The International Association of Aircraft Dealers (IADA) is warning of a pending shortfall in "quality" preowned business aircraft as it continues to see activity increase in aircraft under contract and transaction closings, according to its second-quarter 2021 IADA Market Report. In the second quarter, IADA dealers closed 320 preowned aircraft sales transactions and ended the quarter with another 315 aircraft under contract. That’s up from the quarter a year ago, when dealers closed 174 transactions and had 219 aircraft under contract.

“We have buyers with funds to purchase, but demand for late-model aircraft with attractive configurations exceeds supply, which could increase pressure on prices and lengthen transactions,” said IADA executive director Wayne Starling. The aircraft broker’s group noted that while some industry reports show the inventory of used aircraft at 7 percent of the fleet, “only about three to four are newer, late-model quality aircraft." IADA added about half of those aircraft are located internationally and a large percentage of them reside in China.

IADA also reported that, during the second quarter, its members executed 175 acquisition agreements and were exclusively retained to sell 135 aircraft. During that period, transaction prices decreased on 11 aircraft and 38 transactions were not completed. That compares with 119 aircraft whose prices decreased and 45 incompleted transactions in the second quarter of 2020.