Days on market for a business jet: how fast it sells
The Challenger 350 averages 72 days on market, the Challenger 300 — 165. One class, adjacent generations. For an investor that gap is the number of months capital stands frozen on the way out of the asset.
What days on market shows
Days on market is the time from the listing going live to the aircraft being withdrawn from sale. Controller, AvBuyer and GlobalAir show the publication date of every listing, and the average by type is counted off that pool. Both sides of a transaction see the figure.
Days on market measures the depth of demand for a type. While an aircraft stands in a listing, the money in it is frozen and the costs keep running: crew, parking, insurance and calendar inspections do not depend on hours flown.
I handle acquisitions and sales as a working operator, and I watch the same counter from the buyer's side: on the secondary market a chosen aircraft goes through the transaction in about two months, while a new one takes around a year and a half from contract to handover. That is why days on market is worth looking at before the purchase: a type that is hard to sell is just as hard to buy in decent condition. When a client's purchase does not rest on a calculation, I talk them out of it.
The numbers by type
| Type | Average days on market | Listings for sale | Price benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier Challenger 350 | 72 days | 9–10 on Controller and AvBuyer, 5 on GlobalAir, up to 26 across the market | median ~$18.0 million |
| Gulfstream G650 | 112 days | 6–8 on Controller and AvBuyer, 4 on GlobalAir, up to 18 across the market | median ~$40.5 million |
| Bombardier Challenger 300 | 165 days | 18 on Controller, 13 on AvBuyer, 12 on GlobalAir | ~$10.5 million (GlobalAir average) |
| Bombardier Global 7500 | 189 days | 6–7 aircraft | median ~$60 million |
The ratio inside the Bombardier pair: 165 ÷ 72 = 2.3. Getting out of a Challenger 300 takes 2.3 times longer than out of its successor.
The number of listings reads separately. On GlobalAir the Challenger 300 shows 12 aircraft against 4 for the G650, on Controller 18 against 6–8: the market is two to three times wider. A wide choice at 165 days on market means supply is running ahead of demand. Listing counts are ambiguous on their own; days on market measures liquidity directly.
What lengthens a sale
Engines outside an hourly cost programme. A pair of CF34-3B on a Challenger 604 without MSP or JSSI takes $1.5–2 million off the price, BR710 on a Global 6000 without CorporateCare the same $1.5–2 million, no ESP Gold on a Phenom 300 — $500–800 thousand. The buyer sees uncovered risk and pauses.
Gaps in the logbooks and outstanding service bulletins. Every item turns into a bargaining point and weeks of correspondence.
Damage history. A properly documented repair lowers the price; an undocumented one narrows the circle of buyers.
Non-standard interior and a rare type. On the Learjet 35, one listing out of twelve states a price openly. A market with no public benchmark trades slowly.
What shortens it
Fleet size. For the Phenom 300, 500 Phenom 300 and 407 Phenom 300E are documented in service, 907 aircraft in total. Around 30 aircraft are for sale, 3% of the fleet. Good ones go in 30–60 days with 3–5% negotiated off the asking price.
An engine programme and a complete set of documents. Risk taken off the table is what the buyer pays for in time and in money.
Price. A discount buys speed. The typical discount off asking on a Challenger 604 is 8–12%: the price of getting out within a reasonable time. Days on market counts the time to sell at the market price; below the median an aircraft goes faster.
How to turn days into money
The formula: price × alternative rate of return × (days ÷ 365).
Put in your own rate — the return on your core business. For the example, 15% a year.
| Type | Days | Share of a year | Cost of the freeze | In money at the median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Challenger 350 | 72 | 0.197 | 2.96% of price | ~$533 thousand |
| G650 | 112 | 0.307 | 4.60% | ~$1.86 million |
| Challenger 300 | 165 | 0.452 | 6.78% | ~$712 thousand |
| Global 7500 | 189 | 0.518 | 7.77% | ~$4.66 million |
The first row worked out: 72 ÷ 365 = 0.197 of a year, 0.197 × 15% = 2.96%, 2.96% × $18.0 million = $533 thousand.
Across types compare the percentages: the last column moves with the price of the aircraft and mixes liquidity together with the value of the asset. On the same capital, going from 72 days to 165 costs 3.8 percentage points of annual return.
Two mistakes in applying the metric
Carrying the type average over to a particular aircraft. The average describes the type. The time an individual aircraft takes is set by its documents, its engine programmes and its interior. The price spread within a single year of manufacture on the Global 6000 reaches $4–6 million; an aircraft from the lower part of that spread stands for sale longer than the average.
Reading days on market as the full time to exit. The counter stops on the day a buyer is found. After that come the document review, the letter of intent, the pre-purchase inspection and closing. With that tail, getting out of a Challenger 300 takes from six to nine months. A second nuance of the method: the average is counted over aircraft that sold, and those that found no buyer never enter the statistics.
Conclusion
Days on market converts liquidity into days, and days into the cost of capital. Both numbers are looked at before a transaction: the average days on market for the type and the price spread inside it. The first shows how long the exit will take. The second, how much of that time depends on the condition of the particular aircraft.
The figures in this article are market benchmarks from the open listing sites, to my knowledge; the specifics are counted on the individual aircraft.
Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.
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