Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Business aviation OEM backlogs are now extending at least through 2023 and in most cases into 2024 and 2025, according to Jefferies. The analyst reported on the OEM backlogs&nbsp;after hosting the third annual Jefferies Business Aviation Summit last week, bringing together industry leaders from the manufacturing, brokerage, charter, MRO, and other segments.

 


Noting there are no signs of “demand destruction” thus far, Jefferies said, “business jet demand remains robust with stickiness in conversion of flyers from airline first-class to private aviation.”

 


The two- to four-year lead times for new aircraft have created a sellers’ market on the preowned side, which is pushing up pricing and resulting in quicker turns, according to Jefferies. Pricing has increased 10 percent month-over-month for aircraft less than five years old over each of the last four months, Mesinger Jet Sales reported during the Jefferies summit. Flexjet, another participant in the summit, said it has seen purchase prices increase by as much as 30 percent to 40 percent over the last 24 to 30 months for certain models. CFS Jets, meanwhile, estimated prices across cabin sizes have grown 20 to 25 percent year-over-year.

 


Average jet-card prices are also increasing, up more than 22 percent since October 2020 and 1.5 percent since the end of the first quarter.

 


These increases come as aircraft utilization, while still down in the Asia-Pacific region, remains above levels in 2019, Jefferies said, describing the recovery as “V-shaped.”

 


Despite risks of a potential recession, industry sentiment remains strong, Jefferies said, and noted that customers at operators including Vista Global and Wheels Up have accepted the higher pricing. “Flexjet is more concerned over the supply constraints in aircraft and pilot availability than demand elasticity,” Jefferies added.

Jefferies: Prices Jump, Bizjet Backlogs Push into 2025

Preowned pricing has jumped by 10 percent for each of the past four months as new backlogs now extend between two to four years, Jefferies reported.

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