Now that the post-covid reality is beginning to dawn on the pre-owned bizjet market, we are starting to see the stream of “price-reduced” announcements turn into a babbling brook and pretty soon (before year end) we will experience a flood of price changes and additional inventory for sale.

The startling bizjet price run-up of the covid era is a thing of the past and not only are more bizjets coming to market but buyers are once again able to be quite selective when evaluating the options.

For example, take the large cabin Gulfstream pre-owned offerings;

Somewhere close to fifty Gulfstream G550’s for sale and the vintage availability spans the early years (2003-2005) right up to 2019. These unfortunate sellers are going to soon enter into the pricing nose-dive that Aviatrade predicted many months ago.

This increasing selection of pre-owned Gulfstreams for sale now includes the G450 with almost thirty examples for sale. The price reductions among the G450 sellers are on par with the momentum of G550 price reductions and it would appear that in order to “get ahead of the pack”, asking prices will need to come down in approximately one million dollar increments…and this still probably won’t immediately tempt the many buyers sitting on the sidelines.

At present there are relatively few G650/G650ER’s for sale. However, this ultra-long range category has not escaped the pricing pressure with aircraft coming to market at asking prices lower than would have been published six to twelve months ago.

The low hanging fruit will be the least affected by this downward pricing pressure. These are the aircraft with conservative exterior paint schemes and conventional floor plans with subdued/neutral materials . Conventional (for G550’s/G650’s) meaning a defined four place seating area, followed by a credenza or two single seats opposite a four place conference group and a private stateroom in the enclosed rear cabin with either a berthable couch and two single seats or two couches. The generally preferred placement of galley is “forward” and there should also be a forward, dedicated crew rest area.

Gulfstream G650ER with forward galley and crew rest, aft private compartment

The G650/ER interior is sometimes configured with a forward galley and a “four-zone” cabin. This was Gulfstream’s answer to the Bombardier four zone cabin in its quite popular Global 7500. The only shortcoming is that Gulfstream’s four zone cabin sacrifices the all-important dedicated crew rest compartment. The Global 7500 interior retains the crew rest compartment in addition to its spacious four-zone configuration.

The Bombardier Global 7500 four zone interior with forward galley and crew rest.

When buyers do investigate these current Gulfstream offerings, the maintenance history and support programs are first and foremost to be evaluated. A thorough forensic review of the aircraft’s systems / components / inspections and overall condition is vitally important if a buyer is to avoid nasty and very expensive surprises after the acquisition is completed. This review should precede any prepurchase inspection so that any issues uncovered and which are not part of the Gulfstream “ARCS” (Aircraft Records & Condition Survey) can be addressed.

More on the prepurchase process in a later blog, happy hunting !