Business aviation flight activity rose by nearly 8 percent worldwide between April and May, indicating stabilization heading into the third quarter, but declined 1.6 percent from a year ago, according to the latest Argus TraqPak aircraft activity report. Looking ahead, the company predicts June will witness a less than 1 percent decline year-over-year in North America, while European activity is forecast to drop by nearly 10 percent.

In North America, last month saw a 3.5 percent decrease in flights compared with May 2022, but activity remained nearly 12 percent above pre-Covid 2019 levels. Year-over-year, all aircraft segments posted declines in usage, with midsize-cabin jets seeing the largest erosion at 6.4 percent, while large-cabin aircraft were the least affected, falling 1.7 percent.

Fractional activity was up by 4.3 percent over May 2022, while Part 135 flying dropped 9.5 percent. Part 91 activity saw a slight decrease from a year ago.

Compared with April, last month’s activity represented an increase of 4.7 percent, led by a 6.8 percent boost in Part 91 flights, while Part 135 rose by 4.3 percent and fractional use was flat. The New England region, which was up by 32.8 percent, posted the largest monthly increase for the third month in a row.

In Europe, though the market showed an overall 8.3 percent decline in activity year-over-year, all aircraft segments evidenced improvement over April’s totals, with large-cabin jets producing the largest gain—28 percent—followed by midsize and small-cabin jets at 24.7 and 21.2 percent, respectively.

Outside these two regions, business aviation usage surged, with the 58,000 flights in May representing a 17.8 percent year-over-year increase.