Bizav Flight Activity Declines Slightly

Business aircraft flight activity, which had been on the rise, fell 0.9 percent in July from the same month a year ago, according to aviation-information-services firm ARG/US. Because July 2009 flight activity was down 7.9 percent from July 2008, last month's figure was almost 9 percent below mid-2008 levels.

Among aircraft categories, only midsize jets showed a gain in July, with flight activity rising 4.6 percent from the same period last year. Turboprop activity fell the most--5 percent--followed by flights of large-cabin jets (down 3.7 percent) and light jets (down 0.4 percent). Fractional-share providers saw flight activity climb 3 percent, despite a 9.7-percent decrease in large-cabin fractional flying. Flights by charter operations were up an insignificant 0.1 percent while Part 91 flying declined 2.7 percent. The ARG/US data reflects "serial-number-specific aircraft arrival and departure information on all IFR [instrument flight rules] flights in the U.S."