April 18, 2024
Argus TraqPak analysts are projecting a 3.3% decrease in overall North American flight activity year over year for October 2022. It comes after the North American market finished up 0.1% year-over-year, even with the significant slowdown caused by hurricane Ian.
“After multiple months of cooling in the U.S. market, September showed signs of more growth, but the final results were impacted by the reduction in flight activity due to hurricane Ian. Overall, North America and Europe remain at healthy levels while the remaining regions of the world showed strong growth signs during the month of September,” says Travis Kuhn, Argus Senior Vice President, Market Intelligence.
TraqPak’s review of the year-over-year flight activity (September 2022 vs. September 2021) indicates that September 2022 reported a slight increase in yearly activity, finishing up 0.1%; September 2022 recorded 405 more flights than the prior year.
Before the arrival of Hurricane Ian, activity had been on pace to finish up 2.3%.
The results by operational category were mixed for the month, with Part 91 activity recording the largest increase, finishing up 5.7% from September 2021.
Fractional activity was up for the month, as the segment showed a gain of 4.9%.
The Part 135 segment (on-demand charter and jet cards) continues to see signs of cooling as activity dropped 8.2% year-over-year.
An analysis of jet card and charter prices by Private Jet Card Comparisons shows prices continued to increase in Q3.
The aircraft categories were mixed with large cabin activity posting the only monthly increase in activity, up 4.5% from September 2021.
Turboprops followed with a decline of 0.2%, while the light jet market posted another month with a slight decrease in activity, down 0.2% for the period.
Midsize jets rounded out the activity with a decline of 1.0%.
The largest individual gain occurred in Part 91 large cabin segment, with activity rising 8.8% for the year.
September business aviation flight activity was flat when compared to August, posting a monthly change of 0.0%. Overall, September recorded 52 fewer flights than August.
Results by operational category were mixed for the month, with Part 91 activity posting the largest monthly increase, up 2.6% from August.
Fractional activity was up 0.5% month-to-month, while Part 135 activity slipped 3.6% from August.
Reviewing the FAA regional activity, five of the eight regions recorded monthly increases in activity from August.
The largest monthly gain occurred in the Southwest region, while the largest monthly decline occurred in New England. Activity in Canada and the Caribbean combined decreased by 10.1% month over month. Overall North American activity was still up 16.6% from September 2019.
