December 19, 2024
After a 9% week-to-week drop from Week 16 to 17 in global flight activity, Week 18 flight activity fell 2% from last week.
However, charter and fractional operators bucked the trend with a 4% week-to-week gain this week.
Overall, Week 18 saw 73,595 private jet departures, of which 36,060 were by charter and fractional operators.
While U.S. private jet flight activity dipped 1%, Europe fell 2% despite an increase in Switzerland and Italy.
The Middle East and South America were each down 14% week-to-week.
However, globally, private jet flights were still 23% ahead of Week 18 for 2021 and 27% better than the trailing month.
| Market | Last Week (Flights) | % Change vs. prior week | % Change vs 2021 | Last 4 Weeks (Flights) | % Change vs. 2021 |
| Global | 73,595 | -2% | 23% | 295,000 | 27% |
| North America | 57,982 | -1% | 21% | 233,357 | 26% |
| USA | 53,317 | -1% | 21% | 213,481 | 26% |
| Florida | 7,810 | -1% | 13% | 33,091 | 18% |
| California | 5,384 | -3% | 20% | 22,008 | 25% |
| Texas | 5,306 | -2% | 16% | 21,656 | 23% |
| Europe | 11,291 | -2% | 36% | 43,535 | 39% |
| UK | 1,576 | 2% | 125% | 5,883 | 108% |
| Germany | 1,545 | 1% | 34% | 5,425 | 19% |
| France | 1,632 | -5% | 36% | 6,492 | 54% |
| Switzerland | 735 | 8% | 39% | 2,756 | 32% |
| Italy | 1,139 | 6% | 68% | 4,513 | 87% |
| Middle East | 1,184 | -14% | 12% | 5,223 | 30% |
| Africa | 698 | -1% | 23% | 2,799 | 15% |
| Asia | 1,860 | -14% | 19% | 8,206 | 27% |
| South America | 1,185 | -14% | 30% | 4,868 | 45% |
For fractional and charter operators, global flights increased 4% week-to-week and 18% from last year.
U.S. charter and fractional operators had a 2% week-to-week gain with flight activity 13% above the same week last year and were 18% up for the past month.
| Market (Part 91K & Part135) | Last Week (Flights) | % Change vs. prior week | % Change vs 2021 | Last 4 Weeks (Flights) | % Change vs. 2021 |
| Global | 36,060 | 4% | 18% | 143,371 | 23% |
| North America | 28,129 | 2% | 13% | 113,123 | 19% |
| USA | 27,127 | 2% | 13% | 108,413 | 18% |
| Florida | 4,424 | 4% | 6% | 18,564 | 11% |
| California | 3,329 | 0% | 14% | 13,514 | 21% |
| Texas | 2,183 | -1% | 10% | 8,897 | 18% |
| Europe | 7,533 | 12% | 42% | 28,596 | 41% |
| UK | 1,101 | 16% | 131% | 4,054 | 109% |
| Germany | 923 | 18% | 39% | 3,254 | 20% |
| France | 1,081 | 9% | 51% | 4,266 | 63% |
| Switzerland | 530 | 24% | 40% | 1,931 | 30% |
| Italy | 842 | 20% | 72% | 3,239 | 87% |
| Middle East | 471 | 1% | 8% | 1,976 | 13% |
| Africa | 128 | 1% | 41% | 558 | 29% |
| Asia | 209 | -1% | 11% | 975 | 11% |
| South America | 34 | 70% | 240% | 96 | 60% |
European charter and fractional flights jumped 12% from Week 17 and were 42% ahead of 2021.
Switzerland (24%), Italy (20%), Germany (18%), and the UK (16%) all saw double-digit gains.
Commenting on results so far in May, WingX Managing Director Richard Koe says, “Growth trends in flights compared to pre-pandemic seemed to stutter in April but are surging in May, especially for business jet demand in the US. Branded charter operations and Private flight Departments are both flying high, whilst Corporate Flight Departments are seeing signs of recovery but are still at modest levels. The Russian market for business jets is evaporating, but it may be that the demand for business jet travel is soaked up elsewhere this summer.”
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