Charter Operator Overview – Charter Report 2020

As of June 2020, the top 14 charter operators in the Asia-Pacific region operated a total of 98 charter jets, accounting for 30% of the total charter fleet in the region. Deer jet had the largest charter fleet, operating a total of 13 business jets, closely followed by Sino jet (11 jets). ACJ centres and club one air shared the third rank with eight charter jets each.

The past two years have been difficult for business aviation in the Asia-Pacific region, as can be seen from the slowing growth in major markets like Greater China.

Certain charter operators, however, still managed to increase their operational capacity. Chief among them was Sino Jet, which experienced the largest increase in charter fleet (by five units) since 2018. The company managed to jump five ranks and ended up as the second largest business jet charter operator in the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore operater OJets and Seletar Jets also saw notable increases in their charter fleet – by four units each.

The Greater China charter fleet, which showed promising growth in 2018, failed to live up to the prevailing expectations in 2020, with its charter fleet dropping by 17 units. The decrease in the charter fleet reflects the depressed business aviation market. Starting with the government mandated deleveraging of corporate debt, combined with uncertainty regarding economic prospects caused by the ongoing US-China trade war, a major toll was left on the business jet fleet in the region. With business confidence dwindling and increasing operating losses, many owners and charter operators were forced to reduce their number of aircraft. Notable among these charter operators was Deer Jet. Deer Jet, the largest charter operator in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, saw a reduction in its’ charter fleet by 7 units – the largest decrease of all the charter operators in the region.

Australia, with 68 business jets available for charter, had the second largest charter fleet in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020. Some notable Australian operators who experienced an increase in their charter fleet are ACJ Centres (by one) and ExecuJet (by three).

With a fleet of eight charter jets, Club One Air is the largest charter operator in India in 2020, unchanged from 2018. Reliance Commercial Dealers came in second with seven business jets available for charter.

OJets is the largest business jet charter operator in Singapore – operating a fleet of six jets. Pacific Flight Services and Seletar Jets come in second – both operating a fleet of five charter jets each.

In 2018, both Malaysian operator MJets and Chinese operator BAA had a fleet of seven charter jets each. However, both have experienced a decrease in their charter fleet -by two, and have witnessed a drop of seven ranks in the top 15 charter operators list.

Majority of the top charter operators in the Asia-Pacific region rely on large and long-range aircraft for their charter operations – with 29 jets each. Together, these two size-segments represent nearly 60% of the total 99 charter jets operated by the top 15 charter operators.