Business Aviation To Emerge Stronger From Pandemic

Passenger air travel came to a halt across the globe and industries especially aviation and travel industry were hard hit. However with the shift towards safe travel and social distancing, business aviation did see better moments compared to commercial aviation.

Last few months have been extremely challenging but industry leaders believe business aviation appears to be returning more quickly and moving in a positive direction. A panel of industry experts came together to discuss the new era of healthy travel and the COVID solutions for business aviation. Bill Kircos, Vice President, Global Marketing, Honeywell; Chris Bodine, Vice President and General Manager, Standard Aero Business Aviation Services; Brian Wenig, Vice President, Mechanical Systems, Honeywell Aerospace; Peter Zeeb, Managing Director, The Van Allen Group and Ed Bolen, President and CEO, NBAA were part of the Thought Leader Session, The New Era of Healthy Travel, sponsored by Honeywell.

During the discussion, the panelist discussed reasons for optimism – including interest from a new kind of clientele, and strong signs of pent-up demand – to offset concerns about the pace of global economic recovery.

Ed Bolen remarked that encouraging data about flight demand and consumer trends provide confidence that the industry will emerge from the pandemic stronger and more adaptive. Identifying an uptick in potential first-time users as a particularly promising sign, he said, “New customers have seen the inherent advantages to business aviation: going more places in less time, reaching destinations they didn’t think they could reach, and flying in a safe, secure and healthy manner.”

Standard Aero’s Bodine also said that the overall trajectory for the industry appears to be healthy going by data on flight hours and new owner pre-purchase evaluations as a sign that first-time flyers are likely to stick around.

While Bolen acknowledged that the industry’s recovery relies on a global economic turnaround tied to COVID-19 vaccines, he is hopeful that business aviation will be a leading indicator of that recovery, once vaccines are distributed next year.

Zeeb also agreed that health concerns related to the pandemic have been a major factor driving new consumer interest in business aviation. “Our clients who have maybe been on the fence about business aviation are seeing that it’s an option to eliminate concerns about a cabin packed with people,” he added.

Wenig, too reported an increased demand for cabin air filtration systems and antimicrobial surface coatings that he believes represents a “new normal” for the industry.

Honeywell’s Chief Executive Mike Madsen said in a virtual press conference, “the business aircraft sector has improved in the back half of 2020 but flight hours this year will still be down some 30 per cent from 2019 levels. It is starting to improve significantly from those depths that we saw back in the second quarter of the year.”

As might be expected, the corporate aircraft segment has been most-significantly affected by the pandemic, with flight activity down 40 per cent year-on-year. The private-aircraft sector is 25 per cent lower, Madsen says. Madsen further highlighted that the usage of aircraft in the fractional-ownership segment has fallen 23 per cent year-on-year, while usage of charter aircraft is down just 15 per cent. The charter sector’s relative strength likely reflects “folks that are upgrading from first-class commercial travel to private travel.”

Honeywell also stated about a rising demand for large-cabin and ultra-range business jets as compared to the mid-size jets, and more demand for mid-size jets compared to light jets.