COPING WITH RESTRICTIONS
“Restrictions on international air travel have affected both commercial aviation and business aviation,” says Carlos Brana, E ecutive 9ice President Civil Aircraft, Dassault Aviation. He cites Statista data showing business aviation flight hours are down about 15 per cent — but the percentage decline is vastly better than the service reductions airlines have e perienced. Toward the end of last year, Brana continues, airline flight activity was globally about half of normal on average.
There has been a long-term shift to business aircraft usage among those who can afford it, particularly with the advent of fractional aircraft ownership and e panded charter fleets, Brana says. It appears that Covid-19 has caused a number of travellers and corporations to take a closer look at business aviation, and this may herald a long-term shift in attitudes toward business Mets, he surmises.
“We are seeing more interest from people who are new to business aviation. Nearly all of the business Mets we delivered into Southeast Asia and Australia last year were to new customers — people who had never owned a business Met before.
“Covid-19 seems to be intensifying the shift to first-time buyers. With airlines reducing their schedules, and people more concerned about health and safety, businesspeople and HNWIs are turning to business aviation as a solution. They want to fly direct. They don’t to have to transit through a hub and spoke system,” according to Brana.
“We’re seeing more interest from first-time buyers,” Brana reiterates. “They may have chartered business Met before but were still primarily flying on commercial airlines. Now they see the merits of having a Met of their own.
“Clients new to business aviation have generally opted to buy our Falcon 2000S or Falcon 2000LXS aircraft — our entry level products. The Falcon 2000S and 2000LXS are ideal for clients in Asia. The 2000LXS, for e ample, can fly from Singapore non-stop to anywhere in the Asia Pacific region.You can fly Singapore-Melbourne or Singapore-Sapporo or Singapore-Dubai. You can fly to Europe with one stop.”