Modest global bizjet growth while North America gears up for the World Cup

Please come and join our webinar on Thursday 14 May 10 ET, where we will be discussing the 2026 World Cup impact on business aviation demand. Register here to secure your place.

Global bizjet activity expanded 2.0% year-on-year in Week 19 (4 – 10 May), with the year-to-date figure (1 January – 10 May) at +3.9% ahead of last year, a slight deceleration compared to the +4.6% YTD trend reported through last week (through 3 May), and a sizeable improvement on the +2.6% achieved over the same period in 2025 vs 2024. While accounting for 72% of all bizjet sectors flown last week, North America grew 2.4% year-on-year, while South America and Asia led growth at 21.7% and 12.0%, respectively.

Chart 1: Global Bizjet Departures Trends YTD (1 January – 10 May)

World Cup Preview: Webinar This Thursday

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicking off (pun intended) across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from 11 June, WINGX Managing Director Richard Koe will be moderating a live webinar this Thursday, 14 May at 10 AM ET / 1600 CET, to explore what the tournament means for business aviation demand and capacity.

Richard will be joined by Alan Walsh of Sentient Jet, Corey Hanlon of DM Airports (Morristown Airport), and John Redcay of Atlantic Aviation. Please join us in a discussion of demand forecasts, capacity constraints, and what operators and FBOs need to know before the tournament begins. Secure your place and register here.

As a preview for the World Cup, WINGX analysed three recent World Cups (Germany 2006, Russia 2018, Qatar 2022), to investigate the surge in bizjet demand that the tournament brings. All three tournaments demonstrate intensifying bizjet surges as the tournament progresses. At Qatar 2022, surge factors (that is host city bizjet traffic the day before, day of, and day after the match compared to typical 3-day traffic levels) begin at a modest 1.9x in the Group Stage, then 3.5x in the Semifinal, finally peaking at 12.3x in the Final.

For 2026, WINGX forecasts a total of more than 73,000 match-day related bizjet flights across all host 16 host cities, with New York alone accounting for 27,900. Charter and Fractional providers stand to capture a meaningful additional revenue, with the World Cup projected to generate an estimated $247M in additional Charter and Fractional hourly revenue across the tournament window at host cities.

Chart 2: Surge Factor* by World Cup Tournament Stage

WINGX Rankings: The Busiest Bizjet Operators in North America and Europe

Chart 3: Top operators by North America bizjet departures YTD (1 January – 10 May)

Chart 4: Top Europe operators by bizjet departures YTD (1 January – 10 May)

Middle East Weekly Evolution Tracker

WINGX estimated fuel uplift data continues to provide the clearest lens through which to measure the cumulative and weekly toll of the conflict on Middle East business aviation. The WINGX pre-conflict baseline is Weeks 7 – 10 (9 February – 8 March). While the conflict outbreak occurred on 28 February in Week 9, the material impact on jet fuel pricing did not begin to be felt until the week of 9 March (Week 11), meaning Weeks 7 – 10 captures operating conditions before the fuel cost shock began cascading through the market. Across those four weeks, Middle East bizjet activity averaged 1.5M USG of estimated fuel uplift per week, establishing the baseline against which subsequent weeks in the table below are measured.

Chart 5: Weekly Middle East bizjet fuel uplift trends pre vs post conflict

Nick Koscinski, WINGX Analyst, comments: "Modest growth last week with top fractional providers continuing their strong growth in 2026. We’re now looking towards the World Cup and the extra revenue that operators and FBOs will capture." 

In collaboration with JETNET, WINGX Managing Director Richard Koe and WINGX Analyst Nick Koscinski have developed the new recurring JETNET iQ Market Monitor report. The report sets out to provide market analysis across all JETNET Group coverage of business jet inventory, market, and flight activity. Please reach out to nick@wingx-advance.com for your copy of the report.