April 18, 2024
Halloween brought tricks rather than treats, according to the latest private jet flight activity report and forecast from Argus TraqPak.
“October’s flight activity landscape is indicative of transition. On one side of the coin, we’re up double digits from October 2019, and on the other side, we’re down from last year’s all-time high,” says Argus Senior Vice President Travis Kuhn.
Argus analysts estimate a 1.4% decrease in North American flight activity year-over-year in November.
It’s a continued pullback from earlier this year when the expectation was the industry would continue to beat last year’s record flight levels.
October 2022 reported a decrease in yearly activity, finishing down 4.9%.
However, flights were still up 13.4% compared to October 2019.
October 2021 remains the busiest month on record.
The results by operational category were mixed for the month.
Fractional activity recorded the only increase, finishing up 0.2% from October 2021.
Part 91 activity was down for the month as the segment produced a decline of 1.7%. The Part 135 segment showed signs of leveling off from its recent declines after activity dropped 10.6% from October 2021.
The segment was up 6.7% from September.
Aircraft categories all saw negative, with midsize private jet activity posting the most significant monthly decrease in activity, down 6.2% from October 2021.
Turboprops followed with a decline of 5.2%, while the light jet market posted a decrease in activity of 4.8%.
Large cabin jets rounded out the segments with a decline of 1.8%.
Still, there are reasons to be optimistic. NetJets says it has sold out its entire 2023 delivery schedule of private jets secured by non-refundable 20% deposits.
