Business Aircraft Activity Steadily Rising

Figures released Monday by Aviation Research Group U.S. (ARGUS) indicates steady recovery of business aircraft activity. The most recent data compiled by the company shows a 2.7 percent overall increase in business aircraft activity that put the number of operations in September at slightly less than 200,000 and just a few more than during the same period last year. The tale of the tape, however, is where those increases come from.

It's probably no surprise that fuel-efficient and sort of non-jet turboprops earned the greatest increase in activity (11.7 percent) as gun-shy executives look for more politically correct means of convenient travel. The turboprops apparently got their gains from little jets, whose operations were off by 5.7 percent. Similarly, mid-sized jets probably got a boost from those abandoning the large-cabin aircraft. Activity for big bizjets was off by 12.7 percent while the mid-size class posted a modest gain of .4 percent.