Despite the fall in Sterling, Magnus Aviation, a private jet charter business, reported that there has seen a 46% increase in bookings from UK based clients to charter jets to airports with transfers to some of Europe’s most expensive and popular ski resorts such as Verbier and St Moritz. Around 21% of the jets chartered through Magnus Aviation are for the ski season.
The company believes the increase in demand it has seen is partly due to a growing number of very wealthy people living in the UK. Indeed, its analysis reveals that between 2005 and 2015, the number of people with assets of £10 million or more increased by 39%, and now stands at around 27,000.
In the first 10 months of this year around 89,500 business aircraft departed the UK, which represents year-to-date growth of 1.2%.
The company also reveals that between December 2015 and April 2016, there were around 32,800 business aviation flights to 11 of Europe’s most popular airports servicing some of the most exclusive and popular ski resorts. Innsbruck airport in Austria which serves the Innsbruck Ski region, saw a 19% increase in business aircraft flights during the 2015/16 ski season when compared to the previous year’s, and this was followed by Lyon–Saint-Exupéry (17% increase) and Annecy-Haute-Savoie-Mont Blanc (12% increase) airports in France, which serve Courchevel and Manigod respectively.
| Airport | Ski resort | Country | Ski season 15/16 | Ski season 14/15 | Change (%) | |
| Geneva Cointrin | Verbier, Villars, Chamonix | Switzerland | 11,707 | 12,660 | -7.5% | |
| Zürich | Klosters | Switzerland | 8,514 | 8,560 | -0.5% | |
| Innsbruck | Igls, St Anton | Austria | 2,642 | 2,223 | 18.9% | |
| St. Gallen–Altenrhein | Flumserberg | Switzerland | 2,339 | 2,410 | -3.0% | |
| Chambéry | France | 2,937 | 3,030 | -3.1% | ||
| Annecy-Haute-Savoie-Mont Blanc | Manigod | France | 1,273 | 1,134 | 12.3% | |
| Grenoble–Isère | Alpe d'Huez | France | 1,194 | 1,190 | 0.3% | |
| Samedan | St Moritz | Switzerland | 1,693 | 1,780 | -4.9% | |
| Lyon–Saint-Exupéry | France | 500 | 426 | 17.3% | ||
| Total | 32,798 | 33,413 | -1.8% | |||
James Armstrong, Head of Commercial Development at Magnus Aviation said: “The ski season in Europe is one of the busiest times of the year for us. Around 21% of all business aircraft chartered through us is linked to this.
“Despite the fall in Sterling against the Euro making skiing in Europe more expensive than 12 months ago, we expect to see an increase in people chartering jets from the UK to airports servicing some of Europe’s most exclusive ski resorts. This will be driven by the growing number of very wealthy people living in the UK.”
