The International Aircraft Dealers Association’s (IADA) first Quarter 2024 market report ended on a buoyant note with an uptick in preowned business aircraft sales, indicating an optimistic outlook for the next six months
IADA-Accredited Dealers reported 253 resale transactions in Q1 of 2024, up from 239 in the first quarter of 2023. The Q1, 2024 ended with 248 aircraft under contract, compared to 206 same time last year.
The IADA dealers had 302 contracts-to-sell exclusively in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 197 in the previous year. At the end of first quarter, the pre-owned business aircraft market is objectively healthy, with numerous signs of rebalancing after a heated sales climate.
Happy that the Q1 proved to be more active than expected, Phil Winters, vice president of aircraft sales and charter management for Western Aircraft and IADA Chairman says that the six-month projections for sales, demand, willingness to inventory and supply all continue the cautiously optimistic trends we saw in the fourth quarter of 2023, despite regional unrest and the uncertainties of a US presidential election
“About three-quarters of the IADA respondents to our quarterly member survey believe that Large and Ultra-Long-Range Jet resale pricing will fall and that inventories will rise over the next six months,” asserts IADA executive director Wayne Starling. “The most pronounced changes are expected at the top of the market,” Starling adds.
In the first quarter of 2024, the pre-owned business aircraft market continued to rebalance after the heady and unsustainable conditions in the immediate aftermath of the COVID crisis. Retail transactions of preowned aircraft peaked in 2021 and into the first part of 2022, emptying the available on-market inventory and driving a surge in transaction prices.
Since the latter half of 2022, inventory has continued to seep into the pre-owned market, providing much-needed products to satisfy a clear step-change in demand for business aircraft. The recent certification of the Gulfstream G700 is expected to deliver fresh pre-owned inventory into a marketplace eager for young, highly pedigreed aircraft, especially at the top of the market.
