Report Underscores Continued Weakness of Bizjet Market

It's still a buyer's market for used business jets, though JPMorgan Research reports that inventories fell last month to 11.7 percent of the in-production fleet, reversing a three-month upward trend. Demand continues to be "weak" and the investment firm said inventories have fallen less than 0.1 percentage point per month on average this year. 

"While we expect gradual downward movement to remain the trend, it should be some time before enough used inventory clears to spark new demand if this pace does not pick up materially," JPMorgan aerospace analyst Joseph Nadol III said. Average asking prices dropped 1.1 percent, to $10.8 million, suggesting that a floor for pricing "remains elusive."

New aircraft deliveries, meanwhile, were 32 percent lower in the third quarter than in the same period a year ago. Heavy-jet deliveries declined only 5 percent but deliveries were down 54 percent for light jets and 41 percent for midsize jets. Cessna and Hawker witnessed the biggest drops, with year-over-year deliveries down 62 and 60 percent, respectively. Gulfstream, the only manufacturer to post an increase, experienced a 35-percent increase in deliveries.