Press Release

Issued by Amstat.

January 28, 2015

According to Amstat, the leading provider of corporate aviation fleet and operator information, business jet resale transaction activity in 2014 was up +5.7% over 2013 and 10.8% of the fleet turned over versus 10.4% in 2013. However, the report notes that the year‐on‐year growth for business jets was below that for the previous two years and that other segments of the market faced some challenges in 2014.

“While there was +5.7% growth in business jet resale transactions in 2014, this should be viewed in context” said Andrew Young, AMSTAT general manager, “specifically that this growth was below the year‐on‐year growth of +8.8% in 2013 over 2012 and +6.3% in 2012 over 2011.” For business jet resale transactions there was very little change in Q4 over Q3 (2.9% and 2.8% fleet turnover respectively) and Q4 2014 over Q4 2013 (2.9% versus 3.0% turnover). The report noted that Q4 was marginally the best quarter in 2014, the best quarter since Q4 2013 and was just over the 20‐year quarterly average for this group.

Resale transaction activity was up year‐on‐year in both the medium jets (+16.4%) and heavy jets (+4.1%) although in both cases below the previous year's growth rate. For both medium and heavy jets, Q4 versus Q3 and Q4 2014 versus Q4 2013 were essentially flat.

Both light jets and turboprops had a lack luster year in 2014, with ‐1% and ‐12.2% year‐on‐year transaction growth respectively. For turboprops this represented three consecutive years of negative growth. Q4 performance for light jets met their 20‐year quarterly average and placed Q4 as the best quarter in this segment since Q4 2013. Q4 performance for turboprops (2.0%) was significantly below their 20‐year quarterly average (2.9%).

Turbine helicopters had a disappointing year in 2014 overall with a ‐7.7% drop in resale transaction activity over 2013 compared to a +2.9% increase in 2013 over 2012. Multi engine and single engine turbine helicopter activity was down ‐ 9.5% and ‐6.8% year‐on‐year respectively.

Business aircraft inventories remained flat or continued to contract in 2014. For business jets overall, 10.6% of the fleet was for sale at the start of 2015 compared to 11.2% at the end of Q3 2014 and 11.7% a year ago. Inventory for this group is now 2% below its 20‐year average (12.6%). Medium and light jet inventories followed the overall trend with medium jet inventories contracting from 12.3% to 10.9% (compare to 20‐year average for this segment of 12.2%) and the light jet inventory contracted from 12.4% to 10.9% (20‐year average for this segment is 14.3%). Heavy jet availability flattened in 2014 with 9.8% of the fleet for sale today versus 9.7% a year ago. The 20‐year average for this segment is 10.1%.

Turboprop inventories continue to plateau with 7.6% of the fleet for sale today versus 7.8% a year ago. Turboprop inventories have hovered around 7% since the spring of 2013. The 20‐year average for this segment is 10.9%.

Turbine helicopter inventories have also plateaued, having hovered around 6% since the spring of 2012. Today, 6.2% of the fleet is for sale compared to 6.3% a quarter ago and 6.4% a year ago. The 20‐year average for this group is 6.0%.

By the start of 2015, heavy jet average asking prices had increased 2.2% over Q3 2014 and 8.3% over the start of 2014. By comparison, medium jets and light jets saw continued downward pressure on average asking prices falling ‐4.1% and ‐4.9% respectively since the start of 2014.

With transaction activity declines and a flattened inventory, average asking prices for Turboprops were down ‐3.7% over Q3 and ‐4.0% over the start of 2014.

The average asking price for a multi engine turbine helicopters increased +1.4% between the start of Q3 2014 and the start of 2015, and +4.4% over the start of 2014. The average asking price for a single engine turbine helicopter decreased ‐5.9% over 2014, and ‐1.1% since the start of Q3 2014.

“In general, 2014 was a good year for business jets but less so for other segments of the market” said Young. He added, “this variability reflects the uneven nature of the current market recovery”.