Used helicopter market attains shaky hover

摘要

For the first six months of 2020, it seemed that used helicopter prices were plummeting faster than a Maltese cliff diver. The numbers coming out of 2020's second quarter were abysmal. Soaring insurance rates, the global pandemic, and oil prices that collapsed to a record negative $37.63 per barrel-yes, people were paying you to take their oil-by April threw the worldwide commercial rotorcraft market into a miasma of unprecedented gloom. "It's the worst helicopter market in 40 years," Jason Kmiecik, president of aircraft pricing specialist HeliValue$, said last summer. "It's a bad time for everybody." Overall helicopter flight hours dropped by 30 percent save for firefighting, which enjoyed record demand in 2020. Fortunately, the truly bad time didn't last, but it is still firmly a buyer's market. By Q3 2020, there were indications of recovery. And by year-end the numbers had improved enough that Aero Asset was characterizing the market as "resilient."