The pre-owned aircraft market is pulling in two directions at once. The latest monthly market data, covering June 2026, shows supply tightening across both business jets and turboprops, yet the two segments are being priced very differently: turboprop sellers are gaining leverage, while jet values keep sliding.
Turboprops: less supply, higher asks
Global used turboprop inventory fell 5.15% month over month and 13.67% year over year in June. At the same time, asking prices rose 3.12% from May and 3.32% from June 2025. That is the textbook combination of a seller's market: fewer aircraft on offer, and sellers who feel no pressure to discount.
The logic behind it is straightforward. Turboprops sit in a part of the market with limited new-build supply and a durable mission set: short sectors, unpaved or short runways, air ambulance, cargo feed and regional charter. Buyers who need that capability cannot simply substitute a light jet, so when quality airframes leave the market, the remaining ones firm up.
Business jets: inventory down, values down too
The jet market is behaving differently, and that is what makes June's numbers interesting. Global pre-owned jet inventory fell 0.15% month over month and 19.21% year over year, a far steeper annual contraction than the turboprop segment. Yet asking values fell 2.28% month over month and 4.48% year over year.
Falling inventory normally supports prices. When it does not, it usually means the aircraft still on the market are not the ones buyers want, or that demand has cooled faster than supply. Super-midsize jets posted the largest monthly asking-value decline at 4.4%, while midsize jets showed the largest annual decline at 6.54%. Those are the segments that boomed hardest during the post-pandemic surge in private flying, and they are now working through the hangover: aircraft bought at peak pricing are being re-listed into a thinner buyer pool.
What it means for buyers and sellers
For a buyer, the message is that timing now depends on the category. Anyone shopping for a used turboprop is negotiating from a weak position, with fewer choices and rising asks. Anyone shopping for a midsize or super-midsize jet has more room than they did a year ago, even though the total number of jets for sale keeps shrinking.
For sellers, the reverse applies. A well-maintained turboprop with clean records and a recent inspection is arguably the strongest asset in the pre-owned market right now. A jet in the softening middle of the size range may need a realistic price and patience, particularly if the airframe has high hours or a maintenance event coming due.
A market normalising, unevenly
Stepping back, the picture is one of a market still normalising after several extraordinary years. Inventory across both segments remains historically constrained, which is why nobody is describing this as a crash. What has changed is that the frantic bidding that once lifted every category has drained out of the jet market first, while the turboprop segment, smaller and structurally supply-limited, has held its ground.
Whether that divergence persists will depend on new-delivery flow and on how much of the post-pandemic private-flying demand proves durable rather than borrowed from the future. For now, the two halves of the pre-owned market are simply telling different stories.
Sources: AeroTime. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Elena Vargas.
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