Global business jet departures increased in December, after holding steady for most of 2024. The rise in departures has occurred after the US elections, resulting in a 7% increase over the previous December and a jump of more than a quarter over December 2019 figures.
A year-end boost.
According to market researcher Jefferies, business jet departures in North America increased 9% in December over the previous year. In Europe, departures were flat year on year, but they increased by 7% in Asia.
Globally, this resulted in a 7% increase year on year, with operations 27% higher than in the same period in 2019. Asia-Pacific departures increased the greatest in the past five years, by 77% over 2019.
Business jet departures in North America stayed stable throughout the year, but fell by 1% in Europe and 3% in Asia-Pacific.
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WingX reported 74,688 bizjet departures globally from December 16th to 22nd, a 19% increase over the same week in 2023. Globally, fractional jet, air taxi, and charter flights increased dramatically, while Part 91K and 135 activities ended 19% higher than the previous year.
In the final full Monday-Sunday week of 2024, which spanned from December 23rd to 29th, the global business jet industry increased by 2% over 2023. Globally, around 3.6 million business jet departures were registered in 2024. This represents a minor 1% reduction between 2023 and 2022.
Naturally, activity remained substantially higher than during the COVID-19 pandemic, with activity in 2024 being 59% higher than in 2020 and 30% higher than pre-Covid 2019.
Which industry experienced the most growth?
The fractional jet ownership market was one of the fastest growing segments. According to WingX, fractional operators flew about 700,000 sectors in 2024, more than any of the previous five years.
In comparison, Corporate Flight Departments reported 11% fewer flights than the previous year and 12% fewer than in 2019.
Private flying, meanwhile, increased by 15% in December compared to 2023 and 80% over 2019. AIN recorded a 14% increase in fractional and charter departures last month compared to the previous year.
The carriers that witnessed the most significant growth were FlyExclusive (36% increase) and NetJets (17% increase) over the previous year. Wheels Up also had a 2% increase, but it remains short of its 2019 peak.
Throughout 2024, fractional jet fleets had record levels of activity. NetJets accounted for more than two-thirds of all fractional flights.
Flexjet was the second busiest operator, accounting for 25% of the market share. Many fractional operators had tremendous growth last year. Planesense and Airsprint, for example, joined Flexjet in achieving quadruple digital growth throughout 2019.
Meanwhile, firms used their own jets less frequently. Corporate Flight Departments lost around 7% of their operating aircraft and performed 11% fewer flights than in 2023.
According to AIN, Embraer was the greatest winner in terms of business jet departures, up 11% in the fourth quarter. It was followed by Gulfstream operations (up 3%) and Bombardier (up 2%), while departures on Textron Aviation aircraft (including Beechcraft and Cessna) were flat.