IADA dealers see the strongest seller's market in almost three years as Teterboro tops 3,700 weekly movements

Dealers in the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) are closing more preowned deals than a year ago, and buyers have less room to negotiate. That is the headline of IADA's third-quarter market report, released on 26 October, and the weekly traffic numbers suggest demand for flying is holding up too.

IADA's accredited dealers closed 409 preowned aircraft transactions in the third quarter, against 367 in the same quarter of 2025, an increase of about 11%. For the first nine months of the year they completed 1,155 transactions, up from 983, or roughly 17.5% more. New acquisition agreements reached 510 over nine months, and dealers bought 127 aircraft into their own inventory, up from 102 a year earlier.

Members rated market conditions at 3.62 on a five-point scale, where 1 favours sellers and 5 favours buyers, against 3.45 in Q2 and 3.47 a year ago. IADA describes it as the strongest seller advantage in almost three years. The association also says price reductions so far this year were fewer than in any comparable period since 2022.

The drivers are familiar: manufacturer backlogs of around two years on average, owners holding on to their current aircraft while they wait for new deliveries, and favourable US bonus depreciation rules. The squeeze is sharpest for late-model midsize and large-cabin jets with clean maintenance histories. IADA notes that its dealers' numbers run ahead of independent research showing a more restrained broader preowned market, so the data reflects dealer activity rather than every sale worldwide.

Avi-Go counted 74,615 business aviation flights worldwide for 19 to 25 October, about 0.5% fewer than the week before. The picture at the main hubs was stronger:

• Americas: Teterboro handled 3,749 movements, up about 12% on the week and on the same week last year. Las Vegas rose about 39% and Las Vegas to Los Angeles was the busiest city pair with 241 flights. Washington Dulles fell about 11%.
• EMEA: Paris Le Bourget led with 1,212 movements, up about 15% on the week. Berlin rose about 45%, while London Farnborough fell about 12%. London to Paris remained the busiest pair with 128 flights.
• APAC: Mumbai still led the region with 253 movements but fell about 25% on the week, though it remains far above last year. Shanghai rose about 35% and Singapore Seletar fell about 20%.

NetJets remained the busiest operator in the Americas (9,335 flights) and in Europe (1,365), and VistaJet led in Asia-Pacific (133). By flight hours the busiest types were the Challenger 300 series in the Americas, the Citation Excel/XLS family in EMEA and the Challenger 600 series in APAC.

• Sellers hold the cards. Owners with late-model midsize or large-cabin jets can expect firm pricing; buyers should be ready to move quickly on well-documented aircraft.
• Expect fewer spare tails on the charter market. When owners keep aircraft longer and quality inventory sells off-market, managed fleets don't grow much, which keeps charter availability tight in popular categories.
• Watch the event-driven routes. The jump at Las Vegas and on Las Vegas to Los Angeles shows how quickly event weeks fill up the West Coast market, so quote and hold lift early.

This brief is an original rewrite of the reports listed below. It is not a verbatim reproduction of those publications.

• IADA Third Quarter Market Report press release via EIN Presswire (26 Oct 2026)
• IADA Market Report, AircraftExchange
• AVweb: Preowned aircraft market strengthens in third quarter
• Avi-Go, This Week in Business Aviation, 19–25 October 2026
• NBAA Insider Daily, 27 October 2026