Business Aviation on Path to Recovery

Signs of recovery for the business aviation industry are weak for 2010 but point to improvement in coming years, the head of the industry’s trade and advocacy group said March 11. Speaking at the National Business Aviation Association Regional Forum at Van Nuys Airport, association President and CEO Ed Bolen said that aircraft deliveries will not be particularly strong in 2010 but that forecasters point to 2011 for when new plane purchases will pick up. Flight activity has picked up, sale prices of aircraft have stabilized and the inventory of pre-owned aircraft has dropped when compared to a year ago, Bolen said. “We are beginning to see progress at the economic level,” Bolen said. Industry analysts had evidence of slight improvements. Takeoffs and landings in December were 5 percent higher than the year before, according to UBS Investment Research Business Jet Monthly. While jet fuel sales dropped in 2009, Brian Foley Associates forecasts more than 21 billion gallons being consumed over the next decade. The firm also expects 9,000 business jets worth $170 billion to be delivered through 2019. About 1,000 people were expected to attend the day long event taking place at TWC Aviation. This is the first forum NBAA has had at Van Nuys in about five years. The association returned because with its new 43,000-square-foot hangar and 22 acres of ramp space there was the room for the 70 exhibitors and the 17 static aircraft on display, said TWC President Andrew Richmond. “It gives people a chance to see our new hangar and our new plane, a Falcon 2000 LX,” Richmond said. TWC relocated to the Valley airfield from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank in 2008. The aircraft management and charter service firm had a good 2009 and is seeing an increase in both charter flights and owners using their planes. The company is in a hiring mode having added a new a management position, dispatchers and sales people, Richmond said.