Summary
The article discuess in depth the situation of the North American busness aviation market and its current status in the anglo-american-made worldwide recession. It provides a good insight into the opinions and backgrounds of this once booming market and also highlights its pitfalls quite openly. It is a good read.
Analysis
Working in European Business Aviation as I do, I need to point out that the situation here is somewhat different, as was very briefly highlighted in the article. This is so for several reasons.
The taxing of business aircraft was mentioned and this is one aspect of the differences. Oddly, there are also public misconceptions and also misgivings - well orchestrated by an uninformed media here, albeit the roots are different to those of the US/Canada market. In Europe, it is the permanent struggle of the lefty-loony socialists to point the finger at the hard working bourgeois majority and to orchestrate envy. Business aviation is sadly at the pinnacle of that envy. This is of course ommitted where the lefty loonies themselves govern and - much more than others - love to indluge in luxury and obsolete flights in the same aircraft.
Business Aviation is also somewhat different, as a lot of operators are in a position nowadays to offer Corporate Shuttle flights to companies, sports teams and others and as such use aircraft in a very different way than merely carrying the board around. In addition, the operations companies and MROs do a good job in making this very affordable still. All those who know their maths in this arena are still flying and they are all still saving money.
One of my main clients offers business aviation operations for companies with just one aircraft and this includes MRO services as well... the need for this is still steady and it will be growing in the future, notwithstanding that airline quality in Europe and the nearby Middle East is far higher than it is in the US. Big mainline carriers - such as Lufthansa, are thus also investing in premium products to ensure they stay competitive even in this market.
The VLJ aspect is also an important one, as mentioned in the article and this will also be the case in Europe, albeit to a lesser extent, as the market is somewhat softer, but more steady and the investment in totally new aircraft may still be prohibitive... which is why a lot of older, used aircraft are being refurbished and re-used. The much lower capital expenditure is looking good in the annual reports, as well as in the running costs (per FH).
Business Aviation in the US will rebound for sure... so will it in Europe, but the fall weasnt as deep here and the landing wasnt as hard as overseas... and ppl like NetJets will then also still be here, albeit smaller than before and perhaps with new products to lure the customers.
