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Business Aviation: a major
contributor to growth
Pat Malone looks at the potential for Business Aviation to continue to expand in Europe
 
While Business
Aviation growth
has been extremely
healthy in recent
years there is
ample room for
further expansion
Despite double-digit growth in recent years, European Business Aviation is still relatively underdevel¬oped compared to the United States and has ample room for expansion. Even in tough times, Business Aviation is expected to continue to grow, driven on by increas¬ing integration in Europe, the pan-Euro¬pean nature of modern business and the need to move people and investment to centres that are not well served by the airlines. Airspace improvements embod¬ied in the Single European Sky promise
to enhance the efficiency and reduce the cost of Business Aviation, and setbacks experienced as a result of recent financial turmoil are expected to be short-term.
Business Aviation is the umbrella term for the use of aircraft to enhance business performance. As defined by the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA),
it covers air taxi companies; fractional owners, through whom companies can buy timeshare-type options on aircraft; corporate jet owners that transport their own employees and executives; along with self-fly businesspeople holding at least a commercial pilot's licence and an instrument rating.
Worldwide, the business fleet numbers some 25,000 aircraft, including 14,000 jets and 10,500 turboprops. 0f these, the majority operates in America; EBAA says the European fleet is more than 3,000 strong and worth in excess of 4.5 billion. Some 60 per cent of these aircraft are used by major companies, 20 per cent by governments and less than 3 per cent by individuals, and Business Aviation now comprises 8 per cent of European Instru¬ment Flight Rules (IFR) traffic. While Busi¬ness Aviation growth has been extremely healthy in recent years — up almost 15 per cent in 2007, following a 10 per cent rise in 2006 — there is clearly ample room for further expansion, given the example of the USA. That said, the current financial situation has put the brakes on. According to the EBAA's President, Brian Humphries, growth in the first half of 2008 was 2 per cent.
But it's wrong to assume that accoun¬tants aim first at corporate aviation when they're told to cut costs, because a business jet can be a proven generator of profits. According to research by the London Business School, companies with business aircraft perform 11.3 per cent better than the industry average. A similar study in the United States, covering 766 companies, found that those who acquired business aircraft experienced greater sales growth in the years following the purchase than those who did not. After three years, the average sales increase was put at 8.5 per cent.
 
At its root, Business Aviation gets executives exactly where they want to go, precisely when they need to travel,
keeping them secure while allowing them to conduct business in confidence every step of the way. Humphries stresses that Business Aviation should not be seen as a direct competitor to the airlines. "There
is little cost and time advantage to be gained by business aircraft use between major hub cities," he says. "For travellers between capitals, premium airline travel is as good an option. For travel between provincial centres and those airports
　
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本文鏈接地址：EUROCONTROL EBAA IAOPA Yearbook 2009: The Business of Flying(10)