Exquisite Air Charter, a private aviation company based in Los Angeles, announced its yearly private jet outlook on the upcoming industry trends for 2023. It reported that although 2022 registered record-breaking private charter demand, the past few months of the year recorded a decline mainly due to the recovery of commercial aviation.
While between 2021 and 2022 the private jet industry received an important influx of first-time flyers due to commercial aviation's inefficiencies and overall global health concerns, that trend reached its peak in mid-2022 in Europe and late 2022 in the US. Usage is still up, year over year, but is starting to level out between previous year usage numbers and the highs of 2022.
Furthermore, as the northern hemisphere settles into winter, statistics are showing that many of the new entrants to private jet charter who previously stated they planned on continuing to travel by private jet charter are rethinking this and settling back into commercial travel.
"Forecast for next year is that we will remain significantly above pre-COVID usage numbers but not maintain 2022 numbers now that commercial flights seem to be stabilizing a little more. Yet charter customers who were chartering before COVID, especially those who sometimes chartered and sometimes traveled commercially, will remain loyal customers; fewer will return to commercial flying for any of their flights," said Rena Davenport, CEO of Exquisite Air Charter.
Exquisite Air Charter also expects that key travel dates like the 4th of July and the start of summer will again increase the demand for private charter providers as commercial aviation's challenges, mainly technical staff, and pilot shortage will continue to impact the industry in the foreseeable future.
"Our main challenge as private jet providers with increased demand is securing the availability of aircraft for our customers. With new aircraft expected to hit the market during 2023 as manufacturers speed up their deliveries, we envision being able to accommodate sporadic spikes in domestic and international bookings while delivering an improved all-around service during 2023," adds Davenport.
