Art is performed for part of flight (5)
I believe the answer is:
stair
'part of flight' is the definition.
(as in a flight of stairs)
'art is performed' is the wordplay.
'performed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'art'+'is'='artis'
'artis' anagrammed gives 'STAIR'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for stair that I've seen before include "Indoor step" , "Tarsi (anag)" , "single step in a series" , "One step in a series" , "Set of steps" .)