Writer

Amy Wilder

Business jet departures rose 4.6% year over year in the fourth quarter, topping off a strong market year despite earlier macroeconomic uncertainty, according to Global Jet Capital’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://www.globaljetcapital.com/q4mb-2025">quarterly market brief</a>.
The report called growth “broad-based,” with departures in North America increasing 4.3% and international activity climbing 5.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. For the full year, flight operations grew 3.8%, with fractional providers leading the expansion. Total 2025 departures finished 3% higher than 2022, the previous peak year, the report noted.
Sequential growth also remained positive, with fourth-quarter departures rising 0.7% from the third quarter, roughly in line with the 1.1% sequential increase recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024 and an improvement over the 2.1% decline in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“OEM backlogs (excluding Dassault, which has not reported as of publication time) rose 10.4% year over year in Q4 2025, reaching $53.6 billion,” the report said. “Manufacturers continued making progress resolving supply-chain and labor issues.” Lead times among major manufacturers remained between 18 and 24 months. Book-to-bill ratios were strong during the quarter, even as deliveries and revenue increased, demonstrating continued strong demand for new business jets.
The backlog growth continued its momentum from the third quarter of 2025, when backlogs reached $51.1 billion, up 12.1% year over year, according to <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-11-18/gjc-bizjet-market-strengthens-q3">Global Jet Capital’s third-quarter report</a>.
Transaction dollar volume increased 9.7% in 2025 compared to 2024, split evenly between new deliveries and preowned sales. New delivery dollar volume rose 6.1% compared to 2024, though preliminary data indicated that new unit deliveries declined 1.2%. The report noted that not all 2025 deliveries had been reported at publication time, and the figure is expected to increase as reporting is finalized.
Preowned transaction volume climbed 17.8% in the fourth quarter and 13.5% for the full year, extending the recovery that <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-11-18/gjc-bizjet-market-strengthens-q3">began in the third quarter</a> when preowned sales jumped 16.3% year over year following second-quarter softness.
Aircraft availability declined to 6.9% of the total fleet in the fourth quarter from 7.6% in the third quarter and 7.5% a year earlier, well below the historical average of roughly 10%. The decline was driven by fewer new listings and continued strength in the preowned market throughout late 2024 and 2025.
Availability varied by aircraft age. Aircraft 12 years old and newer accounted for 4.0% of the fleet available for sale, down from 5.0% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Aircraft 13 years old and older represented 8.4% of available inventory, down from 8.8% a year earlier.
The composition of listings has also shifted. In 2019, aircraft aged 13 years or older accounted for 58.4% of listings, but by 2025 that share had risen to 69.6%. Listings for aircraft 12 years old or newer fell 20.1% over the same period and made up just 30.4% of total listings in 2025.
Bluebook values for like-aged aircraft increased 0.4% year over year, reflecting stability between supply and demand. This continued stabilization follows value gains between 2021 and 2023, driven by strong demand and limited availability.
Value trends varied by aircraft age in the fourth quarter. Aircraft 12 years old and newer saw values increase 0.8%, while values for aircraft aged 13 years and older declined 0.7% as they continued to normalize following earlier gains. In the third quarter, newer aircraft values had risen 0.2%, while older aircraft values fell 3.7%.
Global Jet Capital CEO Vivek Kaushal <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-11-07/2025-bizav-market-going-out-lion">told AIN last year</a> that the market remained “very good and balanced” following the post-Covid recovery, with steady growth continuing “in this really nice and steady fashion.”
The global economy grew 2.5% in the fourth quarter, slower than the roughly 3% average in the first three quarters but stronger than earlier forecasts following tariff-related uncertainty. The <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2026/01/19/world-economic-outlook-update-january-2026">IMF projects 3.3% global growth in 2026</a>, up 0.2 percentage points from its October 2025 forecast. The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/01/13/global-economic-prospects-january-2026-press-release#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20January%2013%2C%202026%E2%80%94,trade%20and%20domestic%20demand%20soften.">World Bank forecasts global growth of 2.6%,</a> also a 0.2-percentage-point increase from its June 2025 projection.

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