According to Argus TrakPak data released yesterday, last month was the busiest July for business aircraft flying since 2009, but the 1.4 percent year-over-year increase was driven by charter and fractional activity. Notably, there was a 9 percent drop in overall activity during the July 4th holiday week, it said. Flight activity missed the company’s forecast for 4.3 percent growth in July, but Argus predicts a 3.3 percent rise this month.

Last month's results were propelled by a 6.7 percent year-over-year increase in Part 135 activity. This was followed by a 1.3 percent rise in fractional flying, while Part 91 activity decreased 2.1 percent.

Large-cabin jets and turboprops posted the largest year-over-year gains, rising 4.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, midsize jet flying rose 1.7 percent from last July and light jets declined 1.4 percent.

Double-digit gains in individual sectors were sparse last month, and all were in the charter category. Part 135 midsize and large-cabin jet flying climbed 11 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, from a year ago. All Part 91 individual categories were in the red, with private light jet flying posting the largest loss, of 3.8 percent.

Argus’s TraqPak data provides “flight-number-specific aircraft arrival and departure information on all IFR flights in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.”

The latest UBS Business Jet Market Index fell 4 percent month-over-month, to 49, and is “still stuck” around break-even level (50) following a post-U.S. election bounce late last year. By cabin size, the light jet index fared best at 52, but is down 6 percent sequentially. This was followed by midsize jets at 49 and large-cabin at 46, both falling 2 percent from the prior month. However, UBS’s “straight-up measure” of absolute business conditions remained unchanged at 5.2.

On a more positive note, pre-owned business jet inventories shrunk 2 percent sequentially and 4 percent year-over-year, representing 11 percent of the installed base. Notably, inventory levels of very young (zero to five years old) jets were 8 percent lower month-over-month and down 14 percent from a year ago. Thus very young inventory accounts for just 5 percent of the installed base, according to UBS aerospace analysts David Strauss and Darryl Genovesi.

Business jet cycles were also up 6 percent year-over-year in May, marking the 10th consecutive month of such increases, UBS said. Charter flying soared 13 percent in May, while non-charter activity increased 3 percent. But the UBS analysts did caution, “Although seasonally adjusted cycles are 45 percent above the 2009 trough, we estimate per-aircraft utilization rates are still at trough levels given continued fleet growth.”