Honeywell projects continued business aviation growth

Honeywell's Global Business Aviation Outlook released October 19 (just ahead of the National Business Aviation Association's Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas) projects “9,950 new business jet deliveries over the next decade, up 4.4% from last year. The annual forecast is based in part on operator surveys, and Honeywell noted that nine of 10 operators expect to "fly the same or more hours in 2027 compared with 2026," with planned purchases projected to expand the global business aviation fleet by nearly a third in the coming decade.

"The fundamental value prop of business aviation are things like time efficiency, comfort, flexibility and really, the ability to do what you want with your travel," said Kevin Schwab, strategic planning manager at Honeywell Aerospace. "Most other forms of travel have some restraint on those things and business aviation really enables users to travel how you want.

"Looking at the economy, oil prices, geopolitical conflicts, the economic outlook primarily is positive," Schwab continued. "There have been some challenges but generally speaking, economists are positive the economy is going to grow."

Most business aviation growth has been in the United States and Canada, business aviation's perpetual largest market, and specifically, in fractional ownership business models. In these fractional programs, not only are new deliveries being added, but existing aircraft are being flown more.

Individual owners continue to drive the market as well, though less so, with considerable continued wealth accumulation globally and nationally. Schwab noted that individuals from the artificial intelligence boom have been among these business aviation newcomers, and they number in the thousands.

All this demand is good for the wider industry, including maintenance, FBOs, and pilot training and hiring.

"We are on a trajectory right now to also need more pilots at an accelerated pace in this sector," said Schwab. "Accelerated fleet growth means there's more aircraft out there to serve, and … these aircraft are being used more. So, more aircraft and each are being used more. More aircraft and more sectors, so two different drivers of why we'll need more pilots in business aviation. We've really struggled to have enough pilots in business aviation on the whole."

Barring a global economic downturn, the expected growth will likely continue, and the future of business aviation appears bright. What excites Schwab most about that future? Opportunity.

"New aircraft are always fun, and shiny and exciting, right? And in business aviation, we have so many OEMs and so many different platforms, because the whole purpose is to have the right airplane for the right mission. So, we need to have all these different offerings out there. And what that means is that you always have somebody who's developing a new airplane of some sort," said Schwab. "You have a user base which is willing to adopt technology, which is cool. If you're a passenger on a commercial plane, you don't have any say on this technology. But if you're [part of] business aviation, in fact, you can push for new technology. And that's very exciting."