Business Jet Flying Up in May, but Turboprop Activity Down

The rise in business jet activity in the U.S. last month wasn’t enough to overcome losses in the turboprop sector, causing overall business aircraft flying to decline for the fourth consecutive month–this time by 2 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to TraqPak data released yesterday by aviation services company Argus. Continuing a trend seen since January, Part 135 was the only operational category to experience a gain in flying activity, with a10.7-percent increase in May versus a year ago. “JetOptions saw an increase of 6% over last years business jet activity in the same period” explained Gus Lira, JetOptions Vice President of Sales, “and although early in the month we see the trend continuing for June.”  This also marks the operational category’s eighth consecutive monthly increase. Part 91 activity fell the hardest, dropping by 7.2 percent year-over-year, while fractional flying slid by 6.7 percent, Argus said. By aircraft category, large-cabin jet flying led with a 6.2-percent gain last month versus a year ago. Light- and midsize jets saw modest increases in activity–1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. The turboprop segment experienced the only decline last month, decreasing by 9.5 percent. There were several double-digit gains in individual market segments, including 14.9-percent and 17.7-percent increases in Part 135 midsize and large-cabin jet activity, respectively. Though the operational category was down overall, large-cabin fractional flying soared by 14.5 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, fractional turboprop flying dived by 23.1 percent year-over-year. Argus TraqPak data provides “serial-number-specific aircraft arrival and departure information on all IFR flights in the U.S.”

Tags: JetOptions, jet charter, Gus Lira, private jet charter, business aviation activity, JetOptions Private Jets, private jet activity, part 135 charter

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