Top 50 countries by number of business aircraft registered
Business aviation is a dynamic world and the distribution of aircraft registered around the globe is in flux.
Geopolitics, wealth distribution and changing regulations all contribute to where aircraft are registered.
The US is the biggest registry by far with16,685 aircraft registered, representing 67% of the global business aircraft fleet (24,864).
The top 10 registries – US, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Germany, San Marino, Malta, Venezuela, Australia and Argentina – represent about 84% of the global total.
Referencing AMSTAT data, CJI has put together a list of the top 50 registries by number of business aircraft registered as of January 2026.
Proving it is a fluid space, in 2014, Latin American countries occupied three places in the top 10, with Brazil and Mexico in second and third Venezuela at number 10. Today, that has increased to four with Brazil and Mexico still in second and third, Venezuela up to 8th and Argentina in 10th. Brazil, like Argentina, is a vast country with little to no transport infrastructure in certain regions, making business aircraft a vital link between towns and cities.
In terms of biggest movers, the US comes out on top again in the numbers with a further 4,634 aircraft registered since 2014. However, on a percentage basis, Malta and San Marino represent the biggest increase. Malta jumped from 35 aircraft in 2014 to 278 today (a 694% increase).
San Marino had 64 aircraft by 2016 and has 372 registered today (a 481% increase). The landlocked country represents about 44% of all offshore registry growth across the period.
Looking at dropouts, Austria was placed in 6th back in 2014, partly due to aircraft with Russian owners. Russia’s import duty and tax payable on aircraft placed on the Russian register made Austria an attractive alternative country to register aircraft. Ongoing sanctions on Russia and its citizens due to the conflict in Ukraine has decreased the number of aircraft in Austria from 244 in 2014 to 196 today.
Russian owners were also attracted to the Isle of Man. The UK crown dependency found itself in 6th place back in 2014 with 264 aircraft. Today, it has dropped to 13th with 187 registered aircraft.
Post-Brexit, the UK is another notable dropout from the top 10. It was placed 8th in 2014, with 241 registered aircraft. The latest data has the UK in 19th place, with 147 aircraft in its registry.
China has also dropped out of the top 10. It was in positioned 9th back in 2014 with 203 aircraft, excluding aircraft registered in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. AMSTAT’s latest data shows China now sits in 11th place with 198 aircraft. Notably, this is inclusive of aircraft registered in Hong Kong and Macao.
Top 50 most popular business aircraft registries
(Data from AMSTAT 1/1/26)
