2012 Oxford Economics Study: The Economic Benefits of Business Aviation
Foreword by Fabio Gamba, Chief Executive of European Business Aviation Association
The decade before the economic crisis, it seemed the sky was the limit for business aviation. From 1998-2008 movements in business aviation grew three times as fast as scheduled aviation movements, and the sector got deservedly praised by EU institutions for its remarkable achievements and its contribution to European economies. The conclusions of a study, commissioned by NetJets Europe and the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) in 2008, could for the first time quantify the substantial contribution business aviation was bringing to the economy, by outlining unequivocally the number of jobs, movements, city-pairs, and investments the sector was ensuring.
Four years on, in the aftermath of a financial and economic crisis and ongoing uncertainty about the future of the Euro, we felt the time had come for a reminder of the formidable impact business aviation has on economies. While previous studies have underlined the scale of business aviation (in a nutshell, 650,000 yearly movements, 103,000 yearly city-pairs, 160,000 jobs, over 4,000 business jets in Europe alone) there has been less recognition of its catalytic impact on growth in other sectors. As we demonstrate in this report, business aviation is first and foremost a service that facilitates interaction between businesses. It doesn't offer an alternative to commercial airlines, it is a crucial complement. The sector also provides valuable economic impacts in the communities where it is based. As such, the sector's needs should be better understood by the policy-making community at local, national and European levels.
Demonstrating the sector's economic contribution is the purpose of this study. We very much hope that its findings will help convince decision-makers in Brussels and across the EU that the sector makes a crucial economic contribution, and help dispel any notions that the sector operates in a world set apart from the everyday economy that affects hundreds of millions of Europeans. Similarly, we hope that the important initiatives undertaken by the Commission under Barroso II, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the "Better Airports package" composed of the slot allocation recast, the noise recast and the ground handling recast, and others (e.g. revision of the State aids at regional airports, etc.) will take the importance of business aviation to their core, ensuring the policies that arise deliver a framework in which the sector can continue to play a crucial (and growing) role.
We invite the reader to ask themselves what would economic and financial powerhouses such as London, Paris, Frankfurt or Milan be like without access to business aviation, and how would the regions of the EU be affected?. In today's highly globalised economy, in which opportunities arise in ever more surprising locations, businesses must rely on rapid, flexible and direct access to markets. Business aviation needs to be allowed to flourish in order to ensure Europe can continue to seize these opportunities, and deliver a sustainable economic recovery.
October 2012 - The complete Oxford Economics Study:
The Role of Business Aviation in the European Economy
2008 - PriceWaterhouse Coopers Study:
Economic Impact of Business Aviation in Europe
The first independent, quantitative assessment of business aviation's value to the European economy.
