Since the pandemic blockade restrictions were lifted and wealthy travelers emerged from their bunkers, the private jet industry has been torn apart. For months, due to social distancing restrictions, droves of new immigrants flocked to private jets to avoid hoi polloi on public airports and passenger planes. Those who are already proficient in private jets redouble their efforts.

The numbers show this. Although the number of commercial flights is still below pre-pandemic levels, business jets have surpassed these levels and reached the highest level since 2008.

According to data from data provider Argus, compared with November 2019 before the pandemic, North American business jet flights have increased by 45% year-on-year, or even by 21%. Breaking down further, some activities increased by 51% over the same period last year, followed by a corporate jump of 48% and charter saw a 40% gain. Even in Europe, where the economic recovery has been slower, flights have increased by 40% since November 2019 and 97% since this time last year.

The upsurge of private flying has caused the supply of second-hand aircraft to dry up, accounting for only 3% or 4% of the fleet for sale, compared to 10-12% during normal periods. Buyers have to place new aircraft orders as their only option of ownership, resulting in an order-to-bill ratio reported by the aircraft manufacturer as 2, which means that they will receive 2 orders for every aircraft they deliver. This has the effect of manufacturers increasing their order backlog across the board.

All these flying and sales activities usually benefit shareholders of stocks in the field. Although this is largely true, there are some exceptions.

The scope of public stocks representing the private aviation sector is quite limited. Many suppliers with footprints in this industry also have larger suppliers in the commercial aviation and military fields, which makes the business aviation field little room for growth.

Those investors who foresee the growth potential of business jet sales have received their due rewards. Year-to-date, the hardcore members of the construction of private jets have done well so far this year. Shares of General Dynamics, which includes the Gulfstream business jet division, rose 38%. Textron's aviation division, including the Cessna Citation Line, rose 56%. Outside the United States, Brazil’s Embraer shares rose 142%, while Canada’s Bombardier, north of the border, was the only pure-play business jet manufacturer, with its shares rising more than 250%.

Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets unit accounts for only a small part of its overall holdings and has risen about 25% so far this year, which is the same as the S&P 500 as a whole. As the business boomed, it suspended charter sales to maintain the nominal service level for existing customers. After that, up to 100 new Embraer business jets were ordered to better adapt to this unexpected influx in the future.

The much-hyped Wheels Up (UP) has established itself as democratizing private aviation through its membership program. Instead, it democratized investors’ book losses, which has fallen by more than 50% since its listing. Despite record revenue and strong membership growth, the company still lost money, which led some investors to question whether the business was scalable. In the days before the IPO, it once claimed to be the Airbnb or Uber of private aviation, and now it has turned to claiming that it is losing money, just like Amazon did during its formation. To succeed in such a capital-intensive industry requires more than just discredit and hype.

Similarly, the booming urban air transportation (UAM) industry has a difficult start, which promises that Jetson-like pods can only transport a few passengers locally. In the past year or so, the stock prices of Archer Aviation (ACHR), Lilian (LILM) and Joby Aviation (JOBY) have all fallen by about 40%.

Those public offerings that have risen with the tide of private aviation are still veteran industry players. The stock market is not friendly to young companies that are usually associated with SPACs. Although the future of the general aviation industry is bright and the target market has been permanently expanded, not all listed companies can implement and use it.