The following table uses ARGUS TRAQPak data and tracks North American private jet flight hours by year from 2007 to the present.
Total private jet flight hours in North America, according to data compiled from ARGUS TRAQPak, didn’t recover to 2007 levels until Covid pushed a new generation of consumers into the private skies in 2021.
Charter and Fractional hours recovered by 2017.
Although as a separate number, fractionals did not reach 2007 levels until 2022.
The industry often refers to the 2011-2020 period as its lost decade.
READ: Top Private Jet Operators By Year
Part 91 applies to private flights by aircraft owners whose aircraft are not on a charter certificate.
Part 91k is for fractional operators, including flights for their jet card programs and other charter flights.
If greater than 50% of an operator’s aircraft have fractional shares available, then they are considered fractional for ARGUS tracking.
Finally, Part 135 hours include charter flights, jet cards, and the private flights of aircraft owners whose airplanes are available for charter.
| Year | Total Industry Hours |
% Change |
Charter & Fractional Hours |
% Change |
% Share |
| 2025 | 5,419,973 | 3.5% | 3,021,378 | +6.5% | 55.75% |
| 2024 | 5,238,986 | -1.1% | 2,837,870 | +0.9% | 54.17% |
| 2023 | 5,298,445 | -3.7% | 2,812,849 | -4.6% | 53.09% |
| 2022 | 5,502,093 | 7.7% | 2,949,189 | 5.7% | 53.60% |
| 2021 | 5,109,420 | 46.3% | 2,789,520 | 52.1% | 54.60% |
| 2020 | 3,493,412 | -22.5% | 1,834,550 | -16.0% | 52.51% |
| 2019 | 4,506,275 | 1.3% | 2,184,958 | 1.1% | 48.49% |
| 2018 | 4,446,777 | 0.7% | 2,161,369 | 0.8% | 48.61% |
| 2017 | 4,415,602 | 5.5% | 2,144,685 | 10.1% | 48.57% |
| 2016 | 4,183,472 | 3.8% | 1,948,354 | 4.8% | 46.57% |
| 2015 | 4,030,915 | 2.7% | 1,858,952 | 2.6% | 46.12% |
| 2014 | 3,923,290 | 2.9% | 1,812,002 | 3.6% | 46.19% |
| 2013 | 3,812,905 | 0.3% | 1,749,005 | 5.2% | 45.87% |
| 2012 | 3,800,140 | 0.6% | 1,662,474 | 0.4% | 43.75% |
| 2011 | 3,776,004 | 0.3% | 1,655,788 | 0.0% | 43.85% |
| 2010 | 3,764,205 | 6.6% | 1,655,876 | 7.8% | 43.99% |
| 2009 | 3,531,151 | -17.5% | 1,536,486 | -18.9% | 43.51% |
| 2008 | 4,278,020 | -9.3% | 1,894,910 | -9.2% | 44.29% |
| 2007 | 4,717,848 | – | 2,086,487 | – | 44.23% |
Source: ARGUS TRAQPak and Private Jet Card Comparisons
We combine 135 and 91k as the tracking is operator-specific and doesn’t segment 91k from 135 flying.
It’s also important to note that 135 aircraft tracking is aircraft-specific.
That means some of the flight hours recorded for these aircraft are likely for Part 91 flying.
That’s because an aircraft owner’s flights are under Part 91.
The airplane must only fly under the Part 135 rules for charter flights. However, data to separate owner and charter and owner flights is unavailable.
They are all tracked under Part 135.
And all of the above includes empty-leg repositioning flights.
Again, the percentage of repositioning flights isn’t known.
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