U.S. Private Jet Flying Increased After Trump's Liberation Day Tariffs

Forbes

30-05-2025

President Donald J. Trump's tariffs are causing uncertainty with private aviation executives; however, so far, they haven't caused flyers to eschew their private jets. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
Trump announced his tariff policy on April 2, 2025, tabbing it Liberation Day and calling it 'one of the most important days in American history.'
And while financials markets have gone up and down and up and down again and again, private flying has been going in one direction – up.
According to the most recent weekly statistics from WingX, U.S. domestic private jet segments accelerated from 3.4% year-over-year growth before the tariffs to 4.1% year-over-year gains since.
During the most recent seven-day period, which included the Memorial Day weekend holiday, U.S. private jet segments were up 16% year-over-year.
U.S. private jet flights have increased since President Donald J. Trump announced tariffs on April ... More 2, 2025, according to data from WingX and ARGUS International.
Private flights over the holiday were the highest on record, breaking previous marks set in 2021 and then broken in 2022 as Covid led to a surge of newcomers to private aviation.
WingX Managing Director Richard Koe assessed, 'Business jet activity continues to trend upwards, with no discernible impact from economic uncertainty."
ARGUS TRAQPak, which also tracks private flights, reported similar gains for April.
The 2.4% increase in North American private flight hours tracked by ARGUS was not expected.
'April gave us a pleasant surprise and produced a monthly gain,' said Senior Vice President Travis Kuhn.
The company had forecast a 1.2% dip for the month.
Kuhn said, 'Before the start of the month, all trends seemed to point to a slightly flat to negative month amidst all the economic uncertainty.'
In a rarity, all three categories of private flight activity were up.
Part 91, which covers non-commercial flights by aircraft owners and corporate flight departments, had been lagging behind Part 91K – fractional operators and Part 135 – charter operators. It saw a 0.4% year-over-year increase during April.
The increases so far this year reverse two years of declines after private flying reached record levels in 2022, although 2024 still ranked as the industry's third-best year ever measured by flight hours, according to ARGUS.
Another indicator of short-term confidence is the sale of jet cards.
Jet cards function like a debit card for private flights, bridging the gap between chartering on a flight-by-flight basis and longer-term, more expensive solutions, such as fractional and full ownership.
In Q1, Wheels Up reported a 16.7% increase in deposits for future flights, its best first quarter since 2022.
flyExclusive, another publicly traded flight provider, reported a 25% increase in Q1 sales for its Jet Club, its version of a jet card.
Both preowned private jet sales and new private jet deliveries also got off to a good start in the first quarter.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported an 11% year-over-year increase in new jet deliveries.
The value was $5.04 billion, representing a 25.7% increase compared to 2024.
The International Aircraft Dealers Association, whose members claim over 50% of preowned transactions, said closed sales increased 24% in Q1.
Industry executives expect tailwinds later this year as well.
They're betting on bonus depreciation for private jet purchases, part of the current Republican-led tax legislation, and continued turmoil with the air traffic control system and airlines, making scheduled airline flights unreliable.
Despite all the positives, a Corporate Jet Investor webinar held earlier this week focused on the impact of tariffs for private jet owners found executives to be both optimistic and concerned.
Industry analyst Rolland Vincent, a former fractional and OEM executive, told listeners Q2 is a 'completely different picture (from the first quarter of 2025)…Tariffs and the unpredictable nature of the announcements, whether it's one day or the next, may present a completely different picture. It's causing businesspeople to hold back on the throttle…Q2 is pretty much a self-inflicted wound.'
His JetNetIQ quarterly survey's optimism index had given back its entire 28-point gain that came in Q4 after Trump's election victory.
'Post-COVID, the word that came up on every panel was uncertainty. Last year, before the election, what word came up on every panel? The word was uncertainty. Then, after the election, the word uncertainty disappeared. Now, all of a sudden, the word is uncertainty, and it's in bold and all caps,' PNC Bank SVP Keith Hayes added.
There's good reason for consternation.
Tariffs are already hitting private jet owners when it comes to repairs.
One listener commented that a customer had to pay a $285,000 tariff for new engine parts for his Dassault Falcon 2000X that were shipped from outside the United States.
Panelist Chris Ellis of Avpro relayed a Gulfstream Aerospace G450 owner was billed $850,000 in tariff costs to cover parts imported for a post-Liberation Day overhaul.
Executives are also concerned that there will not be enough maintenance slots at MROs to accommodate the traditional Q4 frenzy of pre-buy inspections, which could increase if the bonus depreciation is enacted.
Hayes added after a strong start, 'We are having clients now start to slow down, tap the brakes.'
The most significant risk for 2025, the executives said, is if companies take a substantial hit to their bottom line or ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWs) see their wallets squeezed.
However, they concluded that regular private flyers don't have other realistic options.
Vincent noted, 'The air traffic control nightmares suggest commercial airline services are not going to be very dependable.'
Ellis added, 'Plan B is so bad, flying commercial, (customers) are just going to power through it. We're feeling super optimistic.'
Mesinger Jet Sales Jay Mesinger, who moderated the panel, added, 'Airline industry disruptions have always served (private aviation) well.'
The may be right. Even Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, recently called private jets 'the only way to get around.'
In terms of overall sentiment, a ChatGPT analysis of panelist comments found, 'In short, they're realistic but confident — aware of headwinds, but not signaling serious concern.'
Asked to rate their level of confidence on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest, ChatGPT gave it a seven that 'reflects measured optimism with eyes open.'
However, when it comes to the bigger commitment of buying private jets instead of just flying on them or putting down low six-figure jet card deposits, Mesinger noted the current attitude.
He said, 'Sitting on the fence seems to be a safe place to be right now unless you have a real motivation to jump in.'