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According to AMSTAT, the leading provider of corporate aviation fleet and operator information, the business jet and turboprop resale market, experienced mediocre transaction activity in the first quarter of 2014.
“With Q4 traditionally the most active quarter for transactions each year, it is not unusual for transaction activity to drop during Q1 of the following year. This was certainly true this year with 2.3 per cent of the business jet fleet and 1.9 per cent of the turboprop fleet turning over in Q1 2014 compared to 3 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively in Q4 2013. However, it was disappointing to see a smaller percentage of the active fleet turning over in Q1 2014 versus Q1 2013” said Andrew Young, AMSTAT general manager. In Q1 2013, 2.4 per cent of the business jets and 2.4 per cent of the turboprops turned over, both higher percentages than in Q1 2014.
There was very little change in transaction activity in the turbine helicopter markets between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014. However, just as in the fixed wing segments, the percentage of active fleet sold in Q1 2014 was down versus Q1 2013, at 1.3 per cent versus 1.6 per cent.
While the collective business jet inventory continued to contract in 2013, for the first four months of 2014, inventory levels plateaued at around 11.7 per cent. The individual business jet segments followed the same trend with the exception of the heavy jets were inventories have risen from 9.7 per cent at the start of 2014 to 10.1 per cent today. The turboprop inventory has remained around 8 per cent since the start of 2013. This trend has continued so far in 2014, with 7.9 per cent of the turboprop fleet for sale in April. All fixed wing segments are at or below their 20 year averages. By contrast the turbine helicopter inventory was up year on year from 5.9 per cent to 6.2 per cent. Individual segments (single and multi‐engine) have seen modest inventory reductions so far in 2014.
Year on year average asking prices continued to fall in all business jet and turboprop markets with the exception of heavy jets. Heavy jet average asking prices were up 9.5 per cent year on year and 10.4 per cent quarter on quarter. “It should be noted that the heavy jets represent a smaller data set and the addition of a few higher priced units can change the averages and potentially the short term market trend”, said Young. He went on to add that “indeed, if we look at the raw data for April we see that a number of new listings (largely later heavy jet models) were added for sale with asking prices that might be termed “adventurous” in the context of peer listings.” Asking prices for turbine helicopters were up year on year by 4.3 per cent for multi‐engine models and 2.6 per cent for single‐engine models.
