After low-cost carriers, business aviation now ranks number two in Eurocontrol’s latest traffic statistics. “Not long ago, business aviation was not even on the radar screen of the agency and other decision makers,” European Business Aviation Association chief executive Eric Mandemaker told attendees at the general and business aviation annual forum held at the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation in Brussels recently. “But this has changed since this fast-growing sector–around a 10-percent increase per annum–represents nearly 8 percent of all IFR traffic in Europe and operates a fleet of 3,000 turbine-powered aircraft. The introduction of very light jets will further contribute to these numbers.”
In 2006, Eurocontrol released a study entitled, “Getting to the Point: Business Aviation in Europe.” At the time, the report concluded that the business aviation segment was growing faster than the overall air traffic market. It also forecast that the European fleet of business aircraft would rise by around 4 percent annually.
Two years later, Eurocontrol’s head of forecast unit, Dr. David Marsh, confirmed this trend with figures for 2007. According to the agency’s updated 2008 report, which is scheduled to be released here at EBACE, business aviation traffic in Europe expanded by as much as 10 percent last year, compared with an average growth rate of 5.3 percent across all sectors of the industry. The initial report has been updated with data valid through the end of 2007 and some of the data is available online at www.eurocontrol.int.
