“The number of hours flown privately now are higher than pre-pandemic.

“It’s been about 20 per cent higher around the world. People are flying more private jets than ever before, and we’ve seen clear signs of that for two years in the US. We are starting to see a similar thing happen in the Asia-Pacific.”

Bombardier’s forward order book runs to about $US15 billion ($22.7 billion), Mr Martel said, with Australia accounting for around 5 to 6 per cent.

Demand is so strong in Australia that Bombardier recently established its first local service centre at Melbourne Airport, with plans to employ more than 50 technician and engineers to provide aftermarket services to users.

He believed the increase in private jet use would be sustained through any broad economic headwinds such as rising interest rates, a cost-of-living crunch or even a recession.

“If we have a recession going into next year we may see a bit of a slowdown in sales, but at the same time we have that backlog ahead of us that will help us get through,” Mr Martel said.

“We are pleased with the quality of the backlog.

“[Customers] have put down substantial deposits already – I don’t think they will want to lose their money because if they cancel, they will. At the same time, people need these business tools to travel the world faster.”

The continued growth of the private jet market is key for Bombardier, which has moved to divest from its commercial aviation and other business segments to concentrate primarily on private aviation.

Mr Martel was confident of the opportunity in the private jet market.

“There was an interesting study at the time [2020] that only 19 per cent of the people who could afford to fly a private jet actually did so. There is a lot of room for growth all around the world,” he said.

“The pandemic, as strange as it may sound, was an accelerator for people to transition from commercial. People who used to fly first class began to realise that they can fly their entire family or management team on one flight and avoid contamination as we were going through the pandemic.”