The pre-owned aircraft market in the United States is experiencing a pivotal moment, shaped by shifting buyer sentiment, evolving tax legislation, and tariff uncertainty. While the first half of 2025 brought softness, with brokers reporting selective buyers and softer pricing, industry leaders now anticipate a sharp reversal. Rising inventories, the potential for 100% bonus depreciation, and possible adjustments to interest rates are all converging to create conditions ripe for renewed demand. At the same time, global supply chain challenges and tariffs on imported aircraft and parts could push buyers toward U.S.-based pre-owned options. For buyers and sellers alike, the coming months represent both opportunity and risk, depending on how fiscal policies play out. What remains clear is that the pre-owned aircraft market is gearing up for significant change as 2025 progresses.
As might be expected, the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 and the early spring months provided different experiences for leading pre-owned aircraft brokers in the US market. Some transacted just a few aircraft, while others completed sizable numbers of deals.
Their experiences depended partly on which areas of the market they were active in – some dealing mainly in larger, more expensive aircraft and others focusing more on smaller, less expensive aircraft.
But the three leading aircraft brokers interviewed by AvBuyer strongly agree that the US pre-owned market was soft in the late spring months. Among those polled were Curt Banglesdorf, Co-Founder/CEO of Charlie Bravo Aviation and Chairman of the Global Aircraft Dealers Association (GLADA); Steve Bloom, Founder & President of Bloom Business Jets; and Nathan Winkle, Founder & CEO of Thoroughbred Aviation.
That late-spring softness is about to change dramatically. And it may already have begun to do so, the brokers believe, each citing three overriding reasons for what they expect to be a substantial hardening of the market.
That hardening would see prices for used business aircraft in all categories generally increasing and the inventories of available aircraft in some categories falling as the bargains dissipate. Expected to begin this summer, the hardening is anticipated to intensify in the autumn and early winter.
As such a dominant part of the overall global market for pre-owned business aircraft, the US is often cited as representing 70-75% of the entire market, meaning that softness in US activity impacts sale prospects almost everywhere in the world.
Many US brokers and buyers purchase aircraft based in other countries and import them to the US, while also selling US-based aircraft to buyers wishing to export them to other nations. In recent times, however, imports from key markets such as Europe have exceeded exports to those markets.
With that in mind, as of late May and early June, many business aircraft of nearly all sizes were available for purchase globally – leading Bloom to report that “a lot of aircraft for sale prices are soft”.
Winkle agrees: “Q2 has definitely seen buyers be a lot more selective,” he notes. “We have seen a bit of a cooling trend because of [a likely major tax relief-positive change in] bonus depreciation. That does appear to be getting closer.”
All three brokers believe that some would-be US aircraft buyers have decided to wait and see if the new tax legislation proposed by the Trump Administration comes into effect with all the tax breaks it contains intact.
Particularly important to aircraft buyers is the much increased bonus depreciation that the proposed legislation allows for capital-asset purchases.
If the legislation passes into law with the increased bonus depreciation it proposes intact, the brokers reckon the ‘wait-and-see’ buyers would proceed with their planned purchases. If it doesn’t, then they’re more likely to wait until conditions in terms of tax benefits on their purchases become more favorable before acquiring their aircraft.
The overall consensus in the US financial markets, and in many other industries, is that the proposed new tax legislation will indeed come into effect with its proposed tax breaks substantially intact – or maybe even increased.
While that might not be good for the future fiscal outlook of the US – the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that over the next ten years the new tax legislation as proposed would add $2.4 trillion to the US federal deficit – the new bill’s provisions for tax cuts are being warmly welcomed by much of US industry, and by aircraft buyers.
How New US Tax Legislation Could Impact Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales
The brokers’ belief that the market will soon ‘rev up’ is largely due to the US House of Representatives narrowly passing its version of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ – the Trump Administration’s proposed new tax legislation. It contains an enormous $3.75 trillion in tax cuts over the bill’s life, in the estimation of the CBO.
The House’s version of the bill went in late May to the US Senate for its scrutiny and potential approval. As of this writing, the Republican-led Senate was expected to make some fairly significant amendments to the House-passed version, but to then pass the amended bill and send it to the President to sign into law with most of its major tax-cut provisions intact – and possibly even increased.
Those tax-cut provisions were set to include 100% first-year bonus depreciation on certain classes of capital assets purchased on or after January 20, 2025, with the benefit retroactive to that date and including aircraft purchased for at least 50% use on business missions.
As set out in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’, the 100% bonus depreciation benefit would apply in each year of the bill’s life until it sunsets in 2028 with the forthcoming dawn of a new Presidential administration.
Compared with the 40% bonus depreciation allowed this year by the previously passed tax legislation, the 100% bonus depreciation provided by the new bill would serve as a considerable tax incentive for companies and wealthy individuals to buy aircraft for the first time, or to trade up on their current aircraft or grow their fleet.
As the proposed legislation stood in early June, “There’s a provision in Section 168K for [100% first-year] bonus depreciation to be backdated to January 20, 2025,” Bloom highlights. “So, if you’ve bought an aircraft after January 19, you’re in luck – you’re going to be eligible for [increased] bonus depreciation.
“There’s no way that’s not going to pass, I think. There are too many other things attached to it.”
Banglesdorf highlights that, if enacted, 100% first-year bonus depreciation would benefit avionics manufacturers, service centers, and aircraft paint and interior shops just as much as it would the purchasing of used aircraft. “It’s all capital improvement, so it would be eligible for bonus depreciation,” he says.
Tariff Uncertainty Hangs Over Aircraft Sales Industry
Uncertainty over what will happen regarding the possible increase, reduction or cessation of tariffs assessed by the US on many classes of imported goods and products, and at different levels on different countries’ products, is another factor which affected the US pre-owned aircraft market. And that uncertainty is also affecting the associated MRO, parts and services markets during Q2 2025.
It could also affect sales of pre-owned aircraft in the US – particularly if they are imported to the country – throughout the rest of this year, the three brokers reckon.
That is because of how newly high US tariffs on different countries, and on engines, components and parts imported or reimported from elsewhere, could affect the prices of used aircraft, MRO and refurbishment services – particularly those needed to complete aircraft sales.
“We’re seeing some crazy numbers coming back on engine overhauls,” Winkle shares, particularly those involving engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) and sent to the manufacturer’s Canadian facilities for overhaul, or engines overhauled or repaired using parts remanufactured in China.
He cites the example of two PW308 turbofans sent to P&WC for overhauls which previously would have cost in the $1.0m-$1.5m range per engine. Including the tariffs applied by the Trump Administration, the overhauls cost an additional $455k per engine to have them reimported to the USA.
In addition to potentially affecting the purchases of pre-owned aircraft imported to the US from elsewhere, the uncertainty over tariffs could affect sales to US buyers of new aircraft manufactured in other countries – and parts and components for new aircraft assembled in the US, but manufactured elsewhere.
It is universally known within the aircraft manufacturing industry that, no matter where a modern aircraft is assembled, it contains many materials, components and parts made or assembled internationally – sometimes in many different countries. Many of those components in turn contain parts made in other nations.
Click here to continue reading
Original article published on avbuyer.com
