Back-to-Back weekly declines hit bizjet market for first time in over a Year

Weekly Global Executive Summary

In Week 4 2026 (26 Jan – 1 Feb), global business jets recorded over 65,000 flights, 1% below the same week last year. This marks just the 4th week in the last year to post YOY declines, and the first time consecutive weeks have fallen in more than a year. On a rolling last four-week basis (W02 – W05 2026), worldwide sectors are up 2% YOY, maintaining the single-digit growth trends seen from 2025 vs 2024.

Chart 1: Global Bizjet Departures: Regional Performance

Highlight of the Week: Santa Clara poised for influx of Super Bowl bizjet arrivals

This Sunday, 8 February, the 60th annual NFL Super Bowl takes place in Santa Clara, California, where the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will compete for the championship. Last year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana generated substantial business jet traffic to the metro area's airports. During the days leading up to and including the event (6 – 9 February), New Orleans saw nearly 800 business jet arrivals, a 250%+ year-over-year increase. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International and Lakefront airports handled 85% of this traffic. The day after the Super Bowl (10 February), New Orleans airports recorded 579 outbound departures, more than ten times the number from the same day the previous year. Using the average surge that airports experience for the day after the Super Bowl compared to their February daily average, Santa Clara area airports are positioned to experience a similar influx of bizjet activity, with over 600 departures for the day after the Super Bowl itself.

Chart 2: Analysis Day After Super Bowl Bizjet Departures Since 2006

Regional Performance Analysis

North America: Texas still feeling harsh winter storm effects
Business jet activity in the North American market underperformed the global market and declined at a rate of 2% in W05 year-over-year. The key US market accounted for 97% of all North American bizjet flights and drove this -2% trend. In contrast to the overall US trend, on a state level, Florida and California both saw strong growth last week, up 10% and 9% respectively. Texas, in contrast, is seemingly still feeling the effects of the large winter storm at the end of January and declined 5% (more than 200 flights) in Week 05 2026. On a rolling last four-week basis (W02 – W05 2026), Florida leads growth up 9% vs the comparable four-week period last year, followed by California up 8%, and Texas up 2%.

Europe: Switzerland surges 12% as major markets stagnate
European business jet flights were flat in Week 05 (no growth or declines) and notched up about 8,400 flights. Amongst top European countries, Switzerland was the star performer growing 12% compared to Week 05 last year, while Germany was the only other top country to see growth, though only up 1%. The UK, France, and Italy all saw slight declines last week, down 1%, 2%, and 3% respectively. Europe’s four-week trend (W02 – W05 2026) is up 1% compared to last year, with Italy continuing to lead the four- week trend, up 7%, while Germany and France have dipped below the comparable four- week trend, -1% and -4% respectively.

Rest of World: South America extends winning streak at 16%
On a combined basis, regions outside North America and Europe saw modest single- digit YOY growth in Week 05, up 6% overall. On a regional level, South America led the growth at an impressive 16% more flights than in Week 05 last year, followed by Asia’s 4% expansion. The Middle East region did not see any growth or declines last week, while Africa declined 4%. On a rolling four-week basis, South America is farthest ahead of last year’s volume, flights up 15%, flights out of Africa and Asia are both up 5%, while activity from the Middle East is seeing a slight decline, activity dropping 3% YOY.

Additional Analysis: Fleet Operators vs Smaller Competitors

Fleet operators, those with 50 or more active aircraft, demonstrate significantly different operating characteristics than smaller operators. In 2025, there were 46 operators with 50 or more active aircraft, and these large fleets flew 1.1 million business jet flights, representing 28% of all bizjet sectors, while single-aircraft operators accounted for 26% of total activity. Additionally, the large fleet operators only account for 14% of all active aircraft in 2025, while the single-fleet operators made up41% of the active fleet, showcasing how efficient the fleet operators are with their aircraft. To outline this, aircraft utilisation of large fleet operators show that they averaged 452 flight hours per aircraft in 2025, more than double the average for all other operators of 195 hours per aircraft. Finally, fleet operators are also outpacing market growth, with departures up 11% 2025 vs 2024 compared to just 2% for the rest of the market.

Nick Koscinski, WINGX Analyst, comments: “Week 05 was down 1% globally, so we're seeing two consecutive weeks of slight declines after an initial strong start to the year. The four-week trend is still up 2%, which tells us demand is solid even if we're hitting some week-to-week bumps. What's really interesting from our fleet operator analysis is seeing those big operators averaging 452 hours per aircraft vs 195 for everyone else. It shows how efficient activity is among the major players, along with growing faster than the rest of the market at 11% versus 2%.”