During the COVID-19 crisis, GlobeAir has seen a surge in demand from diplomats, medical staff and travellers needing to repatriate. In light of a lack of commercial flight availability, the company has been offering complimentary last-minute flights for the categories of travellers mentioned above to support the communities impacted by the crisis. Relief flights contributed to the initial increase in private jet flights in the first weeks of March whilst commercial airlines saw an almost 87% YoY decrease in European operations (Source: Eurocontrol).
Demand for cargo services has remained rather stable all over Europe with air freight being an essential means of transport for urgent medical supplies. While commercial airline’s cargo due to be shipped in and out of Europe dropped by 1%, GlobeAir has registered a 2.8% increase in flights in March 2020 compared to March 2019.
The initial growth in private jet demand registered at the beginning of the crisis was followed by a dramatic plummeting of requests, signalling a drop of 34% in unscheduled flights (Source: EBAA). Many success stories, however, have been reinforcing the notion that business aviation plays a crucial role in our society.