New blog series: Stats from above #1

After two years of the pandemic and various travel restrictions being in place around the world, the travel industry, especially air travel, is experiencing a massive surge. While we may have not reached pre-pandemic levels of airline traffic just yet, we are on a pretty good road to get there. Both travelers and jet crews alike are happy to be in the skies again and if you’re reading this article you’re probably a frequent flyer yourself.

So, buckle up for our brand-new monthly blog series “Stats From Above” where we uncover the fascinating secrets behind frequented routes, the hustle and bustle of the busiest airports, and the soaring success of the most popular jets.

Stats from above

The business aviation segment has been rather busy getting its second breath, with business-as-usual resuming everywhere. To get a better picture of how full the skies were recently, let’s take a look at the business aviation stats from above courtesy of the EBAA.

May 2023 has been quite the busy month for business aviation so far. And although it has seen a drop of 10% in the number of flights compared with the same month last year, it still had 20% more flights than May 2021.

Busiest airports and routes

The busiest country by number of business flights with 24,518, has been France, with the UK being a close second with almost 19,000 flights and Germany closing up the top three with 16,500. So, it comes as no surprise that out of the top three busiest airports, two are located in France – Paris Le Bourget coming in first and Nice Côte d‘Azur coming in second. The third airport by number of business jet flights is the Geneva international airport.

Unsurprisingly the trio of busiest airports leads us smoothly to our next stat about busiest routes of this year to date. The route between Geneva International and Le Bourget, with 1,495 flights departing from Geneva to Paris was by far the busiest. Meanwhile Le Bourget is also a one part of the second busiest route with 923 flights departing from Paris to land at Nice Côte d‘Azur. It’s no surprise that the route proves to be so popular also last month. French Riviera hosted two big events, Cannes Film Festival and 80th Monaco Grand Prix. For both of these events, Nice is the arrival airport. Domestic flights seem to be a rather recurring theme with the third busiest route boasting 721 flights departing from Roma Ciampino to in Milano Linate this year.

Popular jets

We’ve seen busy routes, busy airports, and busy countries, now let’s take a look at the mode of transport without which any of those stats wouldn’t be possible, the busiest business jets. Cessna jets have taken to the skies most frequently with 19,080 flights, meanwhile, Bombardier came in second delivering passengers to their destinations aboard 9,555 flights. Closing up the top 3 is Embraer with 7,779 flights. On the other end of the spectrum, the least busy jets have been those sporting the HondaJet brand and seeing a whopping drop of 38% with 267 flights. While we’re on the topic of jets, why not take a look at May’s jet of the month?

Jet of the Month

May’s Jet of the Month is none other than the Nextant 400 series which is manufactured in both the 400XT and 400XTi configurations. However, the number of these jets is so low that the market assesses them as one. The aircraft comes in a variety of configurations that allows it to carry from 6 to 8 passengers and it can reach a high cruise speed of 460 knots.

Quite the stylish jet to haul you to your next destination. An interesting fact about the Nextant 400XT jet is, that it is a conversion based on the Beechjet 400A or Hawker 400XP, with the jet getting an all-inclusive treatment that includes new engines, a new coat of paint, a new interior, and an avionics suite. For all intents and purposes, it’s almost a complete overhaul with state-of-the-art equipment.

Currently, there are several jets from the Nextant 400 family offered for sale, accounting for 10% of the active fleet. On average the jets on offer have 10,700 total flight hours on their clocks and have been manufactured around the year 2000 while undergoing a conversion around the year 2013.

The jets prove to be quite popular usually spending approximately 100 days on the market. The average asking price for a jet is usually somewhere around the 3-million-dollar mark. However, the price can vary depending on multiple factors, ranging from the jet’s configuration, and the number of jets on offer, to other variables that come into play. To put it into perspective, two jets have already been sold this year and twelve has been sold last year. So, if you’re in the market for a reliable jet with a modern and comfortable configuration, the Nextant 400XT should definitely be on your radar.

See you next month!