It is THAT time of the year at Asian Sky Group – peak reporting season when our year-end fleet reports for helicopters and business jets are released, as well as the first Asian Sky Quarterly of the new year. We provide for you at this time, three detailed reports that are chock-full of essential data and metrics, not only necessary for any analysis of the year just past, but also absolutely essential for any assessment of business opportunities going forward for the coming year and beyond
Two reports are available already – the YE’23 Asia-Pacific Helicopter Fleet Report and the Q4’23 Asian Sky Quarterly.
The civil turbine helicopter fleet in the Asia-Pacific region grew a measly 0.1% in 2023, the lowest we’ve seen in the ten year period since our records began: just 62 new deliveries, 120 pre-owned additions but with 178 deductions. The overall size of the market is US $2.6B considering all transactions into and out of the region. Australia had the biggest helicopter fleet in Asia-Pacific, followed closely by mainland China, Japan, New Zealand and India.
China’s helicopter market is singled out and comes under special scrutiny in the fleet report as it experienced the biggest swing in fleet numbers from 2022 to 2023. The outlook going forward is grim too, as many of the “in operation” helicopters fly very infrequently, so there is surplus helicopter capacity in many missions. This “surplus” is further compounded by there being almost 100 units in storage with dealerships and/or large operators. One other threat is the increased use of unmanned air vehicles/drones in the commercial sector, so demand for smaller helicopters will likely be reduced in the next five to ten years.
Download or read the report online here.
The year 2023 probably ended better than expected for the Asia-Pacific region. An ever-increasing number of businesses felt they’d turned the corner and were building momentum heading into 2024. Overall optimism continued its climb back since the drop in Q2, with most regions returning to levels on par with those heady, feel-good days just post Covid. All regions that is except China, where the economic boost that China enjoyed after its re-opening is now losing momentum, with the deepening property-sector slump effecting sentiment and people feeling the slow down will continue into 2024.
The year-end optimism also resulted in increased utilization, with 64% of our survey respondents (up 4% versus Q3) saying flying increased versus 12 months ago. However, keep in mind that 12 months ago coincided with the end & opening up after Covid.
Looking at the prevailing aircraft trading market dynamics at YE’23 – significant increases in inventory levels across the board and the softening of prices – it wasn’t too surprising to see interest in pre-owned aircraft purchases waning (dropping over 4%) while new aircraft purchase intentions jumped almost 6%. The OEMs will be happy about that.
Download or read the report online here.
If you haven’t already downloaded both reports, then I encourage you to do so now and familiarize yourself with the best market intel for the Asia-Pacific region as we head further into 2024.
The last report and most anticipated – our YE’23 Asia-Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report – will be issued in mid-April. Please look for the announcement of the release and download the report to complete your analysis of business opportunities in Asia-Pacific.
Thank you,
JEFFREY C. LOWE
Vice Chairman
Asian Sky Group