“Another solid growth month for business aviation activity in Europe, despite the absence of the Euro football championship finals which boosted activity last year. Southern Europe is seeing strongest regional growth, reflecting the increase in activity at the most popular Med resorts such as Ibiza and Mallorca. Primarily, charter demand is driving this activity growth. London, Madrid and Berlin appear to be the most frequent connection points for this surge in flights. The signs are that summer 2017 could be a hot one for the European charter market.”
June was the busiest month so far in 2017, with some 84,000 departures, up 2.7% YOY, taking the trend for the first half of the year to 3.1%, an additional 12,000 flights compared to H1-2016. Activity in June 2017 was still 4.5% down on a decade ago, in June 2007.
Europe´s busiest market, France, saw a 6% drop in business aviation activity, but that was due to the unusually high level of activity during the Euro Football Championships last summer. Flight activity in France is still up by 1% on a YTD basis.
Other large business aviation markets saw growth this month, modest for Germany, Switzerland, UK, but more than 10% YOY in Spain and Italy. Biggest growth in country flows was evident between Germany and Spain, UK and Italy.
Overall, flights in Southern Europe were up by 12% YOY in June, taking the 6 month trend for this region to 6%. Departures from Eastern Europe were up by 8% in June. Activity in the Russia market was flat, improving on a L12M trend of -4%.
Transatlantic arrivals into Europe were up by 12% this month. More modest growth of 3% in arrivals from the Middle East. Arrivals from North Africa were down 6%, but trending up 9% YTD. Arrivals from Asia were up 14% this month.
Of the biggest OEM fleets, Cessna activity was up by 4%, strongest in Midsize, VLJ and Prop segments. Bombardier flight sectors were up by 10%, strongest in the ULR segment. Embraer aircraft flew 5,196 sectors, up 23% YOY.
Most business jet segments saw some growth this month, the exceptions being the older Entry Level and Midsize Jets, with notable declines on the Hawker 700-900 platform and on CJ1 and CJ2 aircraft. SLJ, VLJ, SMJ segments posted 12th consecutive months of growth.
Private flights slightly decreased this month, with largest declines in France, Germany, UK, Switzerland. AOC activity maintained its growth in every month this year, with trends strongest this month in Germany, Italy and Spain.
The busiest airports saw some declines this month – at Le Bourget, Nice, Ciampino. Smaller airports saw strong growth in YOY activity, with flights from Mallorca, Biggin Hill and Ibiza respectively growing 14%, 18% and 25%.
