The pre-owned business aircraft market showed improvement in the fourth quarter, according to data released today by business aviation information services firm Amstat. But, it added, performance was not consistent across market segments. At the start of the new year, 13.7 percent of the worldwide business jet fleet was for sale, a 0.3-percentage-point decrease from October and “the return of a positive trend after several months of leveling off.” Turboprop inventory stood at 10.2 percent of the in-service fleet, down from 10.7 percent at the end of October, Amstat said. In the fourth quarter, 2.5 percent of the worldwide business jet fleet changed ownership via resale retail transactions, “making it the best performing quarter for 2011, slightly edging the fourth quarter of 2010 (2.4 percent).” Meanwhile, resale retail transactions of pre-owned turboprops decreased from 2.6 percent in the third quarter to 2.4 percent in the fourth semester. However, resale retail transaction activity in the fourth quarter was still below the 20-year averages of 3 percent for jets and 3.2 for turboprops. “The past two years have been marked by slow improvements, often interrupted by periods of leveling off and even setbacks. It would be nice to see a full calendar year of uninterrupted improvements, even if small in magnitude,” said Amstat executive vice president Tom Benson. “A year like that might give us a reason to use the word ‘good’ again when describing business aviation market conditions.”