Aviation Traffic Down in April

Bethany Whitfield

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 11:39 PM ET

Verified

April saw a 7.3 decrease in business aviation
activity, a bigger drop than anticipated.

Key Takeaways:

U.S. business air traffic saw a 7.3% decrease in April compared to March, with large cabin and turboprop aircraft experiencing the biggest decline (8.1%).
Despite the significant monthly drop, overall flight activity in April was only 0.4% lower than April 2010.
Researchers attribute the larger-than-anticipated decline, beyond typical seasonal slowdowns, to severe weather and rising gas prices.

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According to recent figures released by flight data resource ARG/US, business air traffic in the United States was down by 7.3 percent in April compared to March of this year.

With decreases of 8.1 percent, large cabin and turboprop aircraft saw the biggest declines in flight hours. Mid-size cabin aircraft activity dropped 7.1 percent, and small cabin aircraft also lost 5.6 percent in flight hours compared to March. Despite these sizeable declines, flight activity was down only 0.4% compared to April 2010.