There was a 63% jump in transatlantic business jet flights on the day following President Trump’s ban on flights into the US from most European countries.

President Trump announced on March 12, 2020, that a blanket ban on all visitors coming from Europe’s 26 Schengen countries would come into effect at 23:59 Eastern Standard Time on March 13, 2020.

The day after the announcement was made, Germany-based business aviation consultancy WINGX Advance saw a 63% increase in transatlantic business jet flights between Europe and the US. The firm used its data to compare the number of departures on March 12 this year, with the number of departures on March 12, 2019.

The WINGX data is backed up by data from charter marketplace company Avinode, which recorded a 96% jump in charter requests passing through its system on March 12, 2020, compared with the same day last year.

Alongside the spike in transatlantic business jet flights, WINGX recorded a surge in flights departing from airports in the London area. The company says that there was a 43% increase in flights from London on that date, although the data includes flights to all destinations, not just to those in the US.

Richard Koe, co-founder and MD of WINGX Advance described the surge of transatlantic flights as a “… scramble to get to the US before the ban”.

Koe told Corporate Jet Investor that the surge in demand will be temporary, but in the long-term, demand for private jets flights will fall.

“WINGX is seeing an overall slowdown in business aviation activity globally, extreme in some regions, with the economic repercussions likely to have long-term detrimental effect on demand,” said Koe. “But in the very short term, we’re also seeing niche surge in demand. This is no doubt due to passengers needing to relocate quickly and finding commercial scheduled services severely restricted.”