Press Release
Issued by Amstat.
May 2, 2011
According to AMSTAT, the leading provider of corporate aviation fleet and operator information, 2.4% of the active fleet of worldwide business jets changed hands via resale retail transactions in Q1 of 2011. The same report goes on to add that while 2.4% is a low value for this metric by historic standards (the 20-year average for bizjets is 3.3%), it is the same value that was seen in Q4 of 2010. Thus, for the first time in many years, the business jet market did not experience a significant drop in transaction activity in the first quarter of the year. In the turboprop market, transaction activity did decrease slightly, from 2.4% to 2.2%. However, that still represents the smallest decrease from Q4 to Q1 in several years, and at 2.2% of the fleet, the level of transaction activity for turboprops came in at its
highest first quarter level since 2008.
According to Tom Benson, Executive Vice President of AMSTAT, "in the previous edition of our quarterly market update, we noted that a very promising Q4 (2010) seemed to represent a bit more than the normal fourth quarter bump." Benson went on to add that "as always, we'd like to see a strong (or at least stable) Q1 follow-up in order to really feel good about things. Now that the first quarter of 2011 is history, we can
look for that reassurance."
The report goes on to highlight that 14.2% of the worldwide fleet of business jets is for sale, compared to 14.7% just one quarter ago. Although jet inventories remain high, their 20-year average is 12.6%, bizjet for sale inventory is continuing the gradual decrease seen since the second half of 2009. In the turboprop market, for sale inventory decreased from 11.9% to 11.6% over the same period, bringing it within sight of a 20-year average of 11.2%.
Looking forward, Benson noted that it is important to keep two things in mind. First, there are a lot of promising market trends. Used for sale inventory continues to decrease (almost to "normal" levels for turboprops), and transaction activity bucked the historical trend of first quarter disappointments. But second, almost all of the metrics analyzed still clearly indicate that the business aviation market has not
yet recovered.
The full AMSTAT Market Update report will appear in the May issue of CAMP InSight magazine, and can be viewed today on the Aircraft Shopper Online website at: http://www.aso.com/AMSTATMarketUpdate.pdf. A hard copy is attached here. AMSTAT also submits monthly Market Analysis articles covering a wide range of topics to the Articles section of the ASO website (www.aso.com). Monthly updates of the data referenced within the Market Update report are accessible via AMSTAT's StatPak market information service.
