A growth year for private jets is expected in 2006 with one leading company expecting its business to rise by 20%.
Jamie Martin, development director for international charter brokers Hunt & Palmer, said 2005 had been a year with "steady rather than dramatic growth" except in the Middle East where business had expanded rapidly.
He said the financial market was now "out of the trough and was quite busy at the end of the year."”
He added: "There are some Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the pipeline which means executives need to be in several different cities over the space of a few days. That market is growing again.
"The VIP market is also moving forward though not dramatically. But the trend is for leisure rather than in the past business and leisure."
But he said the "large aircraft market" used for taking delegates to and from conferences and incentive trips had had a "
Mr Martin said Hunt and Palmer was expanding in Europe this year with a new office opening in Italy in March. The company already has offices in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain.
Another private charter company, Air Royale, an American company which set up in the UK 18 months ago, also said that business was also good.
Emma Brown, its charter manager in London, said: "We feel we are moving in the right direction. About 30-40% of our market is corporate work for companies ranging from Blue Chip to those at the smaller end of the scale.
"We do some IPOs but the bulk of our business is taking executives from London to Paris, Madrid or Frankfurt."
She said the company was also involved in the showbusiness industry which included carrying pop bands and film stars to concerts, locations or press events.