A 9.5% YOY increase in fractional flying powered the industry per ARGUS TRAQPak, with gains in 19 of 20 segments.
This past month, private jets in North America recorded a year-over-year increase of 5.3% compared to February 2025.
ARGUS TRAQPak’s analysts had expected a 1.3% year-over-year increase last month.
Analysts are now forecasting a 3.9% year-over-year increase in flight activity in March 2026 compared to 2025.
Out of 20 industry segments, 19 tracked in positive territory in February.
Travis Kuhn, Senior Vice President of Software at ARGUS, spoke with Private Jet Card Comparisons about the strong showing in February.
Kuhn stated:
‘February couldn’t have looked much better in terms of activity. When we see activity in a 28 day month exceed activity in a 31 day month that is a sign that our industry is operating in very strong territory. The lone sluggish spot, Part 135 Large cabin, is still an area to monitor but we do expect the overall industry to have a very strong March.’
The small cabin jet segment led the way in terms of year-over-year increases.
The business segment saw a 7.6% increase in flights compared to February 2025.
The midsize market also showed strong year-over-year growth, rising 5.1%, while the turboprop market jumped 4.9%.
The large-cabin business segment showed the smallest increase, yet still recorded 2.9% more flights than last February.
Surprisingly, February flight activity recorded an unexpected month-over-month increase from February.
Normally, February is one of the lightest months for flight activity, specifically because it is the shortest month of the year.
The U.S. was relatively split on monthly changes.
The Southwest region saw the largest monthly increase in activity, recording 6.4% more flights. The Southeast and Northeast also recorded slight month-over-month increases.
However, the Western Pacific region saw a 2.5% drop, the largest decrease in the US. Flight activity in Canada and the Caribbean combined to record a 2.4% month-over-month decrease.
Fractional operations remained strong through February, recording 9.5% more flights than last month.
The largest jump was recorded in the small cabin market, which saw a 16.2% year-over-year increase.
Additionally, the turboprop and midsize segments each saw significant increases. The turboprop market saw a 7.8% gain, while the midsize segment saw an 8.3% gain.
The slowest growth was recorded by the large cabin market, which saw a 1.3% increase.
Operators in the Part 135 segment also saw a year-over-year increase, recording 2.4% more flights than last February.
The turboprop segment saw the largest increase, rising 3.5%.
Additionally, small cabins and midsize cabins each recorded a 2.7% and 3.0% increase, respectively.
However, the large cabin segment saw a slight decrease. In February, large cabin jets recorded approximately 1.3% fewer flights.
Part 91 operators saw another successful February in terms of flight activity. Compared to February 2025, Part 91 operators saw 5.9% more flights in February 2026.
The market that saw the largest year-over-year increase was the small cabin segment, which recorded 7.1% more flights than last February.
Additionally, the large cabin segment also saw a 6.7% increase, while the turboprop market saw 5.9% more flights in Part 91 operations.
The midsize market saw the smallest jump, yet still saw 3.5% more flights than last February.
Find the perfect solution for your private aviation needs
Save Time. Buy Confidently.
Receive an apples-to-apples comparison of programs that meet your needs from more than 500 jet card and fractional options covering 65 points of differentiation and over 40,000 data points.
