In this space last month, I passed along the news that sales of new, big-cabin jets were off, and sales of owner-flown light jets and turboprops were seeing the promise of an upturn. But those are sales. What about activity levels? Cincinnati’s ARGUS International keeps score of both flights and flight hours for business aircraft through its TRAQPak intelligence reports.
Again, the news appears good for most owner-flown segments. Travis Kuhn, TRAQPak’s associate production manager, says that there are some 43,000 IFR flights every day, and 20 percent of them—7,776, to be more precise—involve business aviation. What’s more interesting is that FAR Part 91 flights account for 53 percent of that number. That beats Part 135 charter and on-demand flights’ 33 percent, and fractional operations’ 14 percent.
ARGUS’ owner-flown analysis is even more intriguing. The company says that light jet (500-series Cessna Citations, Embraer Phenom 300s, Lear 31s, and other similar airplanes) flights for September 2015 were up 4.7 percent—a percentage equating to 35,914 flight hours—over September 2014’s activity levels.
On the other hand, very light jet (Cessna Citation Mustangs, Embraer Phenom 100s, and One Aviation Eclipses) activity was down by 4.7 percent.
Even more eye-opening is the activity in the single-engine turboprop category, with 25,492 flight hours—up 14.9 percent year over year for September 2015 versus September 2014, . Remember, this is for airplanes operated under Part 91, so fractional operators such as PlaneSense are not included. That’s a pretty strong indicator of this segment’s economic contribution. Why? Maybe it’s that single-engine turboprops, like the Caravan featured in this month’s Turbine Pilot, may offer better value than VLJs or light jets.
If you’re intrigued, you can obtain a free subscription to ARGUS’s reports by clicking on www.argus.aero. Go to the bottom of the page, click on “Free,” then “TRAQPak aircraft activity report.”
—Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor
Ready for winter
A Cessna Grand Caravan EX shows off its TKS “weeping wing” leading edge panels, extra-long pitot tube, and wing-mounted radar pod.
Where: Tullahoma, Tennessee
Photographer: Chris Rose
Thomas A. Horne
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