April 25, 2024
A 17.1% gain in fractional turboprop flying helped power shared ownership to a 13.4% October year-over-year increase, according to Argus TraqPak’s monthly report.
The forecasters at Argus TraqPak expect private jet fights in North America to be up 0.7% in November.
That’s a reduction from their full-year forecast, which had pegged November to grow by 1.6% compared to 2022.
For October, the North American market reported a 1.9% yearly decrease in activity from last October.
That was short of the 0.4% increase Argus expected in its month-to-month forecast.
Its annual forecast had expected a 0.6% gain.
Speaking of last month and looking ahead, Argus SVP Travis Kuhn tells Private Jet Card Comparisons, “Business aircraft activity remains stubbornly stable. We expected activity to move into positive territory in October but ultimately saw 309,000 flights in North America, compared to the 316,000 we had forecasted.”
Kuhn continues, “It was still a very strong month, and we expect that November will finally move into positive territory, but we’ll monitor that closely.”
The results by operational category continued with a similar trend of Fractional activity remaining the only positive segment, up 13.4% year over year.
Part 135 flights (jet cards and on-demand charter) finished down 6.0% year over year due mainly to continued sluggish activity for light jets and turboprops.
Turboprop flying was down 11.2% compared to 2022.
That could mean good news for Wheels Up. It’s the largest operator in that segment with its fleet of King Air 350s.
Since the tracking also includes empty legs, it could reflect fewer repositioning flights for its reduced PSA.
The Part 91 market was slowed by 3.5% thanks to a 7.9% decline in midsize cabin activity.
The aircraft categories were mixed for the month, with large cabin jets posting the most significant increase, up 2.5%.
Midsize cabin aircraft increased 0.4% for the month, while light jets dropped 2.7%.
The turboprop market reported the largest drop-in activity, finishing down 5.8%.
Five individual segments reported year-over-year increases, with all four fractional segments reporting an increase again.
The largest increase was recorded in the Fractional turboprop market, up 17.1% year over year.
Pilatus PC-12 operator PlaneSense is the largest fractional turboprop operator in North America.
