Contributor - Asia

Jennifer Meszaros

As Southeast Asia’s commercial aviation sector charts an uneven recovery from the pandemic, its business aviation market is demonstrating robust, albeit constrained, growth. Driven by new wealth and corporate demand, the sector’s growth metrics highlight a market still in its formative stages relative to the region’s economic weight.
The numbers reveal both the momentum and the scale of the opportunity. Speaking to AIN, Adam Cowburn, managing director at Alton Aviation Consultancy in Singapore, said regional business jet departures have grown at a compound annual rate of 7.8% since 2019. He identified Thailand and Vietnam as the leaders of this expansion,&nbsp;though from different starting points.
“The number of business jet departures in Thailand has more than doubled since 2019. Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok remains the second-busiest business aviation airport in Southeast Asia with approximately 2,700 departures per year, behind only Singapore’s Seletar Airport with approximately 4,000. Vietnam has also experienced low double-digit growth—an 11% CAGR—since 2019, though off a much lower base.”
According to Cowburn, the larger, established country markets—Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines—have seen steadier, mid-single-digit growth since 2019, with a recent modest pull-back from peak post-Covid levels. Each records more than 2,000 annual departures.&nbsp;The concentrated activity, however, represents only a fraction of global demand.&nbsp;Cowburn noted that despite being home to about 8% of the world’s population, Southeast Asia accounts for a mere 0.6% of global business jet departures.
<h2>Commercial Malaise</h2>
On the commercial side, he noted that the recovery from the pandemic is strikingly uneven across the region. While global commercial aviation capacity recovered to pre-Covid levels by 2024, Southeast Asia presents a mixed picture.
“Vietnam (24.0% above 2019 levels, as measured by available seat kilometers), Singapore (5.5% above), and Malaysia (1.2% above) have now recovered to their pre-Covid levels of commercial aviation capacity,” he said. However, several key markets continue to lag.
“Cambodia (40.4% below 2019 levels), Indonesia (8.3% below), Thailand (7.1% below), and the Philippines (2.1% below) have yet to fully realize a post-Covid recovery.”
Cowburn attributes a significant portion of the shortfall in Cambodia and Thailand to a sharp drop in Chinese tourists, linked in part to personal security concerns in those destinations. A universal challenge across all segments, he adds, remains the production of new aircraft.&nbsp;
“Supply-chain constraints impacting the ability of aircraft manufacturers to deliver aircraft continue to hamper capacity expansion in Southeast Asia, as it does in the rest of the world.” 
 
The shortfall, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), amounted to an estimated&nbsp;global deficit of more than 5,200 aircraft deliveries in 2025.
“While passenger and cargo demand remain strong, persistent supply challenges could restrict airlines’ ability to meet the expectations of travellers and businesses alike,” AAPA director general Subhas Menon said at the association’s Assembly of Presidents in Bangkok last November. He further warned that renewed trade tensions and tariffs threatened to increase costs and disrupt the fragile recovery of aviation supply chains.
Compounding the delivery shortfall, maintenance bottlenecks also persist, with component and labor shortages extending turnaround times.&nbsp;Nevertheless, Menon struck an optimistic note for 2026, citing robust demand, strong economies, and favorable demographics underpinning Asia-Pacific commercial aviation’s positive outlook.
Still, in an environment of scarcity, business aviation in Southeast Asia is often viewed as a secondary consideration.
“In most locations around the region, business aircraft are frequently competing with commercial aircraft for space—runways, parking aprons, airspace, et cetera—while airport business models and infrastructure investments are typically focused on optimizing commercial airline passenger throughput,” Cowburn said.
<h2>Structural Hurdles</h2>
For established operators, navigating these structural hurdles&nbsp;is&nbsp;a daily reality, said Jenny Lau, vice chair of the Hong Kong-based Sino Jet Group, who also serves as vice chair for the Asian Business Aviation Association. Among the most pressing issues, she said, are the twin challenges of a shrinking talent pool and intense competition for infrastructure access.
“First, the shortage of skilled professionals and rising labor costs have become core challenges to the industry’s sustainable development,” Lau told AIN. “This challenge is not only financial—it also concerns whether service quality and safety standards can be consistently maintained at a high level over the long term.”
“Additionally, capacity and access constraints at key infrastructure points are becoming increasingly pronounced. At peak times, access to business jet slots, premium parking, and fixed-base operations (FBO) services at major Southeast Asian airports is nearing saturation. Securing stable and prioritized infrastructure access has become essential for ensuring customer experience and operational efficiency—and represents a new dividing line between operators of varying scale and capability.”
Despite industry pressures, Lau points to Sino Jet’s scale and global operations network as key advantages. She said the group maintained its status as the Asia-Pacific’s largest operator in 2025 for a sixth year, with a fleet of more than 40 aircraft, and is the sole Chinese leader with steady fleet growth. This scale is paired with a targeted fleet strategy where more than 95% of jets are large-cabin, including what the company describes as the world’s largest managed fleet of Gulfstream G650 aircraft—surpassing 20 units—alongside next-generation models like the Bombardier Global 7500.&nbsp;
According to Lau, this asset base supports a service model built for clients who prioritize cabin comfort, direct long-range travel, and full-life-cycle asset management. At the core of Sino Jet’s strategy is what the company calls the “Business Jet+” ecosystem—a shift from being a “flight service provider” to a “curator of lifestyle,” powered by data-driven insights that connect flights with bespoke luxury experiences.
“We are observing a new generation of entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals whose service expectations are distinctly different,” Lau said. “They prioritize the uniqueness of experiences, cultural depth, and emotional connection over traditional brand recognition. These clients are the core drivers of the demand for ‘personalized enrichment’ and are the most engaged participants and beneficiaries of our ‘Business Jet+’ ecosystem.”
Looking ahead, Lau stated that 2026 priorities include advancing digital intelligence and deepening partnerships to ensure seamless alignment from sky to destination. Concurrently, the company is placing a strategic bet on future mobility, having recently signed a definitive agreement to purchase 50 AE200 eVTOL aircraft from Aerofugia, with the aim of evolving its FBO network into vertiports to integrate long-range jets with last-mile electric air travel.
The focus on digital integration, data, and next-generation assets signals a broader consolidation of strategic and financial leadership currently taking place in Singapore, a trend highlighted by Hui Ling Teo, founder of Beyond Horizons, a specialized legal service delivered by Bethel Chambers.
“Singapore is quietly emerging as an underrated nerve center for aviation leasing, driven by the structural reality that Asia-Pacific will absorb the bulk of new commercial aircraft deliveries over the next decade,” she said. “What is shifting is not just geography, but decision-making gravity.” 
 
Teo points to the city-state’s unique combination of lifestyle appeal, tax clarity, legal certainty, and a deepening talent pool across aviation finance, engineering, analytics, and law. “That mix is increasingly resonating with senior executives who want their teams close to growth markets without sacrificing stability or quality of life.”
<h2>New Investments</h2>
According to the Singapore-based lawyer, the sector is also attracting new forms of investment, while the definition of risk is rapidly evolving.
“At the same time, as concerns around an AI valuation bubble grow, aviation is benefiting from renewed interest as a data-driven real-asset play,” Teo observed. She explained that analytics first deployed for sustainability—tracking fuel burn and emissions—are now being used to optimize yields, predict maintenance, and price risk more dynamically.
“Aviation is particularly compelling because it is a mobile infrastructure asset: consumables, repairs, engine health, and location tracking all feed into monetization models in real time. Investors are increasingly curious about adjacent parts of aviation—leasing, engines, maintenance, and data platforms—because the asset class behaves like infrastructure: long-dated cash flows, heavy capex, regulated interfaces, and strong links to sovereign and trade policy.”
The risk landscape is expanding into territory the industry has not historically mapped. While geopolitics and sanctions exposure are now factored in, Teo notes that “risks around airspace fragmentation, severe weather events—such as recent turbulence incidents—and even satellite interference and communications jamming are becoming material considerations.” Singapore’s strength, she suggests, lies in integrating legal, technical, and insurance responses into coherent operating frameworks.
Meanwhile, alternative fuels and propulsion technologies are reshaping who is investing in aviation. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) platforms, hydrogen concepts, and electrification initiatives are pulling in infrastructure funds, energy players, and climate-focused capital that previously sat outside the sector, she added.
Teo’s remarks come amid findings from a major 2025 study that quantify the region’s supply potential. The report,&nbsp;Promoting the Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels from Agricultural Waste in the ASEAN Region, was led by ASEAN with support from Global Affairs Canada, Boeing, and other partners. It projects Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam as net SAF exporters by 2040 using deforestation-free agricultural waste, and envisions a future supply chain with Singapore’s Neste-operated refinery as a pivotal hub alongside facilities in Japan and South Korea.

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