Business Aviation recovering faster than other sectors

Brussels, Belgium – Business aviation fell by 14% in 2009, but has bounced back and grew by 11% in March according to new figures issued by EUROCONTROL.

In its new report on business aviation in 2009, published this week ahead of EBACE (the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, held in Geneva), EUROCONTROL charts the decline of business aviation from its 2007 peak, and the rapid recovery that now seems to be underway for the sector. In 2009, the number of business flights in Europe fell by 14% compared to 2008. However business aviation took off again in 2010, with a growth of 11% in March 2010 compared to March 2009. This is in strong contrast to flights as a whole across Europe in the same month, which indeed grew after 17 consecutive months of decline, but only by 1.6%.

The strong growth of the business aviation sector is underlined by the fact that it was hit less than other air transport during the recent volcanic ash cloud crisis. During the crisis, the number of business aviation flights fell by 35% compared to 55% for all air traffic. Business aviation also recovered more quickly, and by Monday 19 April was already operating more flights to Russia, North America and North Africa than a week earlier.