Global Business Aviation Market Contracts By Two Percent During The Period

Following a healthy 2013, the global business aviation market saw a two percent slowdown in the first quarter of 2014 versus Q1 2013 and a five percent decline since Q4 2013, according to new findings from JSSI’s Business Aviation Index.

Jet Support Services, Inc. (JSSI), a provider of maintenance support and financial services to the business aviation industry, tracks the number of hours that business aircraft have flown by region, industry and aircraft type and releases it on a quarterly basis.

“The flight hour contraction that we saw in the business aviation market was generally in line with economic conditions around the world during the first quarter of 2014,” said Neil Book, President & CEO, JSSI.

From an industry perspective, all but Transportation & Logistics saw a drop in quarterly activity.  Manufacturing was by far the hardest hit with a 17 percent reduction in flight hours. However, when viewing the year-over-year results, there was a healthy gain in Real Estate (20 percent) and a slight bump in the Aviation sector, which demonstrates that while corporate jet use declined, charter operations stayed relatively steady.

“The unusually harsh winter had a negative economic impact  across most sectors, particularly in weak retail sales and manufacturing adjustments in response to the drop-off in customer demand. Because many retailers and manufacturers were already reeling from a weaker-than-expected 2013 holiday season, the drop-off in consumer demand due to the cold weather only served to further deflate revenues,” added Mr. Book. “I’m sure that weak construction activity during the first quarter didn’t help flight activity either, but with that said, many economists are quite optimistic that economic activity will bounce back in the spring – hopefully putting the economy on a healthier track in the second quarter.”

Across the world, every region saw a decline in flight activity on a quarter-over-quarter basis, but only Latin America and the U.S. declined on a year-over-year basis. By aircraft type, while all segments experienced a decline in quarter-over-quarter activity, JSSI continued to see growth in the large cabin and single engine turboprop markets on a year-over-year basis.

FMI: www.jetsupport.com