This article is extracted from the most recent edition of The Business Jet Fleet Report.
To read or download the full report, please click here.
There were 1,156 active civil registered business jets based in the Asia-Pacific region at the end of 2024, which represents a 1.2% year-on-year increase. It was a year of consolidation for the business aviation market in the region, as the industry continued its recovery from the global pandemic. However, there were some very notable differences in fleet changes across the region.
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Despite a net reduction of 21 aircraft, more than any other country in the region, mainland China still accounted for the largest fleet of business jets in Asia-Pacific. There were 249 jets based in mainland China at the end of 2024, down from 270 at the end of 2023. While this may indicate a significant reduction in demand, there were in fact 12 additions to the mainland China fleet during 2024, which included six new deliveries. These new deliveries comprised Long Range Jets including the Gulfstream G600/G650 and Bombardier Global 7500. The majority of the mainland China-based fleet comprised Long Range Jets (44.6%), Large Jets (19.7%) and Corporate Airliners (13.3%).
Long Range Jets accounted for one-third of the Asia-Pacific fleet, which highlights users’ continued preference for this category in the region. The market share of the Global 7500 in Asia-Pacific increased again during 2024 with a year-end fleet of 39, which included seven new deliveries. Deliveries of its main competitor – the Gulfstream G700, began in 2024, with two G700s being handed over to Asia-Pacific based operators by the end of the year.
New deliveries in 2024 also included eight Long Range Gulfstream G650/ERs, which tied with the Global 7500, despite the fact that the G650/ER is nearing the end of its production run. The G650/ER remained Asia-Pacific’s most popular business jet model with more than 110 based in the region at the end of 2024. The older G550 model was the second most popular amongst the Asia-Pacific-based fleet with 69 aircraft. The G550 was also the most transacted model during 2024 with ten preowned additions coming into Asia-Pacific and 11 leaving the region.
Another noteworthy aircraft type was the versatile Pilatus PC-24 Light Jet, which also recorded seven new deliveries to Asia-Pacific during 2024. The PC-24 has been proven in service with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia since 2018, with the Asia-Pacific-based fleet growing to 20 by the end of 2024, an almost 50% year-on-year increase. New PC-24s were delivered to corporate and charter operators in the Philippines, Japan, Australia and India during 2024.
Light Jets accounted for 20.7% of the Asia-Pacific-based fleet at the end of 2024, a slight increase from the previous year. Fleet shares of the other categories remained fairly consistent year-on-year.
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Bombardier had the largest based fleet in Asia-Pacific at the end of 2024 with 306 jets, followed by Textron with 303 and Gulfstream with 278. All major manufacturers recorded net increases in their Asia-Pacific-based fleets during 2024, except for Dassault and Boeing, which saw net reductions of seven and one aircraft, respectively.
Australia had the second largest fleet of based business jets after China, with its fleet of 214 aircraft mainly comprised Light Jets (42.5%) and Very Light Jets (20.6%). India had the third largest fleet with 168 aircraft, a net increase of 18 aircraft from the previous year, the largest increase amongst Asia-Pacific countries. There were five new deliveries and 21 pre-owned additions to the India-based fleet in 2024.
There were 11 net additions to the Singapore-based fleet during 2024, which brought the fleet to 83 aircraft by year end. It is worth noting that nine business jets were relocated from elsewhere in Asia-Pacific to Singapore during 2024, including from mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Australia and India. Singapore continued to be an attractive location as a business jet base, and this trend is set to continue. Other base locations which saw net fleet increases during 2024 included Indonesia (net increase of four jets), Thailand (four), Philippines (two), as well as Vietnam and Hong Kong (one each).
While mainland China recorded the steepest net decrease in fleet size with 21 jets, there were also small net reductions across other parts of the region, including Malaysia (six aircraft), Pakistan, Taiwan (two each), New Zealand and South Korea (one each).
In terms of overall fleet changes, the 36 new deliveries to Asia-Pacific in 2024 represented a one-third increase over 2023, with 76 pre-owned additions being up 24.6%, whilst there was a 7.7% year-on-year decrease in intra-APAC movements. Ten jets based in mainland China and Hong Kong switched to other Asia-Pacific bases during the year, while Singapore received nine jets from other locations across the Asia-Pacific region.
Operators with the largest Asia-Pacific based fleets were largely unchanged during 2024, with the top three each having 30 or more jets based in the region – Sino Jet (41), TAG Aviation (32) and Jet Aviation (30). The top 20 operators accounted for 29.7% of the Asia-Pacific based fleet at the end of 2024.
Some 17.8% of the year end 2024 Asia-Pacific based fleet was offshore registered, with the San Marino (T7-) register being most popular with a fleet of 95 jets, or 46.1% of the offshore registered fleet. This represented a 39.7% year-on-year increase for the T7- register in Asia-Pacific. Fleet sizes of other offshore registries in the region remained fairly consistent year-on-year. More than 73% of the Hong Kong based fleet was offshore registered, which was the highest percentage amongst all base locations, followed by Singapore with almost 57% of the fleet being offshore registered. On the other hand, over 90% of business jets based in India and South Korea were locally registered.
This article is extracted from the most recent edition of The Business Jet Fleet Report.
To read or download the full report, please click here.