Business aviation activity in North America set a new record last month with 323,000 flights, eclipsing the previous record set in July by 6.9 percent, according to just-released Argus TraqPak data. Looking ahead, the company's analysts expect North American traffic totals this month to be up better than 16 percent over pre-pandemic November 2019.
All operational categories saw gains last month, led by fractional, which was up 44.8 percent year-over-year (YOY) and 29.3 percent from October 2019. Part 91 activity increased 36.8 percent followed by Part 135 which rose by 33 percent YOY. As travel restrictions slowly ease, large-cabin jets have shown resiliency with activity in the segment up 60 percent from last year.
“October’s record flight activity continues to highlight the unprecedented demand for business aircraft in the North American market and globally, producing two of the top 10 busiest days on record,” said Travis Kuhn, Argus International’s v-p of market intelligence. “Further emphasizing the magnitude of these numbers, six of the seven days of the week averaged at least 10,000 flights per day during the month. That compares to October 2019 which saw just two of the seven days average 10,000 or more flights.”
Global business aviation activity for the month rose by more than 6 percent from September and increased more than 40 percent from the same period a year ago. In Europe, which recorded 81,000 business aviation flights for the month, activity increased by 64.3 percent over October 2020 and more than 30 percent from 2019 levels, while monthly activity in Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America rose in October after three straight months of decline.