Ionic Insights: The Installed Business Jet Fleet in France
Welcome to the latest edition of Ionic Insights!
With the Paris Airshow only two months away, we thought we’d investigate the size and composition of the installed business jet fleet in France.
The Fleet
France has a sizeable installed fleet of 164* business jet aircraft. Whilst a little under half of these aircraft are based in the Paris area, the remainder are located widely throughout the country.
The Light and Very-Light jet category dominates and constitutes well over half of all aircraft. Given the popularity of such aircraft, it is therefore no surprise that Cessna-Textron is the largest OEM by fleet size. National champion Dassault comes in second with 29% of the fleet. What is somewhat surprising is that there do not appear to any narrow-body corporate airliners (‘bizliners’), from the likes of Airbus and Boeing in the fleet at present.
The overwhelming majority of the fleet is registered domestically (F-), whilst a handful are registered in the Isle of Man (M-), Portugal (CS-) and the United States (N), amongst others.
Challenges and Opportunities
With respect to aircraft finance and leasing, the relatively small number of large and ultra-long range aircraft (only 15% of the fleet combined) coupled with the relatively high fleet average age (21 years) means that financing opportunities are somewhat limited.
France has also not yet ratified the Cape Town Convention, which can impact the enforceability of aircraft leases and security interests, and thereby influence a financier’s preparedness to lend. Challenges can include enforcing foreign law judgments and navigating sometimes complex tax lease structures.
As of 1st March 2025, France implemented a new Air Passenger Transport Tax, known as the ‘Solidarity Tax’ or TSBA (Taxe de Solidarité sur les Billets d'Avion), that applies to all passengers departing from French airports on commercial flights. Depending on aircraft type and flight distance, this tax ranges from €210 to €2,100 per passenger, and represents up to a threefold increase over previous aviation taxes. Irrespective of departure airport, the tax is calculated based on distances from Paris Charles de Gaulle. Additionally, domestic flights within France will incur an extra 10% VAT on top.
A summary of our analysis can be found in the slide below:
Europe’s third-largest business jet market, France, has an installed fleet of 164 aircraft. Source: AMSTAT, April 2025.