Founder & Chair Emeritus

Wilson S. Leach

Many of us in the business aviation field thought its post-­pandemic growth spurt might fade after a few years. We were wrong. In fact, the industry is still booming.
<h3>A couple of key statistics:</h3>
An estimated 825 new business jets will be delivered this year, with revenues totaling a record $26.4 billion.
Equally impressive is the average two-year-plus backlog being reported by all the airframe manufacturers.
Preowned business jet transactions for the first three quarters of 2025 were up 11% over the same period in 2024. With bonus depreciation being a market driver, such transaction will almost certainly set sales records for the full year.
Flight-hour totals in the charter and fractional sectors will set records this year, thanks largely to the growing number of recent post-pandemic users of private aviation who have elected to stay in the market.
<h2>Watch financial markets</h2>
Clearly, business aviation is in lockstep with the financial markets, which also continue to prosper and could do so well into 2026. A recent Barron’s survey found that 81 percent of leading financial executives were bullish or neutral, with only 19 percent bearish.
Of course, no one can know for sure where the markets are headed. And as a good friend of mine, who owns a fractional-­share company, observed: “When the stock market declines severely, people stop flying private.”
So, we enjoy the boom and hope it continues, but we stay prepared to weather any downturns.
In my half-century with AIN, I have lived through at least four major market corrections. In every case, massive new investment, particularly private equity, has flowed into our industry before the decline. We’re seeing such an influx now, and, though I’m not suggesting this is necessarily a sell sign, it is a little daunting to witness the similarities to past cycles. Still, as I’ve noted, many knowledgeable financial people believe that, minor corrections aside, the next few years look strong.

<h2>Poised for the future</h2>
AIN Media Group remains on a favorable course, with the business now resting firmly on three strong pillars.
The first is our legacy media business. We have been fortunate to have maintained a solid print presence with the AIN monthly magazine and our popular show issues around the world. But the growth engine for our media business has been our digital products, such as AINalerts—possibly the single most successful digital newsletter in any industry, anywhere. Every weekday, our 35,000 worldwide readers rely on this news bulletin for up-to-the-minute, authoritative reporting.
AIN’s second pillar is our events division. Our tremendously successful Corporate Aviation Leadership Summits (CALS), which we introduced four years ago, offer intimate “hosted buyer” events that our sponsors rave about because of the return they see on their investment. We present three of these invitation-only events annually in the U.S.—CALS East, CALS West, and CALS Mx—and 2025 saw us inaugurate CALS Europe in Basel, Switzerland.
Last March, we also debuted AIN’s annual FBO Awards Banquet and Gala. At the event, held on the third day of NBAA’s Schedulers &amp; Dispatchers Conference, we announced the winners of our yearly FBO survey. Mark your calendars for the next FBO Awards Banquet and Gala, which will take place at Cleveland’s Agora Theater and Ballroom on March 26, 2026.
The third pillar of our business, proprietary data, is new. Last January, under the guidance of our highly capable president, Ruben Kempeneer, we acquired AircraftPost, a subscription-­only service that tracks historical and current, real-time market values of new and used business jets. Then, in June, we reached an agreement to acquire Leeham News and Analysis, another proprietary, subscription-only product.
Leeham, which focuses on commercial aviation, is a great fit for AIN, which has long covered this sector via our show issues at international airshows at Farnborough, Paris, Singapore, and Dubai. For more than 20 years, Leeham has been providing in-depth, unbiased reporting and analysis about aircraft technology, fleet planning, maintenance, market trends, and repair and overhaul strategies.
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
I’m certain that AIN’s deep industry knowledge and three inextricably connected business units will allow us to keep growing regardless of overall market conditions. We’re committed to the global business aviation industry, and the Leach family is excited about the company’s future.
I offer continued thanks to all of our clients, readers, and friends around the world who have made AIN the success it is. We’re proud of our reputation as the go-to source for news and information on business aviation, and we’re immensely grateful for our relationships with the many fine people who make up the aerospace industry.&nbsp;
Wilson S. Leach
Co-Founder &amp; Chair Emeritus

Our mission at AIN is to be the first and last word in aviation. We design everything we produce to help our customers solve problems with confidence. That’s why those in our industry consider our AINalerts newsletter a must-read, and why, according to a recent subscriber survey, AIN’s monthly magazine remains our industry’s most-read publication. It’s also why attendees at our Corporate Aviation Leadership Summits (CALS) call these events essential.
As Wilson Leach notes in his accompanying report, we recently took a big step to augment such offerings by acquiring AircraftPost and Leeham News and Analysis. These world-class companies both provide proprietary aviation data that will help us further our goal of serving our customers.
Speaking of customers, I had the pleasure this year of joining some outstanding leaders in our industry in panel discussions at the IADA Spring Conference and the JetNet IQ Summit. In our talks about the changing needs and profiles of private-lift users, two themes emerged. Firstly, charter and fractional are on a charge. They are democratizing private lift through innovative business models that lower the barriers to entry. And secondly, despite the changes that technology is introducing, our industry’s trusted advisors won’t be undermined or replaced by AI bots anytime soon. That’s because personal relationships and trust remain vital to our business.
They’re vital to me, too, and I look forward to being face-to-face with many of you in the year ahead.
Ruben Kempeneer
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