Despite the post-Covid bounce in business aircraft flight activity waning over the latter half of 2022—with December down 2 percent from a year ago—WingX Advance said it was still a record year. The more than 5.5 million business aircraft flights recorded globally by WingX last year was 10 percent higher year-over-year, 53 percent above 2020 levels, and 14.4 percent above 2019.

At 2.8 million flights, North America accounted for about half of this traffic last year. Business aviation flying in this region was up 11 percent from 2021, 65 percent above 2020, and 18 percent above three years ago.

Most of the growth in this region came from private and corporate flight departments, which represented some 40 percent of all business jet activity, WingX said. Reflecting this surge, Teterboro Airport in New Jersey regained its status as the busiest business aviation airport in 2022.

Europe recorded 600,000 business jet flights last year, up 10 percent from 2021, 56 percent above 2020, and 15 percent higher than in 2019. France was the top business aircraft market in Europe in 2022, followed by the UK and Germany. 

Outside of North America and Europe, business aircraft activity last year climbed 20 percent above 2021, 74 percent from 2020, and 54 percent above 2019. Private flight departments were responsible for 41 percent of all departures in the rest of the world in 2022, marking a 29 percent increase from 2021. Notably, Qatar saw 400 percent year-over-year growth in traffic last month, driven by the hosting of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. 

“December 2022 activity was down year-on-year but was still the second-busiest December on record and capped off a record year for global business aviation flights,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “The trajectory month-to-month has been downwards for the last six months in Europe, where demand may fall back to 2019 levels this year. The erosion from peak demand in the U.S. has been more modest, and the market should sustain higher than pre-pandemic activity during 2023.”