Global private jet activity took off again last year, surpassing even pre-Covid levels. Richard Koe of our aviation data partner WINGX tracks the flight paths across the world’s leading regional city hubs
Business aviation activity hit some all-time highs in 2021 with a spectacular rebound in business jet demand in the second half of the year as Covid-19 restrictions were lightened in the US and Europe.
Globally, there were 7% more business jet flights operated in 2021 than in 2019, and a 50% uptick on 2020. This contrasts starkly with scheduled passenger airline activity, which last year remained 35% below 2019 levels.
The US was the key market for business jet activity, with its charter and fractional fleets flying at maximum capacity. Leading operators undertook a flurry of fleet acquisitions in order to meet significant demand from their growing customer base.
Many customers were new to the business
aviation sector as the convenience and bubble-hygiene of flying privately drew travellers away
from the depleted airline networks.
Demand was especially evident for leisure travel, with surges during weekends and public holidays as well as around popular sports and lifestyle events. Sunny, seaside and remote getaway destinations attracted most attention.
The main metro hubs saw a more modest recovery, losing much of their pre-pandemic activity due to stringent Covid travel restrictions, reintroduced during the winter wave of early 2021.
London and New York, situated in the eye of the pandemic storm, suffered most, with leading business aviation airports like Teterboro and Farnborough only recovering in Q4 2021.
For the full year, business jet traffic was down by 26% and 16% respectively compared with pre-pandemic 2019 across the airports in these two hubs.
The next busiest European hub, Paris, rallied more strongly, with activity back to within 5% of 2019 levels by the end of the year. Connections with Mediterranean resorts, notably Nice, sped up the recovery at Le Bourget.
Moscow metro hub was unusually busy in 2021, with Vnukovo business terminal ranking in the top five European airports for departures. Business jet departures were way up on pre-pandemic levels, 23% higher than in 2019.
Elsewhere, South America saw a pronounced increase in the use of business aviation aircraft, with on-demand services filling gaps in cratered airline networks. São Paulo was the key regional hub, with business jet flights up nearly 50% on 2019.
Dubai saw a spectacular rise in business jet activity in 2021, more than doubling activity compared with 2019. Dubai World Central was the key hub. The Nigerian capital, Abuja, also saw very strong growth in 2021
Cities in Asia saw more resilient business jet traffic during 2020 but this recovery relapsed during 2021 as lockdown policies were reimposed. Sydney ended the year slightly up on 2019, whereas the likes of Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong were behind. New Delhi business jet traffic, however, was buoyant.
City house prices are rising on average by 11.5% per annum
