Used Single Engine Aircraft, Avgas Fuel Sales Down Nationwide

As fuel prices continue to climb nationwide, the pinch on the general aviation consumer becomes tighter as recreational flying becomes too expensive for many.

In an article this week by the Wichita Eagle, business owners and operators in the GA community spoke out about how the rising costs have affected their businesses and their flying habits.

"The recreational side of flying is really taking a hit," said Paul Wyatt, editor of Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest.

Pilots who use their aircraft for fun and for discretionary reasons have felt the most pain. Those pilots have slowed or stopped buying planes.

"There's definitely a lull in the smaller market of piston aircraft," he said.

A recent Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association survey of owners and renters showed fuel prices have had a dramatic effect on flying. Seventy-two percent of the respondents have curtailed flying; forty percent cut back 50 percent or more.

AOPA spokeswoman Kathleen Vasconcelos said aviation fuel costs about $5.50 to $6.50 a gallon in nationwide averages.

However, as a pilots usage of the aircraft for business increases, the likelihood of their reduction in flying decreases as business travel remains strong regardless of the price of fuel.

"The more serious the usage of their aircraft is, the less likely it is to impact their decision to use it," said Cosby Stone of the Trade-a-Plane trade newspaper.

Wichita Cessna Aircraft dealer Steve Dunne agrees. “No one buying a new $400,000 single-engine piston aircraft is complaining that fuel costs $5 a gallon” he said.

"They're going, 'Am I going to sell as many widgets to Wal-Mart next year,' " he said.

His sales are steady, he said. But he stays out of the older single-engine market, where "airplanes are starting to stack up on the used market."

Jim Alexander, a pilot and founder of Jim Alexander Aircraft Sales no longer keeps used aircraft in stock. It's too expensive. "You've got to carry them too long," he said.

The value of used two-place and four-place single engine aircraft, used primarily for recreational flying, has deteriorated more in the past few years than that of high-performance aircraft, Cosby said.

Wyatt is seeing the value of aircraft models still in production remaining stable or in some cases appreciating. He said buyers have faith in the support and parts availability of those models still rolling off production lines.

Planemakers say sales of larger business turboprops and jets have not been affected as drastically as the smaller aircraft market, possibly owing to a greater international market for those aircraft types.

Any slowing of the U.S. market is being offset by international sales, said Hawker Beechcraft spokesman Andrew Broom. More than 60 percent of the company's orders are from outside the U.S., he said.

Leo Knaapen, a Bombardier Aerospace spokesman, said forecasts predict orders continuing to be brisk, although at a slightly lower pace than last year.

The rising oil costs are even hitting fixed-base operators who sell Avgas and jet fuel.

In Wichita, Yingling Aviation's jet fuel business is steady or growing slightly, said Lonnie Vaughan, Yingling's chief financial officer. But avgas sales, which are about 10 percent of total fuel sales, were down about 30 percent in June, a rainy month, which contributed to the drop, he said.

National Air Transportation Association spokesman David Almy said national sales averages of avgas are down anywhere from 10 to 50 percent, pointing to a softening general aviation market.

Pilot Jim Alexander summed it up, "just to turn $5+ fuel into noise, a lot of people are not doing that anymore."

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.nbaa.org. www.nata.aero