AMSTAT: Q1 fall in pre-owned sales despite demand strength | Corporate Jet Investor | CJI news

AMSTAT's Q1 2026 pre-owned business aircraft market report confirms a 10.5% year-over-year decline in total transactions across jets and turboprops, yet the data reveals a market that remains structurally sound when placed against longer historical baselines. The apparent softness is largely a function of the comparison period: Q1 2025 was an anomalously strong quarter, and measured against the 10-year Q1 average, total activity in early 2026 still ran 4% above the norm. Pre-owned business jet transactions, down 11.4% year-over-year, nonetheless exceeded the 10-year average by 9.1%, and inventory continued tightening, with only 6.6% of the active jet fleet available for sale versus a historical average of 8.2%. At the end of March, total pre-owned inventory across all segments sat at 5.9% of the active fleet — well below the 10-year benchmark of 7.3% — and fell a sharp 11% from October 2025 levels alone, reinforcing that supply constraints, not demand weakness, are the dominant force shaping the market.

For operators actively managing fleet assets or evaluating pre-owned acquisitions, the segment-level divergence carries direct operational relevance. Heavy jets are the standout story: Q1 2026 transactions ranked as the second highest first-quarter total on record despite the year-over-year decline, exceeding the 10-year average by nearly 28%. With only 5.5% of the heavy jet fleet listed for sale, asking prices rose 4% quarter-over-quarter and median values climbed 11% since mid-2025, establishing a clear seller's market in that category. Super-mid jets similarly held above historical averages despite a 12.8% transactional decline, with median values up 8%. Medium jets, by contrast, are the segment showing genuine pressure — transactions fell more than 20% versus both Q1 2025 and the 10-year average, and average asking prices dropped 13.7% year-over-year, suggesting that buyers in that range retain meaningful negotiating leverage that is absent in larger-cabin categories.

The pricing dynamics across the market reflect a reset from the post-pandemic peak rather than a structural deterioration. Median jet values that softened between 2023 and 2024 stabilized through much of 2025 and posted a 3% gain between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 — a meaningful directional shift for operators who have been waiting for acquisition pricing to floor before committing capital. The turboprop segment adds nuance: transactions declined 8.9% year-over-year and fell slightly below the 10-year average, a relative underperformance compared to jets, and median values have trended lower since mid-2023. However, AMSTAT's data suggests the turboprop price decline may be stabilizing, with asking prices holding steady through 2025 and edging modestly higher at the start of 2026 — a potential signal for operators evaluating King Airs, PC-12s, or similar assets in a fleet refresh cycle.

The broader market context positions Q1 2026 as a normalization phase following extraordinary post-pandemic demand, not as the leading edge of a contraction. The International Aircraft Dealers Association's concurrent reporting aligned with AMSTAT's framing, characterizing early 2026 as a market stabilizing at elevated levels. For Part 91, 91K, and 135 operators, the practical implication is a bifurcated acquisition environment: heavy and super-mid buyers face constrained supply and rising values that reward decisiveness and pre-positioned financing, while medium jet buyers may find more room to negotiate as that segment digests its inventory overhang. Fleet managers and chief pilots advising on upgrade or replacement decisions should weigh these segment-specific dynamics carefully, as the headline transaction decline obscures fundamentally different supply-demand balances across cabin categories.