Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Fractional and charter operations are driving increases in global business jet activity, but corporate activity is lagging, according to aviation analyst Jefferies. Citing WingX data and its own estimates, Jefferies noted that fractional and charter activity was up by 8% year over year (YOY) in November, but at the same time, corporate flight department activity was down by 5%.
Even so, business jet operations were up by 8% globally YOY and 5% year to date (YTD). The Asia-Pacific region led the global increases, up by 11% YOY, followed by North America (up 8% YOY) and Europe (up 1% YOY).
Underlying the continued strength post-Covid, flight hours were up 47% from 2019. Average trip duration increased by 1% YOY to about 1.7 hours. Jefferies estimated average monthly hours per aircraft at 16.2, a 3% improvement over the 15.6 a year earlier.
North America, which accounts for 72% of global departures, marked the improvement despite the fact that flights at 40 large airports were restricted for several days in the month, including at Teterboro in New Jersey.
As far as fractional operations, in addition to the YOY jump, they are up 7% YTD. Flexjet led the activity gains, up 18% YOY, followed by FlyExclusive (up 15%) and NetJets (10%). FlyExclusive hours are up by 190% since 2019, and Flexjet by 130%.
Aircraft management operations were up 3% YOY, but down by 2% YTD. Private flight departments—those operated for a private individual—were down 3% YOY but up by 2% YTD. Along with being down YOY, corporate flight departments are down by 7% YTD.
By OEM, Embraer departures were up 14% YOY in November and by 18% in the third quarter. Textron Aviation followed with 6% YOY and 3% in the third quarter, Bombardier by 8% YOY and 7% in the third quarter, and Gulfstream by 9% YOY and 6% in the third quarter.

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Fractional operations continued to increase in November, but corporate flight department activity dipped, according to Jefferies.

Frax Driving Global Activity Jump; Flight Depts Lagging

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