📉 PC-12 Decline Concentrated Among Five Operators
The change in PC-12 flight activity was concentrated among a small number of specific fleets, with Tradewind Aviation and Westair Charter posting the most notable declines. Avi-Go data shows that, across the two equal 30-calendar-day windows from August 8 to September 6, 2026, and from July 9 to August 7, 2026, Tradewind’s PC-12 flight activity fell from 2,245 flights to 1,786 flights, a decrease of 459 flights, or 20.4%; Westair’s activity declined from 795 flights to 551 flights, a reduction of 244 flights, or 30.7%. During the same period, Cobalt Air fell from 3,661 flights to 3,449 flights, a decrease of 212 flights; Life Flight Network declined from 985 flights to 831 flights, a reduction of 154 flights; and Flying Zebra dropped from 426 flights to 300 flights, a decrease of 126 flights, or 29.6%. The statistics are calculated by operator and aircraft type, with one completed flight counted as one flight. The top five operators recorded a combined decrease of 1,195 flights, indicating that the reduction in PC-12 activity during this window was clearly concentrated among specific operators.
Impact: Charter brokers that rely on Tradewind or Westair for PC-12 capacity procurement may face a greater change in available supply than would be suggested by aircraft-type-level aggregate data alone; PC-12 maintenance providers that plan capacity based on total activity for the aircraft type may also overlook the varying degrees of change in flight activity among fleets such as Cobalt Air and Life Flight Network.
Recommendation: Brokers can use Tradewind’s 1,786 flights and Westair’s 551 flights as baselines for tracking capacity over the next 30 days, while including Cobalt Air as a comparison to avoid attributing the concurrent declines among the five operators to a single aircraft-type factor; MRO providers should adjust their PC-12 maintenance-induction communications in line with the pace of subsequent flight recovery across each fleet, with particular attention to whether Flying Zebra’s nearly 30% window-over-window change continues.