Despite March Dip, WingX Shows European Traffic Up in 1Q

Despite a dip in European business aviation traffic during March, flight activity for the first quarter of this year ended 2.2 percent higher than the same period last year, according to WingX’s latest monthly Business Aviation Monitor. The latest WingX data showed 2,617 fewer departures last month (61,746) than in March last year—a drop of 4.1 percent.

During March, the steepest decline—5 percent—was among turboprop aircraft. Business jet departures dropped by 3 percent, with a fall in charter activity explaining much of this trend. But on a 12-month basis, turboprop departures made gains of 4 percent, whereas jet traffic dipped by 1 percent. Overall, heavy jet activity and midsize jet flights dropped by 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively, year over year.

Almost all of Europe’s busiest airports saw declines in March, while flight activity to Nice in the south of France was up by 4 percent. Traffic in all of France was up by 5 percent, but in Germany it was down by 8 percent and in the UK by 5 percent. WingX showed inbound arrivals in the Middle East during March at 11 percent higher year over year, and traffic for the region was 5 percent up for the first quarter.