A recent panel of experts assembled by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) also found US charter flights trending higher this summer than a year ago, especially to second-home cities. Private charter flights to Vail, Colo., for instance, were up 33 percent in August, while similar numbers were reported for Florida.
Domestic personal travel continues to hold the lion’s share of charter in the US, while international travel is making a slower comeback, partly due to restrictions by US authorities on incoming flights and restrictions against US citizens in popular travel destinations such as Europe or parts of Asia.
“There is no one specific list of countries allowing business jets,” says Jason Middleton, CEO of Silver Air in Santa Barbara, Calf. “It’s all case-by-case and country-by-country.” Airports in the UK are providing access points to Americans traveling by private jet, who then can fly into the European Union and other European countries. Universal Aviation
“Everywhere seems to have some kind of new requirement,” adds Paul Weiss, president of Aviation Charter Inc. in Ewing, NJ. “And it’s always changing. Covid gets better and they loosen up, then they get more cases and they tighten it back down.”
The Bahamas might be a textbook example, as the islands closed completely at one point, reopened for private aircraft, reinstituted tight restrictions, and then loosened them again.
“We’re flying a fair amount to the Bahamas,” a representative for Magellan Jets told Robb Report. “The Bahamian Government is requiring a negative Covid test and a special Bahamian travel visa to enter right now. You cannot receive a travel visa without proof of a negative Covid form.”