Preowned Business Aircraft Sales Grow In The First Half of 2026

Sales of preowned business aircraft are up 6% compared to the first half of 2025, according to data from AMSTAT. At the same time, the inventory of available aircraft for sale has also dropped. Here are details on the market highlights by model, including observations from the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA).

Preowned Business Jet Market

AMSTAT notes that preowned business jet transactions are up 7% YTD versus the first six months of 2025. At the end of June 2026, 6.5% of the active jet fleet was listed for sale, below the 10-year average of 8.1% and showing the market is very tight.

Overall, younger, higher-value jets are trading, and realized transaction values have continued to hold up, while older, lower-value examples are staying on the market.

The heavy jet segment was very active in the first half of 2026, with transactions up 18.5% compared to 2025. But inventory is very low, with just 5.2% of the heavy jet fleet available for sale, leaving buyers with limited options. The biggest sellers in these six months were the Bombardier Challenger 604 and the Gulfstream G450. The graph below, from AMSTAT, shows how the number of heavy jets for sale (blue line, left-hand scale) has dropped, as has the percentage of the active fleet for sale (orange line, right-hand scale).

Preowned super-mid jet transactions remained fairly flat compared to 2025, and there’s just 6.6% of the fleet on the market. The top sellers were the Bombardier Challenger 300 and the Gulfstream G280.

For medium jets inventory remained constrained at 7.3% of the active fleet as of June, with the Hawker 800XP and Lear 45 as the top sellers. For light jets, transactions were up 4.4% over 2025, with 7.0% of the light jet fleet available for sale as of June. The top light jet models sold in the first half of 2026 were spread across the Cirrus Vision SF50, Cessna Citation II 550, Cessna Citation M2 525 and the Embraer Phenom 300.

Preowned Turboprop Market

Preowned turboprop transactions were up 4.1% compared to the first half of 2025, and just 4.8% of the turboprop fleet was available for sale at the end of June. The Pilatus PC-12 NG and the King Air 350i were the top two sellers.

In looking at pricing, AMSTAT tracks a couple of values. Overall, the “asking prices” have been falling across all jet categories, but this reflects the older aircraft being left on the market. But, the “median values” have all risen as newer aircraft are much more in demand and selling faster. The table below shows the “asking prices” by preowned aircraft category at the end of June 2026.

Aircraft Dealers Perspective

The data from AMSTAT is backed up with comments and research from IADA.

“Inventory is tight,” notes Louis Seno, Executive Director of IADA. And in terms of what’s driving this preowned aircraft market, IADA notes long wait times for new aircraft delivery, 100% bonus depreciation, generally favorable interest rates, and strong equity markets, which combined are “pushing buyers who can't wait into the pre-owned market, where they're competing hard for a shrinking pool of clean, late-model jets.”

In the first half of 2026 IADA dealers closed 746 aircraft deals, up an impressive 21% year-over year in the first half of 2026.

In their quarterly Perspective Survey, based on responses from IADA members worldwide, the general consensus sees prices continuing to rise over the next 6 months, particularly for larger aircraft as shown in the chart below.