Market analysis: UK has 15% of Europe’s heavy jets

An Embraer Legacy 650 business jet (G-OTGL) operated by Hangar8 in the UK.

Research from Hangar8 shows that there are 172 heavy business jets registered in the UK.

An Embraer Legacy 650 business jet (G-OTGL) operated by Hangar8 in the UK.

There are around 172 heavy business jets registered in the UK, according to new research from Hangar8, an aircraft management and charter company, with 65 new aircraft entering into service between 2009 and 2013.

Hangar8 claims that the UK’s heavy jet fleet now accounts for 15 per cent of the European total.

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In a February 2014 article, Corporate Jet Investor counted a total of 241 business jets on the UK aircraft register.

Based on Hangar8’s research, this means that over 70 per cent of private jets registered in the UK fall into JETNET’s definition of heavy jets, which includes aircraft models such as the Challenger 850, Falcon 7X and Legacy 650.

Hangar8 has also shown that the number of business flights into London’s busiest business airports increased by 6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014 with an additional 300 flights.

Dustin Dryden, CEO of Hangar8, said: “In December last year, we took delivery of four more long range aircraft on behalf of clients, which was our largest ever monthly intake. Also, in March we announced unaudited half-year results that revealed a 13.1 per cent increase in revenue and a 25 per cent increase in gross profit – this is a reflection of our strong and competitive proposition, but also a growing market.”

Dryden believes that the UK’s growing business jet market has been partly triggered by last year’s 28 per cent increase in sales of London properties valued at over £5 million, particularly with more buyers coming from overseas.