On a Saturday morning in season, the line crew at a Florida fixed-base operator works a ramp that was drawn for half the traffic it now holds. The jets arrive in a bunch — a Gulfstream G650, a Bombardier Global 7500, two Citations behind them — and the crew chief's problem is not fuel or catering. It is where to put the airplanes. The hangars are full. The tie-downs are full. The overflow ramp is a patch of asphalt that did not exist on the airport diagram five years ago. The FBO is turning away the exact business it was built to serve, and the owner knows it.
That scene is the physical form of the numbers McKinsey published in its first State of Business Aviation report in 2026. Business aviation departures reached a record 3.9 million in 2025, growing 4.9% a year since 2019. Total flight hours rose from 4.7 million in 2019 to 6.4 million in 2025, a 37% gain, and the average aircraft flew 19% more hours in 2025 than it did in 2019. The growth did not land where the old infrastructure was. Departures at leisure and second-home destinations grew 5.4% a year from 2019 to 2025, against 2.1% at traditional business centers — and leisure airports accounted for 326,000 of the 417,000 additional departures in the United States over that period, while Chicago Midway, Oakland, and Van Nuys lost traffic. The jets moved to the places with the least hangar space.
The factory is feeding the same pressure. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association counted 854 business jet shipments in 2025, up 11.8% from 764 in 2024 and the strongest year since 2009, with airplane billings of $31.0 billion — a record. GAMA president and CEO James Viola called the industry "steadfast" and noted billings eclipsing $35 billion across airplanes and helicopters for the first time. Yet McKinsey's count of 842 deliveries in 2025 still sits about a third below the 1,290 jets delivered in the 2008 peak, and retirements have fallen to about 110 aircraft a year from about 300 in 2019. The fleet is growing because old jets are staying in service, not because the factories have caught up — which means more aircraft, flying more hours, competing for the same hangars.
The fastest-growing way to fly is also the most hangar-hungry. Fractional ownership fleets grew from 990 aircraft in 2019 to 1,510 in 2025, and the fractional share of business jet flight hours rose from 14% to 20% over the same period, with NetJets and Flexjet accounting for 92% of fractional flight hours excluding turboprops. A fractional fleet cannot leave its aircraft on a tie-down in a thunderstorm and call it a service. It needs guaranteed hangar space at dozens of airports, on the same night, in season — and it needs it from operators who can staff it. NetJets president Patrick Gallagher told McKinsey that infrastructure "is by far the biggest challenge we contend with," and the report's central finding is blunt: the defining question in business aviation is no longer who can provide an aircraft, but who can secure and coordinate the capacity around it — delivery slots, crews, hangars, and maintenance.
The fixed-base operator sits at the center of that capacity, and the market is paying for it. One published estimate puts the global FBO market at $18.45 billion in 2025, growing to $25.31 billion by 2032; another, counting a broader set of services, puts it at $33.6 billion in 2025 and $61.2 billion by 2034. The two disagree on scope, not on direction. North America holds more than 3,100 active FBO locations, and the largest networks — Signature Aviation and Atlantic Aviation — have spent the last decade consolidating them, because a network can do what a single FBO cannot: guarantee a jet a hangar in Naples on Friday and in Bozeman on Saturday, and finance the buildings that make the guarantee real.
The counterargument is that constraints are a normal part of a boom, and that the industry has handled them before. Deliveries are rising, FBOs are building, private equity is funding hangar development at constrained airports, and the fractional operators have the balance sheets to secure the space they need. McKinsey itself notes that landing and special-event fees have not yet harmed demand. All of that is true — and it is also the reason the constraint matters more, not less. When demand is strong and the roof is the binding limit, the value of the roof goes up, the value of the financing that builds the roof goes up, and the operators who can put both together take the market.
The implication runs in one direction. Every additional departure is a claim on hangar space, every additional fractional aircraft is a claim on guaranteed hangar space, and every leisure airport that gains traffic is an airport whose hangar stock was built for a quieter era. The firms that finance, build, and operate those hangars are the firms that decide whether the boom can keep growing — and they are the firms that need to be found by the owners, developers, and airport managers who are searching for the words "hangar loans" right now.
Sources: McKinsey, "The state of business aviation in 2026: Resilient, despite headwinds": record 3.9 million departures in 2025, up 4.9% a year since 2019; flight hours 4.7 million (2019) to 6.4 million (2025); fractional fleet 990 (2019) to 1,510 (2025), share of hours 14% to 20%; leisure departures up 5.4% a year vs 2.1% at business centers; 326,000 of 417,000 additional U.S. departures at leisure airports; Patrick Gallagher (NetJets): infrastructure "is by far the biggest challenge we contend with," https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/aerospace-and-defense/our-insights/the-state-of-business-aviation-in-2026-resilient-despite-headwinds. FLYING, "Business Aviation Demand is Outpacing Supply — What It Means for 2027" (McKinsey findings): 842 deliveries in 2025 vs 1,290 peak in 2008; retirements about 110 a year in 2025 vs about 300 in 2019; average aircraft flew 19% more hours in 2025 than in 2019, https://www.flyingmag.com/mckinsey-business-aviation-demand-supply-2027/. GAMA 2025 Aircraft Shipment and Billing Report via AVweb: 854 business jets, up 11.8% from 764 in 2024; airplane billings $31.0 billion; James Viola quote, https://avweb.com/aviation-news/gama-2025-aircraft-shipments-billings-report/; via AvBuyer, https://www.avbuyer.com/index.php/articles/business-aviation-market-analysis/new-jet-shipments-spike-business-turboprops-flat-in-2025-114322. PW Consulting, Worldwide Fixed Base Operator (FBO) Market 2026: $18.45 billion in 2025, $25.31 billion by 2032, 4.62% CAGR; business aviation about 75% of the market, https://pmarketresearch.com/worldwide-fixed-base-operator-fbo-market-research/. Dataintelo, Fixed Base Operator Services Market: $33.6 billion in 2025, $61.2 billion by 2034, 6.9% CAGR; more than 3,100 FBO locations in North America; Signature Aviation and Atlantic Aviation lead, https://dataintelo.com/report/fixed-base-operator-services-market. Fractional share detail (NetJets and Flexjet 92% of fractional flight hours excluding turboprops; Gulfstream G650/700/800 and Bombardier Global 7500/8000 leading demand) via McKinsey as summarized by FLYING and avi-go, https://avi-go.com/news/articles/63abbda3704527af32a466b275a1d421.