This is the 166th and final edition of the Airborne newsletter. Since the first issue appeared in October 2010, I have tried to document the ever-changing business aviation scene and the challenges imposed by a wider world. In this last editorial I take the opportunity to look back over the last 14 years and highlight some of the developments in the sector.
The stable of ‘international’ aircraft registries looked very different back in 2010. The ground-breaking Isle of Man registry, established in 2007, was in the early stages of its rapid growth. Its success meant that it soon faced competition from other jurisdictions looking to enter this potentially lucrative market.
Both San Marino and Malta opened up their existing small registries and, by leveraging a unique selling point have achieved substantial growth in recent years. Similarly, Guernsey’s 2-Reg has seen success in registering both corporate aircraft and commercial airliners seeking a short-term ‘bolthole’ between leases.
In 2024, perhaps like never before, business aviation is having to justify its own existence. It is no longer enough to claim ‘no plane, no gain’ – demonstrating the efficiency to business of the sector. With environmental protesters launching attacks both in the media and physically by targeting aircraft and infrastructure, bizav now has to evidence its commitment to sustainability and take steps that go beyond arbitrary goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Environmental commitments also have been embraced by the major OEMs, who continue to invest in new and updated models, each arguably more sustainable than the last. Since 2010, aircraft have got larger and faster, and manufacturers have continued to expand the envelope of how far A is from B and how quickly and efficiently the journey can be performed.
Arguably, it is three events completely outside the control of business aviation that have shaped the sector we see today. Firstly, the UK voting to leave the European Union in 2016. The subsequent negotiations and realignment removed the UK from the EU single customs union and produced a ‘more challenging operating environment’ for UK operators and those on the continent.
Secondly, the global Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant travel restrictions had a huge impact on business aviation. By minimising human contact compared to commercial flights and airports, bizav was seen as the safer (and sometimes only viable) option and demand for aircraft, both new and preowned, soared. As the pandemic has subsided, so its side-effects continue to be felt with OEMs in particular suffering from supply chain issues and necessary adjustment to a changed marketplace.
Finally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the way much of the world looks at Russia and its allies. A whole host of international sanctions continue to place the issues of due diligence and compliance at the centre of sales and registration.
I would like to thank you for following the newsletter and for your generous feedback over the years. Although Airborne will no longer be dropping through digital mailboxes, I continue my commercial and corporate aviation consultancy business and look forward to showcasing my extensive aviation photography portfolio dating back some 40 years.
To keep in touch with what happens next, I would ask you to check out my revamped website www.briantrichards.com – which is launching in early August – and also to connect with ‘Brian T Richards’ on LinkedIn and Facebook. Nearly 22,000 of my photos can also be found on JetPhotos.com, the world’s largest online screened aircraft photo database, at https://www.jetphotos.com/photographer/20960/photos
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