by Doug Gollan, Forbes.com 8/26/16
Florida, followed by Texas and California had the most private jet departures over the past six months, according to a report released earlier this week by ARGUS International, a company that tracks private aviation activity. Of course, the report needs a bit of context. New York is only ranked seventh, but many Manhattanites use Teterboro Airport in New Jersey for their private jet flying. New Jersey was ranked fourth. Vermont had the lowest activity, with only 2,007 departures during the period.
Articulated another way, the 135,338 departures in the period from Florida equate to 722 flights per day. American Airlines, which operates the largest hub in the state, at Miami International Airport, has 352 daily departures.
A growing number of private jets sit parked at Scottsdale Airport back in February. With the Phoenix Open PGA golf tournament in town the private jet traffic into the Phoenix-area airports was expected to increase. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Overall, during the six months, ARGUS tracked 1,293,348 U.S. private aviation departures over the six month period. American Airlines, operating about 6,700 flights per day, would have operated about 1,250,000 flights worldwide during the same period. United Airlines puts its daily departures at 4,550, so 850,000 departures every six months. Southwest says it operates 3,900 flights per day, or 729,300 flights every six months. So one point you can take away, is that while private aviation is a fragmented industry, its combined flying based on departures, would rank it alongside the largest U.S. airlines.
The report tracks aircraft operated under Part 91, which includes corporate flight departments and fractional operators, and Part 135, which covers the companies that offer private aircraft charter.
Among some of the other interesting data points, Thursday is the most popular day for flying privately, followed by Wednesday and Friday. Also, nine of the 10 busiest days were Thursdays, the exception being Friday before President’s Day.
Overall, private aviation activity increased five out of six months with flights rising by 3.1 percent, and flight hours up by 2.7 percent, meaning shorter flights, a possible reflection that the biggest times savings of flying privately are on shorter flights where when flying commercially a disproportionate amount of time is wasted getting in and out of the airport.
ARGUS is also bullish for the next three months, projecting a 3.4 percent increase in flights for the August to October period.
Departures January to June 2016:
| State | Departures | |
| 1 | Florida | 135,338 |
| 2 | Texas | 129,458 |
| 3 | California | 129,220 |
| 4 | New Jersey | 48,124 |
| 5 | Georgia | 47,644 |
| 6 | Colorado | 42,472 |
| 7 | New York | 40,523 |
| 8 | Illinois | 38,955 |
| 9 | North Carolina | 35,943 |
| 10 | Ohio | 32,478 |
| 11 | Arizona | 31,466 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 30,449 |
| 13 | Virginia/DC | 28,723 |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | 27,685 |
| 15 | Michigan | 26,012 |
| 16 | Missouri | 23,660 |
| 17 | Nevada | 23,560 |
| 18 | Louisiana | 21,723 |
| 19 | Minnesota | 21,720 |
| 20 | Massachusetts | 21,371 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 21,297 |
| 22 | Indiana | 20,886 |
| 23 | Kansas | 20,406 |
| 24 | Alabama | 20,353 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 19,575 |
| 26 | Washington | 18,340 |
| 27 | Arkansas | 16,447 |
| 28 | Oklahoma | 16,310 |
| 29 | Oregon | 15,063 |
| 30 | Maryland | 14,316 |
| 31 | Nebraska | 13,761 |
| 32 | Utah | 13,527 |
| 33 | Kentucky | 13,382 |
| 34 | New Mexico | 13,090 |
| 35 | Iowa | 12,458 |
| 36 | Mississippi | 12,209 |
| 37 | Montana | 11,198 |
| 38 | Alaska | 10,882 |
| 39 | South Dakota | 10,649 |
| 40 | Idaho | 9,895 |
| 41 | Wyoming | 9,183 |
| 42 | North Dakota | 8,591 |
| 43 | Connecticut | 7,580 |
| 44 | Hawaii | 6,082 |
| 45 | New Hampshire | 4,865 |
| 46 | West Virginia | 4,740 |
| 47 | Maine | 4,258 |
| 48 | Delaware | 3,226 |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 2,248 |
| 50 | Vermont | 2,007 |
See the article at Forbes.com
by Doug Gollan, contributor