Prospects for bizliners for the next five years in Asian business aviation are excellent, according to Alex Fecteau, director of marketing, Boeing Business Jets (BBJ). It is the short term, the next two years specifically, that will be tough, Fecteau told CJI Asia 2020.

“It’s going to be a little bit rocky in the next year or two, but I do see Asia as probably the biggest growth market that BBJ has. China, which is likely going to surpass the US as the largest economy in the next few years, is showing great demand [which looks to increase in the future]. Indonesia has the fourth largest population and India second, those are large markets where there is increasing demand and I think its a great upside,” said Fecteau.

Airbus Corporate Jet’s (ACJ’s) head of business development, Jean-Noel Robert, pointed out that all the fundamentals for continued growth in the bizliner segment are still there. They are just on hold due to a global pandemic.

Robert told CJI Asia 2020: “Obviously there is room for growth here and, in terms of ACJ, we have just launched the ACJ TwoTwenty which gives us a great opportunity to gain a larger market share. We have to be humble and we have to understand the economics of the situation right now, but we have invested in the long term.”

Fellow panelist, Richard Koe, founder, WINGX likened the potential for growth in Asia to “the second coming”.

Koe said: “Ten years ago there was quite a lot of hope around embryonic growth in Asian business aviation [which appears to be returning]. It’s not a demand-side issue so much as it supply-side. As the necessary reforms and infrastructure are put in place I think that aviation overall is going to see strong growth in Asia, particularly in China. I think this is going to be the pivot year and we are certainly going to see a comeback in 18 months to three years.”