We get asked a lot about helping acquire piston aircraft, it seems like a real opportunity for someone! It’s seems that everyone wants to be a broker and sell airplanes, I can’t figure out why there aren’t more legitimate buyer’s reps.

We get asked a lot about helping acquire piston aircraft, it seems like a real opportunity for someone! It’s seems that everyone wants to be a broker and sell airplanes, I can’t figure out why there aren’t more legitimate buyer’s reps.

:btt:


For the people who actually come here because they are curious about the state of the preowned aircraft market and what trends we are seeing in inventory.

Large cabin and even some super mid-size jet inventories are rising and we are seeing downward movement in prices of those aircraft.

We are also seeing a considerable increase in the inventory levels of older aircraft, I usually think of 1985 and older when I say “older” but it is a relative term. To some buyers a 2010 is old. I also intentionally avoided the term “legacy” because that might include such aircraft as the Citation V, inventory of V’s and Ultras are basically non-existent.

Early 1980’s and older King Airs are fairly abundant and these aircraft aren’t bringing the prices owners expect them to. Most jets of the same vintage have gone right back to very hard to sell.

Hawkers, Premiers, Beechjets, older Challengers, older Falcons esp 2000 Classic are declining in popularity and price.

Unfortunately, most owners who sell an older aircraft want to replace it with a newer one, so this increases the demand on newer airframes that are already in short supply.

We have a Citation CJ3+ in prebuy and we were able to present our client with several options both on and off market, but I think it was just timing and catching the market when several owners were taking delivery of their new replacement aircraft. (they ordered a new one a couple of years ago to replace the new one they took delivery of five years ago)

We’re very active in the CJ2+ and CJ3 market and can’t find anything worth buying.

The Sovereign market got a little soft over the summer, but it’s tight again.

And on the story goes, each model and year range has its own story.

The most important consideration for a turbine aircraft buyer right now is considering the long game, it’s easy to get discouraged by the lack of options and settle for an airplane with known issues, always remember these markets are volatile and you may want to sell when that specific market is softer, if you compromised and bought the airplane with high airframe or engine times, damage history or missing records, it may be very hard to sell in the future.

If you need a gut check, call me before you make a mistake, I’m busy, so it may be a quick conversation but I’ll be glad to give you some insight and help you navigate the shark invested waters, I don’t charge to give advice and this is NOT me marketing or trying to get clients. We are fully booked, we cannot take on any new clients right now.

I'm seeing the most amount of CJ3s, CJ3+, CJ2 jets in a long while. This is contrary to what I normally see going into November. Prices are remaining high but I'd predict some downward pressure with the increasing amount of inventory. The CJ2+ seems elusive and remains rare.

-Citation Jet Exchange

The CJ3s have tightened up a bit in the new year, saw the highest inventory since covid in Q4 2023. CJ2+ still very tight.

Starting the search for an XLS, not many good options to choose from either.