First-time buyers helped push demand for preowned business aircraft to new heights in the first quarter, according to aviation asset evaluation specialist Asset Insight. As a result, available inventory continued to erode to an all-time low of 3.1 percent of the in-service fleet.
Asset Insight’s latest AI2 Market Report finds that demand in the first quarter surpassed the fourth quarter by 6.2 percent. This answered the question of some industry insiders late in 2021 about whether demand would ease after the typical year-end buying rush.
Demand increased across all cabin sizes and was double the Asset Insight rating from a year ago—out of a scale of five, the first-quarter demand rating was 4.68, compared with 2.27 a year ago. Demand for large jets came in the highest, at 4.87.
Inventory continues to fall and is now 60 percent below the June 2020 peak, according to the report, which notes that young, low-time aircraft are selling quickly and often without a listing. Value of the transaction is meeting or exceeding the asking price, Asset Insight added. Asking prices are up more than 14 percent year over year, and by 54 percent for large jets alone.
The report also tracks quality and maintenance exposure, finding that the quality rating of the for-sale fleet has reached a 12-month high, which Asset Insight said signifies there have been fewer near-term maintenance events involving the affected aircraft. Conversely, though, the maintenance exposure is at a 12-month low, signifying upcoming events for the listed fleet. These events might be fewer in number but more expensive to complete.
“Two years ago, as we headed into the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody foresaw the frenetic buying environment we continue to experience,” said Asset Insight president Tony Kioussis. “Buyers are obtaining their ask prices, if not more, and owners of high-quality, low-time, recent-model aircraft may not even have to list their asset to secure a sale.”
