News

Aircraft Inventory Declines After Months of Increases While Asking Values Remain Steady

As 2023 drew to a close, December brought a mixed bag of trends to the used aircraft market, with inventory and asking values diverging across categories, according to new Sandhills Global market reports. Inventory levels decreased across the used jet, piston single aircraft, and turboprop aircraft categories in Sandhills marketplaces (only piston helicopters experienced an inventory increase) while asking values differed by category with little variation.

“The decrease in inventory levels for used turboprop aircraft, piston singles, and jets breaks a pattern of consecutive increases,” says Controller Department Manager Brant Washburn. “This underscores the adaptability of these markets. We're also seeing resilience, especially in piston singles, with asking values higher than last year and trending up.”

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 the Sandhills EVI to monitor equipment markets and maximize returns on acquisition, liquidation, and related business decisions. The Sandhills EVI data include equipment available in auction and retail markets, as well as model year equipment actively in use.

Additional Market Report Takeaways

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

Global Used Jets

• Inventory levels in Sandhills’ worldwide jet aircraft market dropped 8.56% month over month in December following 11 months of increases. Inventory levels are also higher than last year, up 44.28% year over year. Inventory levels are currently trending up.
• Asking values dipped slightly in December, down 0.04% M/M and 2.1% YOY, and are trending sideways.

U.S. and Canada Used Piston Single Aircraft

• Used piston single aircraft in Sandhills marketplaces experienced a 4.63% M/M inventory decrease in December after five consecutive months of increases, but remained above last year’s level, up 10.12% YOY. Inventory levels are now trending up.
• Asking values in this category were down 0.04% M/M but rose 3.05% YOY. Asking values are currently trending up.

U.S. and Canada Used Turboprop Aircraft

• Like the piston single category, used turboprop aircraft in Sandhills marketplaces followed five consecutive months of inventory increases with a decrease in December. Inventory levels were down 3.16% M/M but were up 30.62% YOY and are trending up.
• Asking values increased moderately at 0.78% M/M but are lower than last year, down 0.95% YOY. Still, used turboprop aircraft asking values are now trending up.

Global Used Robinson Piston Helicopters

• The used piston single helicopter market showed some growth for the past two months. In November, inventory levels rose for the fifth month in a row, up 25.29% YOY, while asking values increased slightly, up 3.14% YOY. Continuing this trend, inventory levels increased again in December, up 3.67% M/M and 24.18% YOY.
• Asking values also increased in December, posting 4.86% M/M and 4.14% YOY increases, and are currently trending sideways.

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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.