More used business jets (2303) were sold in 2013 than in any previous year and asking prices are on the way up according to the annual review of bizjet sales by JetNet. The amount of used inventory has also dropped by 0.9 percent to 12.5 percent of the worldwide fleet. “We hope this trend for the pre-owned market, along with improvement in the world economy will continue to push more new aircraft purchase for the new year,” the report’s authors opined. It was also noted that the 12.5 percent of the business jet fleet up for sale is significantly higher then the norm of about 10 percent. While the trends in the report were generally positive for the business jet sector, other sectors didn’t fare as well.
Even within the business jet sector, the light business jet market continues to suffer and sales of jets weighing between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds dropped 4.2 percent. Interestingly, very light jet sales held their own with a 1.8 percent increase in sales. Not surprisingly, big business jets weighing more than 35,000 pounds led the sales figures with a 5.7 percent increase to 689 sales. Medium-sized aircraft were just behind that at 619 sales and in increase of 2.3 percent. Turboprop sales were down 8.8 percent, turbine helicopters 11.8 percent and piston helicopters 13.5 percent but their overall markets are in much better shape. Only 8.3 percent of the turboprop fleet is for sale and helicopters for sale stand at 6.1 percent across the board.
