Charter Demand and Pricing Rise for the Summer Season 2012
Posted on August 3rd, 2012
Demand for private aircraft charter is poised to soar this month during the peak Northern-hemisphere vacation season, according to online charter portal Avinode. The company’s forward-looking demand index for the next 30 days jumped 20 points, from 162.90 on July 2 to 182.69 today. It is also almost 68 points higher than where it was a year ago. Projections for charter pricing seem set to firm up too, but not to the same degree as the boost in demand. According to Avinode, the global price index for the next 30 days is almost 3 points above that from a month ago, with rates set to increase slightly more in the U.S. market than in Europe. JetOptions has seen higher increases for charter demand and pricing than reported by Avinode. The latest sample data on average hourly rates paid for three sample aircraft types reinforces the impression of the North American market’s improving more strongly than international markets. For example, over the past three months, the average hourly rate for a Cessna Citation Excel increased in North America by 7.8 percent to $4,232, while outside North America the average increase was 4.9 percent to $4,449. Globally, the strongest recorded increase was for the Hawker 800, which saw almost a 50-percent spike in international markets to $5,320 per hour as of July 31. In North America, the Hawker 800 hourly rate rose to $4,417, a 10.6-percent increase from three months ago.
