ASG Sees Bizav Recovery but Mixed Outlook in Asia

Asian Sky Group (ASG) painted a mixed outlook for the industry in the Asia-Pacific region with purchase intentions ticking up and operations recovering, but still down year-over-year. In its third-quarter 2020 edition of Asian Sky Quarterly released today, ASG reported that business aircraft utilization in the region is now down just 9 percent from a year ago, a vast improvement from the plunge in April.

“Call it a V-shaped recovery or a flattening of the curve, we’ll take it as the industry needs aircraft in the air,” said ASG CEO Jeffrey Lowe, citing increases in international travel, along with the recovery in China.

As a result, purchase intentions of preowned business aircraft have ticked up 3 percent, but more aircraft are on the market and are taking longer to sell. This is eroding prices, Lowe said, noting values fell from 15 to 20 percent from March through July for medium jets and larger. However, there was a little recovery in August.

“The good news is that the toehold of a recovery we saw and hoped for last quarter is here to stay,” Lowe said. “The bad news is economies and their GDP, for now, continue to be hammered by the pandemic—from contracting 23.9 percent YOY in India to just -3.2 percent in South Korea.” He noted that China is faring better.

According to the report, “The pessimistic mood caused by Covid-19 in Asia-Pacific has eased as an economic rebound was seen in the Greater China market. This has, consequently, stabilized market mood as more respondents in Q3 believed that market demand will bounce back in the first half of 2021.”

Posted In: Ainonline.com