% | 34.1% | 68% |
| 15 | Germany | -34.1% | -64.2% | -45.7% | -18.7% | -0.3% | 68% |
| 16 | United Arab Emirates | -18.8% | -73.0% | -49.4% | -26.9% | 17.7% | 67% |
| 17 | Japan | -21.6% | -48.4% | -41.9% | -24.1% | -32.6% | 66% |
| 18 | Russia | -8.6% | -70.0% | -55.0% | -35.4% | -6.6% | 66% |
| 19 | New Zealand | -17.1% | -77.3% | -46.7% | -22.2% | -13.4% | 65% |
| 20 | Czech Republic | -36.6% | -70.2% | -63.7% | -29.0% | 11.1% | 64% |
| 21 | Poland | -46.5% | -70.2% | -55.4% | -26.3% | 5.7% | 63% |
| 22 | Canada | -14.7% | -58.3% | -49.4% | -35.8% | -25.8% | 63% |
| 23 | Puerto Rico | -16.8% | -76.7% | -57.9% | -24.4% | -4.6% | 63% |
| 24 | Switzerland | -33.0% | -77.8% | -62.5% | -29.5% | -0.5% | 61% |
| 25 | United States | -30.2% | -69.5% | -48.8% | -25.1% | -20.6% | 61% |
| 26 | Finland | -12.5% | -57.3% | -57.0% | -37.3% | -33.6% | 60% |
| 27 | Austria | -38.8% | -78.7% | -62.5% | -32.3% | 7.0% | 60% |
| 28 | Iceland | -37.7% | -48.6% | -40.1% | -41.9% | -36.5% | 59% |
| 29 | India | -18.0% | -89.8% | -72.1% | 2.9% | -4.1% | 59% |
| 30 | Denmark | -28.9% | -61.0% | -51.6% | -45.2% | -17.1% | 59% |
| 31 | Ukraine | -12.0% | -82.3% | -68.8% | -51.7% | -3.6% | 57% |
| 32 | Belgium | -40.1% | -84.3% | -70.9% | -33.2% | 8.3% | 57% |
| 33 | Romania | -48.0% | -71.2% | -59.1% | -26.8% | -23.2% | 57% |
| 34 | Portugal | -12.6% | -80.2% | -69.8% | -39.3% | -14.6% | 56% |
| 35 | France | -43.1% | -76.9% | -63.3% | -41.4% | -10.0% | 56% |
| 36 | Spain | -20.9% | -74.8% | -73.0% | -62.3% | -1.7% | 55% |
| 37 | Netherlands | -36.1% | -76.1% | -64.6% | -43.4% | -5.4% | 54% |
| 38 | China | -66.1% | -65.0% | -52.6% | -22.1% | -13.8% | 54% |
| 39 | Luxembourg | -37.0% | -79.9% | -71.3% | -36.9% | -10.7% | 52% |
| 40 | Greece | -18.5% | -70.3% | -64.3% | -67.4% | -35.3% | 50% |
| 41 | Saudi Arabia | -38.5% | -59.3% | -64.1% | -50.5% | -38.6% | 49% |
| 42 | Dominican Republic | -27.5% | -85.0% | -71.5% | -55.4% | -4.7% | 49% |
| 43 | United Kingdom | -23.3% | -76.3% | -70.1% | -60.5% | -30.1% | 48% |
| 44 | Israel | -48.5% | -66.9% | -56.4% | -58.5% | -30.8% | 48% |
| 45 | Ireland | -16.6% | -65.5% | -70.5% | -64.6% | -43.4% | 46% |
| 46 | Italy | -70.1% | -78.4% | -76.8% | -50.3% | -29.0% | 45% |
| 47 | Saint Barthalemy | -34.7% | -93.0% | -84.4% | -67.0% | -34.0% | 38% |
| 48 | Bahamas | -41.2% | -94.5% | -88.6% | -73.1% | -14.4% | 36% |
| 49 | Mexico | -47.0% | -86.0% | -79.0% | -60.8% | -50.7% | 35% |
| 50 | Costa Rica | -8.7% | -92.1% | -84.7% | -80.3% | -81.0% | 34% |
In terms of trends within the period, Nigeria (up 57% in July), Hungary (+38%), Cyprus (+34%), Serbia (+34%), Brazil (+29%), Colombia (+24%), United Arab Emirates (+18%), and Czech Republic (+10%) saw the biggest gains last month compared to the same month for 2019.
Looking at countries with the biggest swings from June to July this year, Hungary went from down 32% in June year-over-year to up by 38% in July, a jump of 70 percentage points. Cyprus saw a +65 point gain, while Spain (+61 points), Bahamas (+59), Nigeria (+52), Dominican Republic (+51), Ukraine (+48), UAE (+45), and Belgium (+42) all realized the biggest improvements.
The WingX data is based on departures between March and July from 2019 and 2020. It covers all sizes of private jets and turboprops.
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