As states and countries begin loosening Covid-19 related restrictions the private jet industry is beginning to come back to life. The surge in private jet use immediately after the lockdown was a poor indication of what was to come. The decline in business in April has been crippling to many players in the Industry but the most recent numbers show that private jet flights are back on the rise.
“Business aviation activity globally is still at least 50% below normal, but the trend this month is stronger than last month, and steadily recovering in all regions, in contrast to still-idle scheduled airline capacity,” says Richard Koe, managing director of WingX, which compiled the data in weekly Global Market Tracker.
Palm Beach International Airport was the busiest airport in the world for private aviation with heavy traffic coming in from the northeastern US. An indication that as things slowly open up private aviation can expect to see a ramped-up trajectory. The bulk of US flights were led by the light jet category followed by twin turbo. Long-range large-cabin private jet activity continued to be the hardest hit.
“Our business is seeing an increase in overall traffic from this time last year and we are also seeing new entrants to the private jet space. High net worth individuals who had previously stayed true to commercial options for vacation and business are now opting to travel privately. The obvious reasons being safety, people feel more secure on a private jet than risking increased exposure on a commercial airline,” says Todd Rubin, President of Triumph Jets.
