News

Aircraft Inventory Levels Improve Across Categories, but Values Still Rising or Holding

The latest Sandhills Global market report on the aviation industry indicates an across-the-board, month-over-month expansion in pre-owned inventory, although the number of available aircraft remains markedly low compared to a year ago. Values in Sandhills marketplaces continued to ascend in most categories despite the new breathing room provided by the inventory increase.

Sandhills’ aviation products include Controller, Controller EMEA, Executive Controller, Charter Hub, Aviation Trader, Aircraft Cost Calculator, and AircraftEvaluator. AircraftEvaluator is Sandhills’ proprietary asset valuation tool for all types of aircraft, built using the same technology behind FleetEvaluator. Widely used and trusted across equipment, truck, and trailer industries, FleetEvaluator identifies asset values with unparalleled accuracy.

The key metric used in all of Sandhills’ market reports is the Sandhills Equipment Value Index (EVI). Buyers and sellers can use the information in Sandhills EVI to monitor equipment markets and maximize returns on acquisition, liquidation, and related business decisions.

Chart Takeaways

This report includes detailed analysis of asking values and inventory trends in the worldwide used aircraft market along with charts that help readers visualize the data. This report describes and quantifies important trends in the buying and selling of used piston single, turboprop, and jet aircraft.

U.S. and Canada Used Piston Single Aircraft

• The Sandhills EVI for piston single aircraft in the U.S. and Canada logged a 23.8% year-over-year rise in asking values in March 2022. As compared to the previous month, values decreased slightly from February 2022’s 24.2% YOY figure. 
• Piston single inventory in March 2022 rebounded with a 12-percentage point gain over the month prior. On a YOY basis, inventory levels were down 20.7% overall.

U.S. and Canada Used Turboprop Aircraft

• In the turboprop category, the Sandhills EVI showed a 23.0% YOY increase in asking values in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Aircraft values were approximately $1.7 million in March 2022 compared to $1.4 million in March 2021. 
• Inventory of turboprop aircraft improved by 3.4 percentage points over the month prior, but was still down by 66.5% YOY.

Global Used Jet Aircraft

• As illustrated in the accompanying chart, Sandhills market reports break out the jet aircraft category into Light, Mid, Super Mid, and Large classes. 
• On a worldwide basis, Sandhills EVI asking values for jets in the Large class were elevated by 21.1% YOY. M/M values for March rose to $21.0 million from $20.3 million in February.
• Jet aircraft inventory in the Large class was down 61.1% YOY in March but reflected a 2-percentage-point increase from February. 

• Light: Values up 29.6% YOY, inventory down 65.5% 
• Mid: Values up 45.4% YOY, inventory down 77.0% 
• Super Mid: Values up 30.0% YOY, inventory down 65.5%

Obtain the Full Report

For more information, or to receive detailed analysis from Sandhills Global, contact us at [email protected].

About the Sandhills Equipment Value Index

The Sandhills Equipment Value Index (EVI) is a principal gauge of the estimated market values of used assets—both currently and over time—across the construction, agricultural, commercial trucking, and aviation industries represented by Sandhills Global marketplaces, including Controller.com, AuctionTime.com, TractorHouse.com, MachineryTrader.com, TruckPaper.com, and other industry-specific equipment platforms. Powered by FleetEvaluator and AircraftEvaluator, Sandhills’ proprietary asset valuation tools, Sandhills EVI provides useful insights into the ever-changing supply-and-demand conditions for each industry.