By Julia Thompson | January 30, 2019 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 36 seconds.
According to ARGUS International’s 2018 TRAQPak Business Aviation Review, the North American bizav industry saw a year-over-year increase in flight activity of 0.9 per cent in 2018, while total hours flown also increased by 0.7 per cent. The report notes that while industry growth was definitely flatter in 2018, the industry nevertheless logged more than three million flights for the second year in a row.
Canadian provinces and territories logged a grand total of 213,844 flights last year. The busiest flight activity was in Ontario, with 55,098 flights, with Quebec coming in at a close second with 48,463 departures. Nunavut saw the largest increase in yearly flight activity at 3,374 departures, a 27.6 per cent increase from 2017, while Manitoba saw the largest decline at 10,411 departures, down 22.4 per cent from the previous year.
Calgary-based AirSprint ranked sixth among the Top Fractional Operators of 2018, with 12,168 hours flown in 2018, a 12.8 per cent increase from 2017. Among the fractional industry trends noted in 2018 was an increase of 8.3 per cent in mid-size cabin flight hours, where as small- and large-size aircraft flight hours both decreased. Fractional operators in North America flew 575,108 hours over the last 12 months; an increase of 4,977 hours over 2017.
The busiest airport in the U.S. was Teterboro Airport (KTEB) with 73,793 departures, a decrease of 0.7 per cent from 2017. Dallas Love Field Airport (KDAL) was named as the second-busiest with 35,442 departures, a 1.3 per cent increase from 2017.
The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 turboprop was the most-flown business aircraft in 2018, with 233,676 flights. Next in line was Textron Aviation’s King Air 200 variant, which flew 178,068 flights.
TRAQPak analysts have forecasted that the relatively positive trend in business aviation performance will continue through Q1 of 2019, with fractional flight activity expected to see the largest increase in the quarter of about 3.3 per cent and Part 91 activity is estimated to rise up to 1.4 per cent. The exception to the positive trend is Part 135 charter activity which is predicted to decline up to 1.6 per cent in Q1.
Read the complete ARGUS 2018 TRAQPak Business Aviation Review here.
Extremely helpful! Thanks.