Business aircraft activity in Europe climbed 8 percent year-over-year last month, thanks largely to a 13-percent boost in business jet charter flights, according to data published today by WingX Advance. Year-to-date, segment flying is up 4 percent, or 28,000 more flights, versus the same period in 2016.

“Strong year-over-year growth, the largest so far this year, points to a sustained growth in charter demand,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “The market appears to be responding to a better outlook for the economy, and within the industry, competitive pricing, aggressive marketing and more productive underlying operating and brokerage models.”

Western Europe showed a “robust increase” in flight activity in October, especially in France, Spain and Italy, WingX said. It noted small declines in activity from Russia, Norway, and Turkey, but strong gains from other smaller markets such as Sweden, Austria, and Greece. Germany has seen the most growth, WingX said, with year-to-date flights up by 3.9 percent, meaning an additional 415 flights per month.

Business aviation flights from southern Europe rose 10 percent last month, and have a 12-month growth trend of 7 percent. Arrivals into Europe from Russia were down 2 percent, but there was slight growth in flights to Middle East and a 9-percent bounce in flights from Europe to North America.

“There was some recovery this month in private flights, which were up 5 percent year-over-year, in contrast to stagnation over much of the last 12 months,” said Koe. However, this growth came from a 10-percent gain in piston-aircraft activity, with private business jet flights slipping 0.4 percent from a year ago.

Light, very-light and large-cabin jet flying last month soared by more than 12 percent compared with a year ago, though bizliner activity was down. On the turboprop side, WingX specifically noted that there were more than 3,000 PC-12 flights last month in Europe, an increase of 34 percent over October 2016.

Nice Airport saw a 13-percent gain in business aircraft flights, while Farnborough and London Biggin Hill experienced 16 percent growth and Madrid Barajas Airport reported more than a 25 percent increase.