ARGUS TRAQPak predicts 0.2% gain in May after 2.4% April bump

Analysts at ARGUS TRAQPak predict a 0.2% increase in overall North America flight activity in May.

That follows a 2.4% increase in April 2025 compared to the prior year.

In a rarity, all categories – Part 91, Part 135 (ad hoc charter and jet cards), and Part 91K (fractional) posted gains.

SVP Travis Kuhn tells Private Jet Card Comparisons, “April gave us a pleasant surprise and produced a monthly gain.”

Analysts had expected a 1.2% year-over-year decline last month.

“Before the start of the month, all trends seemed to point to a slightly flat to negative month amidst all the economic uncertainty,” Kuhn says.

He continues, “Even North American large jets and Part 91 operations managed to produce a gain in activity.”

Kuhn says, “Those markets will still need to be monitored, but we’ll enjoy the positive news for now.”

Large Cabin flying jumped 3.2% year-over-year in April, Small Jets were up 2.8%, and Midsize Jets increased 2.7%.

Turboprops saw a 1.2% gain.

Fractional Operators remained the star performers, up 9.4% overall compared to the prior year, according to ARGUS TRAQPak.

Large Cabin jets were busy posting a 15.4% increase in flying.

On the other side, Small Jets showed a 13.0% year-over-year gain.

Midsize Jet flying was up 7.6%.

Turboprops also gained, up 2.6%.

Part 135 flying was up 1.4% in April.

ARGUS TRAQPak data shows that Large Jets (+4.5%), Turboprops (+1.9%), and Midsize Jets (+1.0%) offset a 1.2% drop in Small Jet activity.

In other words, a 1.6% increase in Part 91 Small Jet flying led the category to a 0.4% gain.

Turboprops were also up (+0.6%), offsetting drops in the Midsize (-0.8 %) and Large (-0.3 %) categories.

Nine of 12 segments across the trio of categories were in the black.