Business Jet Fleet Report YE 2023 – Executive Summary

This article is extracted from the most recent edition of The Business Jet Fleet Report.
To read or download the full report, please click here.

At the end of 2023, the Asia-Pacific business jet fleet totaled 1,154 aircraft, a slight increase of 0.2% compared to 2022. Major market movements included 28 new deliveries, 63 pre-owned additions and 89 aircraft deductions, which resulted in a net addition of two business jets to the fleet. The number of deductions was significantly lower than in the previous two years, which was a major factor in the fleet seeing growth again after declining for two years.

Long Range Jets remained the most preferred category of business jets in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023, bouncing back from a 5.7% decline in 2022 with the net addition of eight aircraft in 2023. The G650/ER and G550 were the most popular models in this size category, accounting for 49.2% of all Long Range jets. Medium, Light and Very Light jets increased their market shares in the region, with a combined market share of 43.6%, up from 42.0% in 2022. The largest fleets of Light and Very Light jets were in Australia, whilst mainland China had the largest fleet of the most popular midsize model – the Citation 560XL. The volume of Large Jets has declined since 2015, and in 2023 eight Gulfstream G450s left the region’s fleet. At the end of the year, there were 197 Large Jets based in the Asia-Pacific region. The Corporate Airliner fleet continued to decline after peaking at 110 jets in 2021, with the fleet dropping to 83 at the end of 2023, which was close to the size of the fleet in 2015. The top three OEMs: Bombardier, Textron and Gulfstream, had a combined market share of 76.5% in Asia-Pacific. Among the top models of all OEMs, Textron’s Citation 525 was the only one to see a net increase in 2023.

Mainland China retained the largest fleet in Asia-Pacific, despite a declining in recent years, with 15 aircraft additions and 24 deductions during 2023. Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR were the locations with the most net deductions, with Hong Kong SAR’s fleet nearly halved from 110 business jets at the end of 2020. Mainland China operated the largest fleet of Long Range and Large jets, with 123 Long Range Jets and 52 Large Jets accounting for 33.2% and 26.3% of the Asia-Pacific fleet, respectively.

Australia (213) and India (151) had the second and third largest fleets in the region, and had growth rates of 0.5% and 4.9%, respectively. Australia also had the largest fleet of Light and Very Light jets, with 87 of the 234 Light Jets and 40 of the 168 Very Light Jets in the region. India had the largest fleet of Medium Jets in Asia-Pacific – a 23.8% share of the regional fleet.

Japan ranked fourth among Asia-Pacific countries as it had the lowest share of Corporate Airliners, Large Jets and Long Range Jets among the top five countries. Light Jets was the most popular size category in Japan, with Textron and Honda, the top two OEMs, supplying 94.6% of all Light Jets in the country.

Twenty eight brand new business jets were delivered to the region in 2023, four fewer than the previous year, and pre-owned additions increased by five compared to 58 in 2022. The number of aircraft removed from the Asia-Pacific fleet (89) decreased significantly compared to 2021 and 2022, which has now seen a decline of 34.3%. Gulfstream was one of the most popular OEMs in the region, with eight new deliveries, 22 pre-owned additions and 23 deductions during 2023. The G650ER was its most popular model in Asia-Pacific, with its G650ER and G550 being the top models in seven out of 22 Asia-Pacific countries.

Bombardier’s Global 7500 and Gulfstream’s G650ER were tied for the top spot for the most deliveries into the region with six each. Gulfstream’s Long Range G550 saw 12 pre-owned additions in 2023, making it the model with the most pre-owned, and net additions. The Global 6000 was the model with the most deductions in 2023, followed by Gulfstream’s G650ER, G450 and G550. The Gulfstream-built aircraft that left the Asia-Pacific were worth USD 528.5 million in total.

Singapore had the most net additions to its fleet, with two new deliveries, 16 pre-owned additions and ten deductions. At the end of 2023, Singapore had 74 based business jets, the fourth largest fleet in Asia-Pacific. The largest fleet in the region belonged to mainland China, which saw nine net deductions during 2023.

The top 20 operators had 344 business jets, accounting for 29.8% of the total fleet, ten of which had net additions to their fleets during 2023, including one operator new to the list (Australia’s Global Jet International).

Sino Jet remained in first place with 41 aircraft in operation, while TAG Aviation and Jet Aviation took second and third places with three and two net additions, respectively. BAA ended 2023 with 28 business jets and ranked the fifth among Asia-Pacific operators. The average age of aircraft in the fleets of the top 20 operators was eight years, five years younger than the regional average.

In total, 66.5% of Asia-Pacific based business jets were domestically registered, with more than 70.0% of business jets in mainland China, Japan and the Philippines registered domestically, and more than 80% in Australia, India and South Korea. There were no offshore registered aircraft in Oceania. Australia had more locally registered (VH-) aircraft and New Zealand had a higher proportion of United States (N) registered aircraft. Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore had the largest share of offshore registered aircraft with a combined market share of 69.1%.

Rolls-Royce remained the most popular engine OEM in Asia-Pacific, with a 33.7% market share. Its best-selling BR700 powered 304 Long Range Jets at the end of 2023. Pratt & Whitney (P&W) was the most popular OEM in Australia and ranked second in the region. Its engines were installed on 80 Light Jets and 90 Medium Jets in Asia-Pacific. Honeywell’s TFE was the second most popular engine model in Asia-Pacific with 274 engines installed on 132 jets.

This article is extracted from the most recent edition of The Business Jet Fleet Report.
To read or download the full report, please click here.