Story ID: 126
Used Helicopter Market Improving
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Aero Asset's Q3 market report shows a modest uptick in sales activity including in heavies.
Word Count: 390
It could be the dawn of the dead. The used-helicopter market is improving, but there is still plenty of supply available. That’s the finding of Aero Asset’s Q3 “preowned helicopter market trends” report released on October 14. The Toronto-based helicopter brokerage tracks transactions worldwide. In Q3 some 230 used civil helicopters worth $1.2 billion were on the market, an estimated two-year supply at current transaction levels, which amount to $300 million year-to-date. 

Key takeaways from the latest quarterly report include a 20 percent reduction in available twin-engine inventory, including a 17 percent reduction in light twins on market. In the light-twin space, demand for used single-pilot IFR-equipped Airbus EC135 and EC145 model years 2006-2014 continues to be driven by the air ambulance market. Many of these helicopters are being converted from VIP/executive configurations to air ambulance, with fully 50 percent of those for sale and two-thirds of those sold, being VIP/executive-configured. The Leonardo AW139 continues to dominate the medium-twin space, with 22 aircraft on market and 10 transactions YTD including five in Q3. The previous moribund heavy market, gashed by the global offshore energy downturn, is very slowly coming back to life. The much-maligned Airbus H225 is again attracting used buyers, with three sales YTD, and during Q3 the first used Sikorsky S-92A sold in five years. Those deals appear highly-discounted, with an estimated cumulative value of just $19 million YTD. An estimated $176 million worth of heavies remain on market.

YTD light helicopters continue to dominate in terms of number of aircraft sold, 67 percent, and estimated sales value, $160 million. Mediums accounted for 28 percent of aircraft sold, values at $120 million. Within the medium space, the number of Airbus EC155s doubled while the Bell 412 inventory shrank 25 percent. 

A reflection of continuing economic contraction there, Europe appears to be the global region doing the most off-loading, accounting for 37 percent of available inventory worth some $407 million; followed by North America at 25 percent, worth $346 million, and then Latin America at 20 percent, worth $227 million. North America saw a significant uptick in transactions as a percentage of the global market, increasing to 37 percent in Q3 from 31 percent in Q2. The market continues to exhibit a strong preference for aircraft produced after 2005 with less than 5,000 hours' total time, with peak demand in the decade-old space and 2,000 to 2,500 hours of airframe total time.  
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