Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

Contributor

Mark Huber

Used helicopter inventory is rapidly shrinking, but valuations and deals in the pipeline are also continuing to drop. That’s the latest analysis from consultancy Aero Asset in its third-quarter 2021 Heli Market Trends report.&nbsp;

 


To date, 98 preowned twin-engine helicopters have been sold to retail buyers for $263 million, on and off-market. This dollar sales volume represents a decline of&nbsp;26 percent year-over-year that&nbsp;mainly resulted from a significant decrease in heavy helicopter retail sales. However, VIP configured twin-engine rotorcraft saw a nice bounce, with sales volume rising 8 percent, making them the best-performing market segment. North America accounted for one-third of all retail sales during the period.

 


Medium twins are&nbsp;once again&nbsp;leading the way, with retail sales up&nbsp;43 percent.&nbsp;Light twins sales are edging higher, with the Airbus EC/H145, Leonardo AW109S/SP, and Sikorsky S76C+/C++ the most popular in class. Sales activity of light twins was up 5 percent for the period compared with the third quarter of 2020. However, sales of heavy helicopters declined “substantially” over the period, according to the report.&nbsp;

 


Meanwhile, helicopter flight hours have increased&nbsp;significantly year-to-date compared with 2020—up 36 percent in North America, 23 percent in Europe, and 155 percent in South America.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

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Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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Originally developed for the U.S. military, X2 technology is in search of a new customer.

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