Small jets and
turboprops are powering the recovery of the market, Richard Koe,
Managing Director of WINGX highlighted last week.
During the first half of
2017, the UK saw a 4% growth in flights year-on-year, registering
340,000 IFR flights in total, he told delegates at SETops. This
marks the first time since 2009 the business aviation market has
grown, with August 2017 the busiest Europe has ever seen.
These
smaller aircraft types, which have been becoming more
prolific since 2015, now make up over half of the 15
busiest aircraft in Europe, with Pilatus PC-12s,
Mustangs and Twinstars seeing 10% growth this year alone
and the Embraer Phenom 300 a staggering 50% growth.
Most of this
growth, revealed Koe, is coming from charter, Part 135
and AOC operations, compared with stagnating owner
activity. For example, private aviation operations were
flat or declining in 2Q17 on both sides of the Atlantic.
According
to figures from WINGX, turboprop and piston activity
accounts for 40% of overall activity in Europe, but it
varies significantly from country to country. While in
France and Germany the market makes up 50% of the total
business aviation activity, in the UK, Italy and
Switzerland 70% of business aviation flights are still
carried out by jets. |
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WINGX
Managing Director, Richard Koe |
Peaking in the summer
season, turboprops and pistons are responsible for operating up to
5,000 flights a month, and growing 3% so far this year. Koe
estimates 12% of these flights are AOC operations and 12% are for
demo or training purposes. Furthermore, unique active tail signs
active each month are peaking at over 4,000, although on average
each aircraft has a pretty small work rate, totalling approximately
120-130 hours activity a year.
Singles account for 5,000
flights a month - only 10% on an AOC
Specifically, single
engine turboprop aircraft operations carried out by Cessna Caravans,
Pilatus PC-12s and Daher TBM 900s and 930s have seen a 15-20%
year-on-year growth this summer, and a 10% increase in flights for
the year-to-date. Combined, they account for up to 5,000 flights per
month with 350 tails active (only 7% of which are AOC operations).
Koe confirmed the
flight patterns of these aircraft are similar to very light jets,
with 75-80% lasting under one and a half hours, but their daily and
weekly seasonality differs.
Unlike business jets,
which are most active between 12pm midday and 4pm between Monday and
Friday through week, turboprops and pistons are more staggered in
terms of hour-to-hour activity, and with only a small minority of
operations at the weekend.
While Koe admitted
it’s the King Air 200 which has seen the most growth in the charter
market this year, up 16% or 1500 flights more than in 2016, he said
PC-12 charter flights have doubled, with almost 800 flights operated
since the new authorisation came into place.
If these figures
continue to grow, it’s possible the business aviation landscape will
look entirely different in a decade, he concluded.
Summer charter demand keeps
the market growing
In further news,
there were 79,280 business aviation departures in September
according to WINGX`s latest monthly Business Aviation Monitor. The
figure represents a 2.9% increase YOY, taking the YTD trend to 3.6%.
Activity in September 2017 was still 4.4% behind the pre-crisis peak
in September 2008.
Read and download the
September Report
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