AMSTAT Q2 2026 analysis reports transactions rebound as inventory tightens | Corporate Jet Investor | CJI news

AMSTAT's Q2 2026 report on the preowned business aircraft market signals a market firming up after a sluggish start to the year. Total preowned transactions rose 11.2% year-over-year, exceeding the 10-year Q2 average by 14% and marking the third-highest Q2 total in a decade. This came on the heels of a weaker Q1, suggesting the market may have found a floor and is now accelerating into the back half of 2026. The more consequential data point, however, is inventory: preowned supply fell to just 5.8% of the active fleet, well below the 10-year average of 7.2% and the tightest level since February 2024. Business jets specifically saw inventory contract to 6.5% of the fleet, the lowest since August 2023. This combination of rising transaction volume and shrinking supply is the classic setup for continued seller-favorable pricing dynamics, particularly in segments where buyers have limited options.

The heavy jet segment stands out as the clear leader, with transactions up 43.8% year-over-year and 44.2% above the historical average, alongside inventory at its tightest since February 2023. Interestingly, median values in heavy jets climbed 13% year-over-year even as average asking prices fell over 34% — a divergence AMSTAT's Andrew Young attributes to younger, higher-quality aircraft trading at strong realized values while older, lower-value units linger on the market and skew the asking-price average downward. This bifurcation matters for operators and buyers alike: it means headline asking-price data can be misleading, and serious buyers evaluating heavy jets should expect that well-maintained, younger airframes will command a premium regardless of what broader listing averages suggest. For flight departments and fractional/charter operators planning fleet renewal or expansion, this is a signal that quality inventory in the heavy segment is scarce and will likely remain expensive to acquire.

Other segments showed more measured but still positive trends. Super-mid jets held largely flat transaction volume but stayed well above historical norms with tightening supply pushing median values up 6%. Medium jets posted a 13.6% transaction increase yet remained the only segment below its 10-year average, while light jets saw modest 5.3% growth with inventory tightening to levels not seen since March 2024. Turboprops, after a weak Q1, turned positive in Q2 with transactions up 3.5% and inventory at its lowest since February 2025 — and notably, median values stabilized after several quarters of decline, an early sign that the softening in that segment may be bottoming out. For operators and buyers of turboprops, particularly in Part 91/135 utility and regional roles, this stabilization is a meaningful signal after a prolonged value slide.

For working pilots, flight departments, and aircraft operators, these trends carry practical implications beyond the transactional data. Tight inventory across nearly every segment means longer search timelines for buyers seeking specific aircraft, upward pressure on acquisition costs for newer and better-maintained airframes, and continued incentive for owners to keep aircraft in service longer rather than list them for sale — which in turn sustains demand for maintenance, upgrades, and avionics retrofits to keep aging fleets compliant and competitive. This pattern mirrors broader trends seen since the pandemic-driven business aviation boom: persistent demand for private and business air travel, constrained OEM production capacity extending into the used market, and a bifurcated market where quality commands a premium while lower-tier inventory struggles to move. Corporate flight departments budgeting for aircraft transitions, brokers advising clients, and charter/fractional operators managing fleet composition should treat AMSTAT's data as confirmation that the sellers' market conditions of recent years remain intact, particularly at the top end of the heavy jet and super-mid segments, even as some normalization appears in medium jets and turboprops.