Over 77,000 business aviation departures took place in May making it the busiest month of the year so far, says WingX’s Business Aviation Monitor monthly report.
The figures are an increase of 3.3% compared with May 2016, and a 17% increase on April 2017. The daily flight frequency during May was 2,486 departures, with largest gains coming in the second half of the month, coinciding with the Monaco Grand Prix and Cannes Film Festival. In comparison to 2016, year-to-date growth has increased by 3.2%.
There has been a strong growth in West and Central Europe for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with Spain and the UK also making substantial gains. Flights arriving into Europe increased from all regions except Northern Africa, and arrivals from Russia were up by 3% in contrast to the 6% decline over the last 12 months. Departures from Europe to North America were up by 8% and flights to Asia-Pacific increased by 18% year-on-year.
There was modest growth at popular airports Paris-Le Bourget (France) and Geneva (Switzerland), with strongest year-on-year gains at London Luton (UK), which was up 6%, and Farnborough (UK), which saw a 15% growth. Biggin Hill (UK) and Stuttgart (Germany) saw year-on-year increases of 18%, and Nice (France) saw an 8% year-to-date increase, which is equivalent to an additional 85 flights each month.
By Felicity Butcher
