The pre-owned business aircraft market saw a seven per cent increase in sales volume in Q1 2021 over Q1 2020, while asking prices were down nearly six per cent, according to aviation valuation firm Asset Insight's latest AI2 Market Report. Overall demand remained unchanged over Q4 2020, but increased nearly 44 per cent compared to Q1 2020. The Q1 AI2 Market Report covers 134 fixed wing models and 1,661 aircraft listed for sale.

In Q1 2021, higher quality, newer aircraft were the ones primarily selling, leaving older aircraft with lower quality ratings in the for-sale pool, resulting in the inventory fleet posting its worst ETP ratio (maintenance exposure to asking price ratio) on record at 74.4 per cent. Aircraft with an ETP ratio of 40 per cent or higher were listed for sale 69 per cent longer than aircraft with lower ETP ratios. Maintenance exposure, an aircraft's accrued/embedded maintenance cost, increased for all jet market segments compared to Q1 2020, while exposure for turboprops decreased year-over-year.

“Across all segments, the pre-owned aircraft market was robust and active in Q1 2021,” says Tony Kioussis, president of Asset Insight. “Buyers snapped up late model, higher quality aircraft at an impressive rate. Owners with aircraft carrying higher maintenance exposure should expect to spend over six months more on the market than younger aircraft with less pending maintenance.”

On balance, asking prices were down across all market segments during Q1, year-over-year. During Q1 2021, mid-size jets and turboprops posted increased prices, while large and light jets saw decreases.