This story is part of AIN's continuing coverage of the impact of the coronavirus on aviation.
U.S. business aviation activity was down by 30.8 percent through the first six months, according to the statistics from Argus‘s just-released TraqPak 2020 Mid-Year Business Aviation Review, while overall flight hours declined by just under 30 percent. Due to disruptions from the global Covid pandemic, the industry has seen declines over 2019 numbers for each month, with a rapid downturn in mid-March and the start of a recovery a month later.
Part 91 activity has shown the biggest drop, down 33.4 percent for the first half of 2020, while fractional activity, which had been riding a streak of 18 consecutive months of year-over-year increases coming into March, saw that streak snapped starting that month, with activity off by nearly 31 percent. The Part 135 segment fared slightly better, down only 27.1 percent for the first six months of the year, as compared to 2019.
Broken down by aircraft category, due to severe restrictions on international travel, large-cabin jets suffered the worst atrophy with activity levels down by more than 36 percent in the first half. As the size of the jet decreased, those numbers improved, with small cabin jets down by 26.4 percent. Turboprop activity was diminished by nearly 30 percent versus the first half of 2019.
Geographically, Florida, which has become one of the infection hotspots in the U.S., saw the most flight departures during the first half of the year at 128,385, followed by California, Texas, Colorado, and Georgia.
While those levels are expected to rise, Argus expects to see Covid-related impact through the remainder of the year, with Part 135 activity expected to outpace fractional and Part 91 activity. For July, TRAQPak analysts anticipate a dip of 17 percent year over year, while August is forecasted to drop by 17.1 percent. September is anticipated to finish down 11.5 percent. The company noted that October, which is typically the busiest month for business aviation, will be a good bellwether with which to gauge the level of recovery.
