Membership jet charter firm VistaJet made its 10,000th year-to-date flight on July 27, a milestone reached in record time and two months earlier than last year. The flight was a nonstop trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo on one of VistaJet’s Global 6000s. Its all-Bombardier fleet also includes Challenger 350s, 605s and 850s and Global 5000s.

This accomplishment comes on the heels of a 23-percent rise in global flight traffic in the first half of this year, a spokesman told AIN. The company saw “strong growth” in the U.S. and China in particular, with its largest-ever flight-hour package deals coming out of these regions so far this year, he said.

Ultra-long-range trips have risen substantially from the same period last year, with the company recording triple-digit growth in flight traffic from the U.S. and UK to Asia, the spokesman noted. “Since introducing a domestic VistaJet-branded aircraft to China in 2014, the company has seen a 30-percent rise in Asia traffic,” he said.

In total, 60 percent of VistaJet’s new customer deals this year have come from emerging markets such as China and India, the spokesman said. The company expects this trend to continue “as mature markets face continued economic and political uncertainty.”

“VistaJet’s impressive growth and record flight statistics in 2016 indicate that, despite global economic headwinds, there is still a growing demand for business aviation, with individuals and corporations turning toward the VistaJet model of asset-free flying, said VistaJet chief commercial officer Ian Moore.