Global business aviation flight activity grew by 4 percent last year, according to JSSI’s 2013 year-end Business Aviation Index, which tracks the number of hours that business aircraft have flown by region, industry and aircraft type. This exceeds the 2.9 percent worldwide GDP growth that the International Monetary Fund estimates for 2013, JSSI said.
By industry, flight hours increased in the manufacturing, power/energy and real estate segments last year, but contracted in the construction, financial services and healthcare field. This ranged from a 29-percent rise in flying by power and energy companies to a 13-percent decrease at construction companies.
However, JSSI’s data shows that business aviation flying accelerated last year in virtually every region of the world. In fact, flight activity climbed steeply last year in China and the Middle East, rising by 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively. The U.S., the world’s largest business aviation market, saw more modest growth of 6 percent.
For the first time, the JSSI Business Aviation Index includes data on flight activity by aircraft type. Light, midsize and large-cabin jet flying was up across the board–by 7 percent, 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively–according to JSSI. However, this was dwarfed by single-engine turboprop activity, which climbed by 60 percent last year, JSSI said.
