Corporate aviation market analysis provider JetNet has released its January 2011 pre-owned aircraft results, and the news is a bit glum for the helicopter industry.

The pre-owned business jet segment showed a shift down in inventory for sale, from 15.9 percent of the total used fleet in January 2010 to 14.6 percent in January 2011. The pre-owned helicopter segment, however, showed an increase in the portion of the used fleet for sale, from 6.9 percent in January 2010 to 7 percent in January 2011.

“A buyer’s market in the helicopter world is when the percentage of helicopters for sale exceeds 5 percent of the fleet,” according to JetNet.

The number of pre-owned turbine helicopter sale transactions declined by 46.6 percent in January 2011, compared with January 2009. And the average days on market for turbine helicopters was 340, three less than in 2010. However, the average asking price fell by 29.3 percent. The average asking price for a piston helicopter was down 5.3 percent for a comparable period, and the number of full-sale transactions dropped 38.8 percent.

“We continue to witness stubbornly high levels of for-sale inventories as we remain in a buyer’s market,” said the analysis. And while the report offered the “good news that the helicopter market is on the right track, the reality is that the current business down-cycle will last longer than the industry would like.”