Russian business aviation grows in 2017
For the first 5 months of 2017, the Russian business aviation charter market increased by 7% and will continue to grow in the summer of this year.
The data is provided by the Aim of Emperor group analysts. The group’s structural divisions cover all Russian business aviation market segments: charter flights (LL Jets, QuantumVia), aircraft management company (Emperor Aviation), aircraft ground handling company (Capital AviaNeft).
The increase of flights in the first half of 2017, as well as favourable economic drivers, gives reason to believe that the Russian business aviation market has finally overcome the downturn of previous years and has moved to a new level of development, Irakli Litanishvili said, the owner of Aim of Emperor group of companies.
The key drivers of growth in Russian business aviation remain raw material mining, development of business, banking sectors of the economy and the growth in the number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWI). In recent years, they have been supplemented by the agrarian sector and the IT industry.
Despite the fact that the state and development of these drivers is not equal, their diversification allows balancing the demand for business aviation services. In particular, in the commodity market, the decreased value of a barrel of oil is compensated by the growth of the ferrous metal market. An important factor – the number of HNWI – is also steadily growing: according to the new Russian Forbes rating, the number of dollar billionaires has increased from 77 to 96 over the past year.
Business aviation passengers began to fly more in the first 5 months of 2017: the volume of charter flights increased by 7% compared to the same period last year.
The most popular routes became Nice, Geneva, London, Chambery, Samedan, Karlovy Vary and Pisa. The most popular business jets on the charter market appear to be heavy jets (Embraer Legacy 600, Bombardier Challenger 605/850) and midsize jets (Cessna Citation XLS, Bombardier Challenger 300).
The trend of buying new aircraft and replacing older jets continues. Long-range business jets were the most aircraft in “Demand for replacement” the main reason for this was the new models that have appeared in recent years. The owners are selling older jets in exchange for new aircraft (ie Bombardier Global 6000 and Gulfstream G650).
The pre-owned market in the first half of 2017 continues to be under pressure. The fleet of business aviation aircraft registered in Russia decreased slightly. In 2016 with the prefix “RA-” there were 72 aircraft, while in the first half of 2017 – 69.
