Charter Report Market Intelligence

Market Overview – Charter Report 2020

Market Overview – Charter Report 2020

There was a total of 327 business jets available for charter operations in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020 – a decrease of six from 333 charter jets in 2018. The charter fleet, which witnessed a growth of 9.9% between 2016 and 2018, has dropped by 1.8% since 2018.

Despite seeing a reduction of 17 charter jets – from 95 in 2018 to 78 since 2018, Mainland China remained the largest business jet charter market in the region. Combined with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, Greater China represents 28% of the total Asia-Pacific charter fleet.

Australia is the second largest charter market and has a fleet of 68 business jets available for charter operations – an increase of two, from 66 in 2018 to 68 in 2020. India (61 charter jets) and Singapore (22 charter jets) were the third and fourth largest charter markets in the Asia- Pacific region, respectively.

South East Asia registered the largest charter fleet growth – with 13 net additions. With a net fleet increase of 10 charter jets, Singapore was the main growth driver for all the Asia- Pacific in the two-year period from 2018 to 2020. Oceania was the only other Asia Pacific region that experienced an increase in its charter fleet from 2018 to 2020 – with an increase of six charter jets (a growth of 8% since 2018).

Greater China saw the largest charter fleet deduction – the charter fleet decreasing by 24%. The Mainland China charter fleet decreased by 17 (22% decrease) – the largest deduction in the Asia-Pacific region and the majority from the long-range and large size categories.

The Asia-Pacific business jet charter fleet stood at 327 in 2020 – a decrease of 1.8% over the two-year period since 2018. The fleet had a net deduction of nine aircraft – the culmination of seven new-deliveries, 33 pre-owned additions, a net 11 mission change to charter and 57 deductions.

With 93 jets available for charter, Textron remained the most popular OEM in the region. Bombardier came in second with 90 charter jets, followed by Gulfstream and Embraer with 56 and 33 charter jets, respectively. Bombardier and Embraer witnessed an increase of five and four aircraft – a growth of 6% and 14%, since 2018, respectively. Dassault recorded the largest decrease in its charter fleet – by 8 (a decrease of 22%).

Considering the total fleet in the region, the most popular charter size-category is large-size aircraft, with 98, closely followed by light and long-range aircraft, with 91 and 58, respectively. Light-sized aircraft saw an increase in fleet of eight (an increase of 10%) – the only size segment to witness an increase in the charter fleet since 2018.

The Australian (VH-) registration is the most popular charter fleet registration (79) in the Asia- Pacific region. Mainland China (B-) registration and India (VT-) registration come in second and third with 73 and 61 charter jets, respectively.

Majority of the Asia-Pacific charter fleet is relatively new – falling in the range of 6- 10 years (24%) and 11-15 years (27%). With an average age of 24 years, Malaysia is home to the oldest charter fleet in the region. South Korea has the youngest – with an average age of just 10 years.

The average age of the charter fleet in the Asia-Pacific region is 16 years. The long-range size category has the youngest charter fleet with an average age of 10 years while the light size category has the oldest with an average age of 22 years. With 15 charter jets in operation, G450, Falcon 2000 and Legacy 650 are the most popular charter model in the Asia-Pacific region. Challenger 800/850 comes in second with 14 charter jets. All the top four charter models belong to the large size category. Citation 550 is the most popular light sized charter models with 13 charter jets. Gulfstream G550 and Global 6000 are the most popular long-range charter models – with 12 charter jets each.

The charter fleet decreased by six since 2018. The decrease is attributed to seven new-deliveries, 33 pre-owned additions, a net 11 mission change to charter and 57 deductions. The period from 2018 to 2020 saw a decrease in the number of pre-owned additions to and an increase in the number of deductions from the charter market, as compared to the same period from 2016 to 2018.

A further breakdown of the charter fleet by registration shows that the largest Asia-Pacific charter markets – Mainland China, Australia and India, have a preference for local registrations. 92% of Mainland China’s charter fleet is local China “B-” registered, while 100% of Australia’s and India’s charter fleet is local “VT-”(Australian) and “VH- ” (Indian) registered, respectively. Singapore has the largest number of offshore registered charter jets (50% of the charter fleet).

Singapore is also the only country without any local registered charter aircraft. Malaysia has a significant number of business jet charter jets with US “N” registration – 50% of their charter fleet. Taiwan, South Korea, and Macau are the regions in the Asia Pacific that are completely composed of locally registered charter aircraft.

San Marino is the most popular offshore registration in the region – with 10 charter jets registered with the San Marino “T7- ” registration. Malta comes in next with seven charter jets with the Malta “9H-“ registration.

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