According to AMSTAT, the leading provider of corporate aviation fleet and operator information, during Q4 of 2011, conditions in the worldwide business aircraft resale market continued to show improvement, although performance was less than consistent across market segments.

In Q3 2011 business turbo-prop resale retail transaction activity showed positive growth whereas the business jets took a small step backwards. These roles were reversed for Q4. In this latest quarter, 2.5% of the worldwide fleet of business Jets changed ownership via resale retail transactions, making it the best performing quarter for 2011, slightly edging Q4 2010 (2,4%). By contrast, resale retail transactions in the turbo-prop market decreased from 2.6% in Q3 to 2.4% in Q4 coming in just below the Q4 2010 performance (2.5%). In both market segments, Q4 resale retail transaction activity was below the 20-year averages of 3% for jets and 3.2% for turbo-props.

The report goes on to highlight improvements in the availability of business aircraft. At the start of January 2012, 13.7% of the worldwide fleet or business jets were for sale. This represents a 0.3% decreased over October and the return of a positive trend after several months of leveling off. For turbo-props, 10.2% of the worldwide fleet is currently for sale, which represents a 0.5% decrease from Q3.

On this most recent activity, Tom Benson, Executive Vice President of AMSTAT noted that “the past two years have been marked by slow improvements, often interrupted by periods of leveling off, and even setbacks…It would be nice to see a full calendar year of uninterrupted improvements, even if small in magnitude. A year like that might give us a reason to use the word “good” again when describing business aviation market conditions.”

The full AMSTAT Market Update report will appear in the February issue of CAMP InSight magazine, and can be viewed here.

About AMSTAT, Inc.
AMSTAT is the leading provider of market research information and services to the corporate aviation industry. Founded in 1982, and based in Tinton Falls, NJ, AMSTAT introduced the concept of providing researched information to corporate aviation professionals. AMSTAT’s mission is to provide timely, accurate, and objective market information to its customers. AMSTAT products and services provide aviation market and statistical information that generates revenue and delivers competitive advantage to brokers/dealers, finance companies, fractional providers, and suppliers of aircraft parts and services.