Nearly three years ago exactly, in October 2008, I was sitting in the back of a Citation CJ1+ headed to the NBAA convention in Orlando, Fla. Lehman Brothers had collapsed two weeks earlier and there was a sentiment of caution and confusion surrounding the financial markets. NBAA 2008 ran from October 4 to 10. On October 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 10,325 points. On October 10, it closed at 8,451 points. The largest stock market crash in U.S. history happened during the NBAA show.
Fast forward to today, even after three years of excruciating effort, the general aviation industry has struggled to regain its footing. Despite contributing more than $150 billion to the U.S. economy every year and 1.2 million high-wage, stable jobs, general aviation continues to be one of the popular targets of our current administration. A direct indicator of the industry’s recovery (or lack thereof) is pre-owned aircraft pricing, which ultimately has a direct correlation to demand for factory new aircraft. This market report gives a snap shot of how the pre-owned light jet market has fared since the last report published by AIN at last year’s NBAA convention.
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