China’s second-hand business jet market starts to take off
In times gone by, mainland billionaires would buy new business jets on impulse. Now those in the market are seeing the advantage of pre-owned aircraft
A few months ago, Gui Yue, China sales director of jet acquisition specialist Aviatrade Asia, received a call from a Beijing client in the market for a second-hand business aircraft.
"In the past, Chinese buyers only wanted new ones," Gui said. "But there are now more billionaires saying they are interested in second-hand aircraft."
The Beijing client finally chose a three-year-old Dassault Falcon 7X owned by an Eastern European seller among the four options offered by Gui's team.
Gui has been in the jet business for years and has detected subtle changes in mainland buyers' attitudes. "In the past, people just wanted to show they were rich enough to afford a private jet like other billionaires," he said. "But now buyers are becoming more mature and practical and are realising the advantages of a pre-owned airplane."
A second-hand private jet market has emerged on the mainland in the past two years.
According to Asian Sky Group, a Hong Kong-based business aviation service firm, the number of business jets rose by 59 last year to 439 in the "Greater China" region, which includes the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, by the end of 2014. Pre-owned aircraft represented 27 per cent of the additions to that fleet last year.