Airbus Survey Sees Middle East Private Jet Demand Climbing Through 2030

Most Middle East financiers and brokers surveyed by Airbus expect more business jet flying in every size class through 2030. U.S. private aviation companies report firm demand at home, alongside rising costs.

Most Middle East aircraft financiers and brokers surveyed expect business jet flying to climb through 2030 across large, midsize and light jets, an Airbus Corporate Jets survey released Oct. 7 in Dubai found.

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Of the 35 professionals in the Airbus survey, 83% said they expect more large business jet activity, including 37% who foresee a dramatic increase. Eighty percent expect greater use of light jets, and 78% anticipate more midsize jet flying.

The figures are shares of respondents, not forecast growth rates for flights. The poll also covered only the Middle East, so it is not a U.S. or global demand projection.

The findings arrive as U.S. private aviation executives describe similar strength at home. Leaders at Sentient Jet and FlyUSA told Aviation Week that demand remains strong, though FlyUSA’s chief executive said rising costs are complicating the outlook.

North America, which includes the U.S., accounted for 71.6% of the world’s business jet departures in the 12 months through September, according to market data from JETNET and WINGX.

What the Airbus survey found

The survey also asked about recent business. Every respondent said demand from corporate customers had grown over the previous two years, according to the Airbus Corporate Jets release. Eighty-three percent put that growth at 5% to 15%, and the remaining 17% reported increases above 15%.

Geopolitics figured in the results, too. Ninety-four percent said geopolitical developments had increased interest from governments and government departments in buying or leasing business aircraft. The survey measured interest, not signed orders.

Airbus Corporate Jets, or ACJ, sells corporate versions of Airbus jetliners and has a commercial stake in the region. It says the Middle East accounts for roughly one-third of the global fleet of bizliners, which are business jets built on airliner airframes.

The Airbus release did not say when the survey was conducted, how respondents were selected or how results were weighted. It also gave no response rate, margin of error or count of respondents for each question.

US private aviation companies report steady demand

At Sentient Jet, the jet card business for super-midsize aircraft grew 25% in the first half of 2026, Alan Walsh, the company’s president, said in a Sept. 1 Aviation Week report. The average card purchase rose 12%, which Walsh attributed to customers buying more hours rather than to higher base card prices.

Walsh linked demand for larger aircraft to longer trips, groups of passengers and schedule consistency. He also reported growing interest in the Bombardier Challenger 300. He said higher operating costs had not materially changed his customers’ flying patterns.

“Specifically in super-mids, what we are seeing is a lot of business flying, and when we have a conversation with those business flyers, it’s the consistency and the availability they care about. They just need to go where they need to go, when they want to go there,” Walsh told Aviation Week.

Barry Shevlin, founder and CEO of FlyUSA, described demand under heavier cost pressure. Charter costs ran roughly 20% higher for comparable itineraries than a year earlier, he said in an Aug. 31 Aviation Week report.

Shevlin cited higher expenses for fuel, hangars, maintenance and fixed-base operators, the businesses that service private aircraft at airports. He tied some of the demand to data center projects and wealth created by artificial intelligence.

Many of his clients move between airline and private travel.

“We have a lot of customers who are what we refer to as straddle customers, where they straddle flying private and flying business class,” Shevlin said. “Maybe that client will fly business class for those trips, and then fly private when he’s going someplace where it would require connections or something different.”

Recent traffic tells a mixed story

Worldwide, business jets logged 4.01 million departures in the 12 months through September, up 4.2%, according to the JIQ Market Barometer published Oct. 16. The report combines JETNET aircraft data with WINGX flight activity, excludes turboprops and notes that 2026 figures may be revised.

Middle East activity, however, fell 7.9% on the barometer’s trailing-year comparison.

“The Middle East is still climbing back from its sharp February reversal,” Richard Koe and Nick Koscinski of WINGX Research wrote in the barometer.

The two data sets measure different things. The barometer tracks recent flights, while the Airbus survey captures expectations through 2030, so neither disproves the other.

The barometer also showed uneven results by segment. Fractional activity rose 9.9% on a trailing-year basis, while the corporate flight departments category fell 8.6%.

Supply limits growth for some

For Flyte, a smaller regional air mobility company, the constraint is aircraft, not customers. Flyte uses Cirrus Vision Jets for on-demand regional trips generally under 500 miles. It targets travelers facing long drives or indirect airline itineraries, Aviation Week reported.

Founder and CEO Marc Sellouk outlined a target of roughly 15 aircraft across at least six markets over the following two years in an Aug. 18 Aviation Week report. The goal is an expansion ambition, not a delivery schedule.

“Our problem is not demand. Our problem is supply,” he said. “We want to grow very smartly, and we don’t need to go out and buy 100 jets. We want to grow at our pace.”