Demand for Charter Is On the Rise

Charter business is rising, according to Avinode's demand index, which on April 1 stood at 85.98, about four points above the March 1 index and almost 14 points higher than the April 1, 2009 index. Meanwhile, the latest data from CharterX shows rising activity in all sectors of the charter market. Demand for midsize jets was the strongest at 21 percent above the previous month, with 16,241 flight hours. Light-jet flying climbed 5 percent to 15,492 hours and heavy-jet flying jumped 5.3 percent to 9,007 hours. Online charter portals Avinode and CharterX expect to finalize a merger deal within a few weeks.