The bizav sector remained resilient in 2023 as “flight operations were strong, backlogs and lead-times at major OEMs were up, and inventory remained low, leaving the industry well positioned to weather any future economic downturn,” according to Global Jet Capital (GJC). In its latest Business Aviation Market Brief, the aircraft financing specialist offered a largely positive assessment, concluding: “The rapid expansion of the business jet market during the post-Covid recovery period slowed in 2023, although most indicators remained strong in comparison to pre-Covid levels.”

The comparison with pre-covid 2019 is particularly striking in respect of bizav flight operations, which were 15.1% higher last year. “It was widely expected that many of the new users of business aviation would return to commercial airlines as the world normalised. However, due to the industry’s inherent value proposition – including personal safety, flexibility, productivity and comfort – a substantial proportion of new users continued to utilise business aviation in 2023, demonstrating a systematic expansion of the user base.”

This is not to say that the industry doesn’t face challenges, as the report clearly outlines. There are a number of issues that may create problems for the sector in 2024 and cause growth to slow. These include the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, high interest rates, slowing economic growth and the political uncertainty generated by forthcoming elections in countries accounting for nearly 40% of global GDP, as well as continuing market supply chain and labour issues within the sector.