Hong Kong-based Asian Sky Group (ASG) released the 2015 edition of its Asia-Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report at the ABACE show in Shanghai. The figures compiled by ASG show that the Asia Pacific business jet fleet grew 6.2%, to 1,134 aircraft by year end 2015, in line with most market forecasts. Overall, the region added 140 aircraft – 66 new and 74 pre-owned – but also saw 74 aircraft leave the region.

China remains the largest market in the Asia Pacific region with 300 business jets, though growth slowed to 3.8% in 2015, due to a 42% decline in new aircraft deliveries. ASG expects business jet fleet growth in China to continue to decline but be moderated somewhat by continued positive activity levels in the pre-owned market.

After China, the next two largest markets are Australia with 184 aircraft (7% growth in 2015) and India with 145 aircraft (4% growth). The smaller markets of Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan all added additional aircraft and in doing so, all experienced double digit growth. Markets which performed poorly in 2015 were Malaysia and Macau, both of which contracted. South Korea, Thailand and Singapore all registered zero growth.

Hong Kong saw the largest number of aircraft added to its fleet in 2015, an increase of 16 business jets. Taken together, the key territories of China, Hong Kong, Australia and India represent over two-thirds of the region’s business jet fleet.

The top three OEMs in the Asia Pacific region by market share are Bombardier, Gulfstream and Cessna, with 27%, 23% and 19% of the fleet, respectively.

Bombardier saw the largest increase with 51 additional aircraft (28 new and 23 pre-owned). The most popular added model across the region was the Global 6000, and the fastest growing size category was the ‘long range’ segment. The only size category where the fleet contracted in 2015 was the ‘medium’ category – a drop of 2%.

The top 20 operators in the Asia Pacific region fly 35% of the fleet, with 9 of the top 10 being operators in Greater China. Australia and India have the most operators, but these markets are extremely fragmented — 70% and 67% of the operators, respectively, have just a single aircraft.

The Asia Pacific region remains one of the world’s youngest, with 63% of fleet being less than 10 years old (Hong Kong has the youngest and Australia the oldest fleet, on average). The US aircraft (N) registration is still the most popular in the Asia Pacific region, and is currently being utilized in at least 15 countries.