A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Global business jet activity&nbsp;declined last week by 0.7% compared to the previous week, according to the latest weekly usage report from industry data tracker WingX. However, activity was up 3.7% from a year ago.
North America was flat year over year, up just 0.2% overall. While California flights were down 2.3%, activity in Florida increased by 5.7%. Thus far for 2026, larger aircraft, including ultra-long-range and super-midsize jets, have fared better than their smaller siblings, up 9.4% and 8.5%, respectively.
In Europe, activity declined for the second straight week, down 2.6%. While France led in usage (+6.6%), Italy (-13.2%), Germany (-6.6%), and Switzerland (-1.3%) all saw decreases. Business jet usage for the rest of the world was relatively static.
Looking ahead to this weekend in the U.S., New York’s business jet traffic consistently contracts over the Independence Day holiday, according to the JetNet subsidiary. This year, however, the holiday lands on a Saturday, and the city is averaging 1,300 arrivals over a typical weekend this summer. Two other events could affect the usual drawdown in traffic for July 4: Taylor Swift’s wedding and a FIFA World Cup match in New Jersey, both of which could pull additional traffic into the New York area that would not otherwise see a lot of activity.

WingX: Bizjet Usage Flat ahead of U.S. Holiday Weekend

July 4 holiday typically sees a traffic downturn

North American business jet activity was flat last week, while activity in Europe was down.

WingX: Bizjet Usage Flat ahead of Holiday Weekend

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