Preowned business aircraft inventory continues to rise but still remains below the 10-year average, according to industry data tracker Amstat. The current percentage of the fleet for sale rose by 45 percent year-over-year (YOY) to equal 5 percent of the business aircraft fleet, as compared to the 8 percent average.

The largest inventory increases by segment were in the super-midsize and heavy jet classes at 93 percent and 73 percent, respectively. Those categories were also the closest to their 10-year average, with 6 percent of the heavy jets and 7 percent of the super-mids available versus their 8 percent average.

Meanwhile, levels of preowned transactions fell by 26 percent YOY and are now trending back to historical levels. While sales activity in all three quarters this year was below the corresponding periods in 2022, according to Amstat, retail sales activity year-to-date has surpassed pre-Covid 2019 and is within 5 percent of the 10-year average. The heavy and light jet categories showed the smallest decreases in activity—the former was within 5 percentage points of its 10-year average, while the light jet segment exceeded its 10-year average by 5 percent.

Though median aircraft values rose slightly during the first half of the year, they retrenched by 3 percent in the third quarter and now remain unchanged since the beginning of 2023. The heavy jet segment saw the largest decline in median values, down 6 percent year-to-date, while the median value of the medium class is up by 7 percent. Rounding out the jet fleet, the values for super-midsize and light jets remained unchanged since the start of the year, while median values for turboprops increased by 4 percent.