Ionic Insights: The Installed Business Jet Fleet in the United Kingdom (June 2022)

To coincide with the return of this month’s Farnborough International Airshow, this edition of Ionic Insights focuses on the United Kingdom. We analyse the size, make-up and age of the installed fleet, whilst simultaneously investigating the most numerous aircraft operators, registries and base locations.

Analysis

With an installed fleet of 209 aircraft, the UK is second only to Germany in Europe in terms of numbers of aircraft and is broadly similar in scale to that of France. Bombardier is the largest OEM by fleet size (28%), with Cessna (22%) and Dassault (15%) being not far behind.

The dominant aircraft categories are the Mid/Super-Midsize and Ultra-Long-Range segments – each boasting around a third of overall market share. In addition, Light/Very-Light jets make up approximately one quarter of the fleet.

Overall fleet size and composition is heavily influenced by the presence of an extensive commercial airline network plus the relatively compact geography of the UK and Western Europe; the presence of a large UHNW community and many multinational corporations drives ownership of ultra-long-range aircraft at the top end.

Not surprisingly, nearly half of all aircraft are based in the London area; with Jet Concierge, Luxaviation UK (formerly LEA), TAG, GAMA and Catreus being the largest operators.

Over 50% of aircraft are registered domestically in the UK (G-), with the Isle of Man (M-), U.S. (N) and the Channel Islands (2-) being the most popular registries thereafter.

This analysis is summarised in the following slide:

Figure: The Installed Business Jet Fleet in the United Kingdom

Upcoming Events

Ionic Aviation will be attending the Farnborough Airshow from 18 – 20 July.