Ionic Insights: The Business Jet Fleet in Spain
Welcome to the latest edition of Ionic Insights in which we focus on the business jet fleet in Spain.
We analyse the size, composition and age of the installed fleet, whilst simultaneously investigating the most numerous OEMs, registries, operators and base locations.
Background
With a population approaching 50 million, Spain is the eurozone’s fourth largest economy and is a leader in the fields of construction (six of the ten largest global transportation construction firms are Spanish), energy, automotive manufacturing and textiles. Tourism also remains important, with Spain being the second most visited country in the world.
Analysis
Compared to neighbours France and Italy, Spain has a relatively small installed business jet fleet of 64* aircraft (*Source: AMSTAT, March ‘24), over half of which are based in the vicinity of the capital, Madrid.
Light/Very-light aircraft are by far the most numerous. It is therefore of no surprise that Textron (Cessna) is the largest OEM by fleet size; its aircraft alone making up over sixty percent of the entire fleet.
As Spanish companies have expanded internationally (most notably to Latin America, where Spain is the second largest foreign investor, after the United States) so has the country’s appetite for ultra-long-range aircraft, which now represent over one in five of all aircraft. The Bombardier Global family is particularly popular.
Overall, the average age of the fleet is a comparatively old 20 years; with 86% percent of the fleet being registered domestically, EC-.
The largest domestic operator is Madrid-headquartered Gestair.
Opportunities for Financing
Given that fifty percent of all aircraft are in the Light/Very-light category, the opportunities for international lenders are relatively slim; however, the slow but steady increase in the ownership of large cabin, ultra-long-range aircraft will attract the interest of private banks and cross-border asset financiers.
See the following slide for a detailed analysis of the fleet:
