FLUG REVUE July 2006: European Business Aviation is important

July 2006

BUSINESS AVIATION: IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS IN EUROPE

By Volker K. Thomalla

Eurocontrol, the European Air Traffic Control Organization, has published a study, in which for the first time ever, numbers concerning the development of Business Aviation in Europe are well documented. Until now, many numbers were just estimates, because Business Aviation is a very discrete segment of aviation and the participants are not looking for publicity. The study „Getting to the Point: Business Aviation in Europe“ has been written by the Statistics and Forecast Service (STATFOR) of Eurocontrol. It is a great contribution providing facts & figures about Business Aviation in Europe.

The study states that in 2005 the business aviation traffic in Europe consisted of 630000 movements. This number represents 6,9 per cent of all IFR flights in Europe. But this number is growing fast, faster than average. Business Aviation has its own particularities which are important for Eurocontrol and which makes it worthwhile to observe its development. The statistics prove that Business Aviation connects regions in Europe which very often have a limited infrastructure. Business Aviation is a small market spread thinly: more than half of the traffic is from airports with fewer than 50 departures per day. Typically, business aircraft fly to or from cities which have no scheduled airline connections. 47 per cent of business aviation flights are less than 500 kilometres, while 9.4 percent of all business aviation flights cover a distance of 2000 km.

Europe's top destinations for business aircraft are Paris Le Bourget (65,6 business departures per day), Geneva-Cointrin (40,9), Rome-Ciampino (36,1) and Milan-Linate (35,8). The airports with the highest proportion of business departures are according to Eurocontrol Wiesbaden, Germany (90 percent), Samedan, Switzerland (90 percent), Northolt, UK (89 percent), Speyer, Germany (89 percent) and Le Bourget, France (87 percent).

Regarding the aircraft, the Beechcraft King Air 200 is the aircraft of choice: 2005, Eurocontrol listed in Europe an average of 171 departures per day with that type. The Cessna Citation Bravo followed with 125 departures, while the Hawker-family ended as third place, counting 92 departures in Europe per day in 2005. The CitationJet-family came up as number four.

Business Aviation movements follow a cyclic pattern: Business Aviation has a June and September peak and an August dip, which is up to 30 percent below the peaks. Quite surprisingly, most of the business flights are on Wednesdays, while Saturdays sees nearly no business traffic.

The numbers finally prove what was always guessed: Business Aviation is an important means of transport especially for regions without good infrastructure. An airport opens the world for a region, even without schedulded services. Unfortunately, the service hours of airports in Germany do not take that into account. An airport which opens at 8.00 a.m. and is closed for traffic at 6.00 p.m. is not useful for Business Aviation. The people using business aviation very rarely have a 40 hour working week.

From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 7/2006

Last updated 8 June 2006

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