December flights dip in latest tracking; Europe, U.S. outpace other regions in drop

Fewer business jets filled the sky in December 2022 than during the year before, cementing a trend for much of the second half of the year. However, according to data from ARGUS TRAQPak, the number of flights remains much higher than before the pandemic.

The latest ARGUS numbers show global flight activity in December cooled by 5% from 2021. It was also down 1.8% from the month before. The dips in Europe and North America were even steeper, down 6.2% and 15.8%, year to year respectively.

December 2022 bizjet flights in North America remained up 12.7% from December 2019.

“The December traffic report highlights the overall cooling within private aviation over the last six months,” said Travis Kuhn, vice president of market intelligence for ARGUS. “We did notice a monthly increase in charter activity, which we would expect to see for the holidays. But the decline in mid-size cabin activity could be an early indicator that some of the new flyers in the post-pandemic world are traveling less as we close out 2022.

“Even though the industry declined 3.8% in the 2nd half of 2022 activity for the year remained up 5.0% from 2021 and 15.5% from 2019,” Kuhn said.

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All operational categories slide in December, year to year, with Part 91 activity finishing down 7.6% and Part 135 activity skidding 6.4%. Both segments reported double-digit declines in mid-size cabin activity.

“Fractional activity continues to remain consistent from a year ago after reporting a 1.3% decrease,” the report states. Small cabin fractional was the only individual segment to record a year-over-year increase, of 4.2%.

Regionally in the U.S., seven of the eight regions reported monthly declines in flight activity. The Pacific Northwest was the only region to gain, posting a 21.6% jump, likely tied to demand during ski season. Numbers in the New England region fell for a fourth straight month.

Snowbirds flocking to the beach? Caribbean flights jumped by more than 26%, month to month.

In European, flights again dropped sharply, 15.8% year over year in December, with large-cabin jet flights down 36.6% from December 2021.

Looking ahead to January, ARGUS TRAQPak forecasts a 2.3% increase in North American flight activity, year over year, with European activity estimated to drop 14.9%.