Press Release

Issued by Asian Sky Group.

April 10, 2017

In time for the premier industry event in Asia (ABACE), Hong Kong business aviation consulting firm Asian Sky Group (ASG) has released its flagship publication, the Asia Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report, providing a detailed review and analysis of the Asia based business jet fleet as of year-end 2016.

ASG's Fleet Reports have grown into an all-encompassing look at the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region and its fleet. The highly-anticipated fifth installment of this report contains all the expected information, including a detailed breakdown of the region's business jet fleet by OEM, country, size category, operator, registration and age. This year's report will also feature a new market trends section which examines new & pre-owned activity levels, transaction volumes in terms of USD and intra-APAC fleet movements.

As with all ASG publications, the Year End 2016 Asia Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report will include interviews with industry leaders and ASG is honored to have the first industry interview with Embraer Executive Jets' newly appointed president and CEO, Michael Amalfitano. Also being featured is Marubeni Aerospace Corporation's Assistant GM, Chie Matsuoka. Our aircraft spotlight will be on the Gulfstream's 650 and 650ER, as well as Embraer's 450 and 500.

Highlights of the report include:

- The Asia-Pacific business jet fleet stood at 1,155 aircraft by year end 2016, a 3% increase over 2015. Overall, the region added 112 aircraft – 57 new and 55 preowned – but also saw 78 aircraft leave. While still positive, the 34 net additions in 2016 represent a further slowdown in growth across the region compared to the 58 net additions and 5.5% growth seen in 2015.

- Pre-owned activity levels (acquisitions and sales in and out of the Asia-Pacific region) saw a dramatic increase in 2016 – from 71 in 2015 to 127 in 2016 (+79%), representing a 64% increase in business volume in terms of dollars from US$1.1B in 2015 to US$1.8B in 2016. When also considering new aircraft acquisitions, the number of total transactions in 2016 was 184 versus 131 in 2015 (+40%) and in dollars US$5.1B in 2016 versus US$3.7B in 2015 (+38%).

- Intra-Asia Pacific transaction levels decreased in 2016, down to 22 from 38 in 2015. This decrease can be attributed to the strength and current drawing power of the US market. Of the 78 deductions from the Asia-Pacific market, 73% went to the US. 

- The top four markets of Mainland China, Australia, India and Hong Kong represent two-thirds of the region's business jet fleet, combining for 769 aircraft.

- Mainland China remains the largest single market in the Asia-Pacific region with 313 business jets, though its growth rate of 4% in 2016 continued the significant deceleration in growth witnessed in previous years, and which commenced in 2012/2013.

- Mainland China also saw the largest number of aircraft added to its fleet in 2016, an increase of 13 net business jets, unseating Hong Kong which added the most in 2015.

- Greater China, includig mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, remains the leading market in the region with a fleet of 477 aircraft, representing 41% of the total for the Asia-Pacific region. With a fleet size that is 2.5 times larger than its nearest competitor Australia, greater China's significance in and to the region cannot be understated: as the greater China market goes, so does the Asia-Pacific.

- The top three OEMs in the region by market share were Bombardier, Gulfstream and Cessna, with 26%, 24% and 19% of the fleet, respectively. Whereas Bombardier and Gulfstream added aircraft to their fleet in 2016, Cessna's contracted.

- Examining only net fleet additions in 2016, Gulfstream significantly out-performed all other OEMs, adding 20 aircraft. In terms of growth rate, the top performers were Boeing with 23% (incl. six BBJ additions) and Embraer with 14% (incl. its first Legacy 500 and six Phenom 300s).

- The most popular added model across the region was the G650/G650ER, which added an incredible 23 to its fleet: 17 new and six pre-owned; and the fastest growing size category was the long-range segment.

- The top 10 operators in the Asia-Pacific region operate 26% of the fleet, with nine of these operators located in Greater China. Since 2014, the number of new operators in the Asia-Pacific region has increased 5% but today the top 10 operate 3% less of the total fleet.

- Australia and India have the most operators, but these markets are very fragmented, where 37% and 40% of the operators have just a single aircraft.

- From an age perspective, the Asia-Pacific region remains one of the world's youngest, with 62% of fleet being less than 10 years old. Hong Kong has the youngest, while PNG has the oldest fleet, on average.

- The US (N) registration is still the most popular in the Asia-Pacific region, and is currently being utilized in at least 15 countries.

- For 2017, ASG predicts growth finally flattening out at around 1% as new deliveries continue to decline and pent up demand for G650s recedes. The good news is the market shouldn't get any worse through 2017 and ASG sees a modest return to growth in 2018 when the market should also get some stimulation from new deliveries of 8Xs, G500s and G7000s.

“ASG's Business Jet Fleet Report is the report that started it all,” says ASG managing director, Jeffrey Lowe. “We started out examining only the greater China fleet and, like the industry, have grown to examine the entire region. The Asia Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report has evolved into the industry's authority on business jet data. We're happy to provide this much-needed information and thrilled that its release coincides with ABACE, the region's top industry event.”

The Asia Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report will be distributed in the Asia-Pacific region with a Chinese version made available in China.