The number of preowned business jets for sale this month is down 54 percent from a year ago and the young inventory—those less than seven years—dropped 59 percent, according to analyst Jefferies. Overall, 2.3 percent of the fleet is available for sale, while average pricing is up 16 percent year-over-year.

Using Amstat figures, Jefferies reported that the decline in available inventory is across all aircraft categories but led by midsize jets, which are 60 percent below that of April 2021. Light and large-cabin jet inventories declined 51 percent and 52 percent, respectively, over the same period.

While sharply down from a year ago, the available inventory this month leveled off from March overall, Jefferies said. Some 580 aircraft are available for sale this month, according to the latest figures. This compares with 578 units last month and 1,270 in April 2021.

Broken down by OEM, Dassault inventory experienced the sharpest decline, down 76 percent with 12 units for sale, representing just 1.3 percent of the active Falcon fleet. This compares with 5.4 percent from a year ago.

The active Embraer fleet saw a 65 percent year-over-year decline in availability with 1.5 percent for sale, which Jefferies said is being led by Phenom inventory. Bombardier inventory slid 59 percent from April 2021 with 39 units for sale. Challenger availability is down 71 percent and Globals 61 percent. No preowned Global 7500s are for currently up for sale.

Gulfstream inventory dropped 56 percent year-over-year, to 28 units, with availability down from 3.4 percent in April 2021 to 1.5 percent this month. G550 availability slid by 18 units. As an aside, Jefferies also cited Amstat figures showing Gulfstream has produced the first 12 G700s, half of which ostensibly are customer bound, with six as test articles. The model is set to enter service later this year.

Cessna Citation inventory, meanwhile, is down 54 percent year-over-year, to 67 units, with the XLS/XLS+ declining by 19 units. This available inventory represents 1.7 percent of the active fleet.

As for pricing of preowned aircraft, the average for Gulfstream models is up 23 percent, to $23.6 million, led by a 119 percent increase for the G550. G650s carry an average price of $52 million, nearing the $67 million list price of new.

Bombardier prices are up 22 percent, to $13.5 million, led by a 43 percent jump for Challengers. This offsets a 25 percent dip in used Learjet pricing. Average list prices for preowned Cessna Citations are up 19 percent, to $4.3 million, Embraer pricing is up 16 percent, to $10.7 million, and Dassault pricing edged up 2 percent year-over-year.

January 18, 2022 – The pre-owned business aircraft market smashed numerous market records in Q4 2021 for the quarter, and for the calendar year, reports the Asset Insight AI² Market Report. With impressive transaction rates and values that, at times, significantly exceeded ask prices, 2021 pre-owned for-sale inventory closed 54% lower than EOY 2020. The Q4 AI² Market Report covers 134 fixed-wing models and 884 aircraft listed for sale. 

All aircraft groups posted record high demand  in Q4 2021. Average posted prices for the limited, heavily picked-over, aging fleet, decreased to a record low figure, while younger, low-time aircraft sold quickly through 2021, and especially in the 4^th quarter, often transacting without even being advertised for sale, and many times with aggressive bidding wars.

“21 months into the pandemic, business aviation continues to prove its value in the business world, globally,” said Tony Kioussis, president of Asset Insight, LLC. “Companies with staying power through the pandemic rely heavily on their business aircraft, with the industry expanding and the market reflecting the critical nature of this important equipment to businesses in all industries.” 

The quality of the remaining aircraft, and the Maintenance Exposure for those assets, statistically evidences the difficulty aging aircraft sellers are encountering remarketing these older aircraft, and the reason why the listed fleet’s Days on Market increased 11% during Q4 2021. The overall Quality Rating worsened (decreased) in Q4, with the remaining inventory staying within “Very Good” territory, but also carrying more near-term maintenance events.

“The attached material is the proprietary information of Asset Insight, LLC”  www.assetinsight.com

Download the complete Market Report covering Q4 2021

We're closing in on Christmas and volume remains strong. In fact, month-to-date we are showing 9,710 hours more than for the same two weeks in 2019, which translates into a 14.6% increase year over year. 

We are seeing exceptionally strong demand in the Part 91 world as well with average volumes getting close to 10,000 hours per day. Month to date, the non-commercial business flying is up almost 22% and nearly 25,000 more hours over the past two weeks than in 2019.

In the last update we saw Teterboro close to 2019 volumes. Now we have moved past that into positive territory for the month. As you can see in the chart below, we show MTD volume that is 5.3% above 2019 and 14.6% more activity this past week than the same week in 2019.

With this steady stream of additional demand, I get asked if there is anywhere not seeing a positive impact. There are still areas that are not catching up to 2019 volume levels. One of these is Albany, NY, which is 21.3% below 2019 year-to-date and 26.6% below for the month of December.

Another example, would be Pioria, IL where the YoY trend is down 9.6% and the month to date is down 4.7%. I will say that it is getting harder to find examples like these, but there are still areas that have not seen private travel return to pre-pandemic levels.