A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Global business jet activity last month marked the busiest August in nearly two decades, according to the latest statistics from industry data provider WingX, which began compiling such utilization data in 2006. The 327,745 flights worldwide in August represented 5%, 3% and 30% increases from the same months in 2024, 2022, and 2019, respectively.
Fractional providers NetJets and Flexjet were the busiest operators for the month, with their combined 58,000-plus flights accounting for 18% of global business jet flight activity.
In North America, activity in week 35 (August 25 to 31) saw 11% growth and trending upwards by 6% over the past four weeks compared with the same period in 2024. Growth was more moderate in Europe, with usage for the week 5% above that of a year ago. While Switzerland saw the largest improvement at 13%, neighboring Germany had a year-over-year downturn of 2%.
The rest of the world experienced a second straight week of 14% improvement, led by Africa, which saw departures increase by 26% over the same span last year.
Sorted by OEM, Embraer’s fleet activity in North America since the beginning of the year was up by 17% compared with the first eight months of last year, and a whopping 74% more than in 2019.
“August 2025 was our busiest August on record, with week 35 seeing the largest weekly jump year-to-date,” said Richard Koe, managing director of the JetNet subsidiary. “Labor Day (observed in the U.S. and Canada) activity demonstrated the strength of leisure demand for business jet travel. Despite broader concerns for the economy, business jet activity trends appear to have accelerated rather than slow as the summer ends.”

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

WingX: August Business Jet Activity in Record Territory

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Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

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