Business aircraft flights in Europe eked out a 0.1-percent year-over-year gain last month, to 63,068 departures, according to data released yesterday by business aviation research and consulting firm WingX Advance. Year-to-date, the European market still remains about 1 percent off from last year. Last month’s results were buoyed by expansion in the region’s top six business aviation markets but dragged down by the “geopolitical crisis” in the Ukraine.

WingX noted that business aircraft flight growth in the UK was “exceptionally strong,” climbing 10 percent, while Europe’s top business aviation market–France–logged a 6-percent increase. “The overall picture has a negative distortion driven by the collapse in demand for business aviation in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and, to a certain extent, the whole Central and Eastern European region,” it said.

While overall traffic was up, business jet activity fell 4 percent year-over-year, largely attributable to a 55-percent slide in this segment in the Ukraine alone. The market was bolstered by a 3-percent rise in turboprop activity, 5-percent gain in air charter flights and 16-percent ascent in piston operations.

Flights between the CIS region and Europe fell 34 percent last month, while those to and from Russia slumped by 19 percent from a year ago, “mostly in heavy jet activity.”