Magnus Aviation, a UK-based private jet charter business, says Sterling hitting a 31 year low against the dollar at the start of Golden Week, a national holiday in China, should result in a surge in wealthy Chinese individuals flying into London on private jets to buy luxury goods. Sterling has also fallen by more than 12% against the Chinese Yuan since the UK voted to leave the EU.
Golden Week is a national holiday in China where three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that employees have seven continuous days of holiday.
Over the past three months, Magnus Aviation has seen the number of enquiries from China to charter private jets to the UK double when compared to the same period last year.
New analysis from Magnus Aviation reveals that the number of private jets flying into Europe from China is up around 33% year-to-date, and around 10% for the rest of Asia.
James Armstrong, Head of Commercial Development at Magnus Aviation said: “Concerns over Brexit has seen Sterling hit a massive low against the dollar, and this combining with Golden Week should see a surge in high net worth individuals from China and elsewhere flying into London to visit the capital and buy luxury goods at bargain prices for them.”
In the year ending September 2015, the UK issued over 484,000 visas in China, a 20% increase on the previous year - some 404,000 of these were visit visas - a rise of 22%.
