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ARGUS Analytics has released its March aircraft activity report and WINGX released its business aviation activity report, stating that recent airline cancellations have increased bizav activity.
WingX reports that TSA staffing shortages across the U.S. have left commercial terminals in disarray during one of the busiest travel times of the year. Additionally, fuel prices have sharply climbed, with avgas increasing by $0.14 month-over-month and by $0.55 year-over-year for a total of $6.56 and $6.89 per gallon, respectively. WingX claims these two factors have caused more travelers to turn to business aviation as activity increased by 11.3% year-over-year, with the year-to-date figure (1 January - 29 March) of 4.5% in Week 13, despite the sharp decline in business flights from the Middle East.
ARGUS recorded that global flight activity in March 2026 increased by 6.5% from March 2025 and increased by 12.1% from Feb. 2026. North America grew 6.6% compared to 2025, with an average of over 10,100 flights per day. The fractional category had the largest increase in the operational category, increasing by 13.8%. Part 135 and part 91 increased by 6.5% and 3.5%, respectively. By aircraft type, small cabin jets had the largest increase with 11.5% growth. Large cabin jets had the smallest amount of growth of 0.4%. Turboprop aircraft had an increase of 5.8% and mid-sized cabin jets had an increase of 6.4%. WingX reports that North American bizav activity anchored weekly year-over-year growth at 13.3% on Week 13.
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European activity grew by 4.5% compared to March 2026, according to ARGUS, and by 15.6% compared to Feb. 2025. Mid-sized cabin jets had the largest increase in the continent year over year at 11.2%. Large cabin jet and turboprop activity increased by 9% and 1.1%, respectively. Small cabin jet activity actually dropped by 0.8%, but increased by 13.8% compared to February. Bizav activity increased by 10% in Europe.
The rest of the world had an increase of 6.5%, despite activity in the Middle East dropping over 50%. Small cabin jets increased in activity by 20.2% compared to March 2025. Mid-sized cabin jets increased by 9.6% and turboprops increased by 3.2%. Large cabin jets had the smallest increase at 1.9%. WingX states the spillover effect from the Middle East is minimal due to its small footprint of global traffic. It accounts for approximately 1% of global bizjet departures in Week 13 of 2026, experiencing a 40.6% year-over-year decline with a year-to-date drop of 14.0%. This only led to a 0.4% decrease in global bizav activity.
"March activity stayed resilient amidst a host of challenges from the conflict in the Middle East," said Travis Kuhn, ARGUS Senior VP of Software. "We saw activity in the Middle East decline over 50% in March and fuel prices spike globally but activity still posted significant gains in the US and around the world. We do expect April to remain positive in North America but, given the current environment of uncertainty, we could see activity flatten out during April. At this time we have no reason to expect any type of decline in North America but we will pay close attention."