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4Q 2021 Blue Book Updates
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4Q Market Overview
It appears that we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Supply is on a steady decline over the past quarter with much anticipation that it will continue on the same track for 2022. Overall we are starting to see a turnaround in the market that we have not seen in some years. Every manufacturer of helicopters has had inventory levels decrease, some more than others.
The average time on market for the Piston sales is currently 9 months, while the average time on the market for the Turbine sales is currently 15 months. With both markets, the average age of the aircraft transacting is between 2003 and 2005 vintages. Because of the increasing transactions taking place, the nicer aircraft are disappearing, thus driving the values up on them since there are fewer desirable aircraft to be found. We are still seeing our fair share of distressed sales, but these are mainly due to the fact that they have been on the market for years now and are not in a flyable condition.
This quarter we are raising the values on 14 models and lowering the values on 12 models, and 3 models have mixed pricing drops and increases depending on their age. All movements are due to recent trading activity. The Corporate / VIP markets seems to be the winner of the most traded aircraft this past quarter with EMS and Utility following. Offshore is still trailing behind with resales but we are starting to see an increase in new aircraft purchases taking place again.
In other news, after 64 years of producing aircraft, Enstrom Helicopters has filed for chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy and has stopped all product support after closing its doors on January 21, 2022.
We are currently still in the process of updating all 2022 configuration pricing and will have it live over the next few weeks.
If by chance you are a helicopter owner or operator and are seeing something other than what we are publishing, please give me a call at 1-847-487-8258 or send me an email at [email protected] and I will be happy to discuss the market with you. If you have any sales you would like us to know about, I would also be happy to discuss them with you. Without your willingness to share information, we wouldn’t be here to keep the industry informed and up to date.
Subscribe NOW4th Quarter HeliValue$, Inc Pricing Meeting Update
We recently concluded the 4th quarter pricing meeting. Resale values are heading in the right direction, upward for the most part. Please click on the "Blue Book Updates" tab on the website homepage to view changes.
Congratulations!!!
HeliValue$, Inc., is proud to reveal the election of its Chairman, Sharon Desfor, to the College of Fellows of the American Society of Appraisers.
The ASA College of Fellows is comprised of Accredited Senior Appraisers who have been recognized by their peers for their contributions to ASA and the appraisal profession. These members are conferred the designation of Fellow (FASA) - the highest honor ASA bestows. ASA’s International President, David Crick, told her, “Your commitment to excellence in your practice and in every task you have undertaken on behalf of the Society has contributed to the advancement of the valuation profession in the minds of those who use, practice and regulate appraisal services.”
Sharon reacted to the honor with a (slightly immodest) amount of pride, but also quite a lot of wonder. “I’m not really sure what I did to earn such a tribute. I’ll just have to do my best to continue to deserve it.”
Sharon previously served ASA as a past president and on many committees. She also spent a decade or so on committees for the Helicopter Association International, and on the Board of the Helicopter Foundation International.
HeliValue$, Inc., is the world’s most trusted helicopter appraisal firm, and publisher of The Official Helicopter Blue Book®, the accepted standard for helicopter resale pricing information.
For further information, contact HeliValue$’ Chairman, Sharon Desfor, at [email protected].
2Q 2021 Blue Book Updates
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1Q 2021 Blue Book Updates
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Valuing the appraisers
As with most appraisers, Sharon Desfor, owner, HeliValue$ tripped and fell into the role. “Consider this: if every parent were to ask their children what they want to be when they grow up, how many children would answer, ‘I want to appraise helicopters?’ None, that’s how many. Not one,” she says. Desfor began back in 1983 at The Official Helicopter Blue Book. It was there that Desfor met her husband, Barry. “He got me interested in ‘Why’.
Why is this helicopter worth more than that one? Why does the industry prefer this model over its competitors?”
With a love of maths and logic, Desfor started trying to quantify the price delta against differences in the specifications, component times, installed mission equipment, the maintenance programmes or even the reseller, in some cases. “I started looking for the reasons behind the volatility in helicopter values. At some point, I realised to my surprise that this was much more interesting than figuring out how to reinstall the operating system into the idiotic computer one more time.”
3Q 2020 Blue Book Updates
HeliValue$, Inc. has recently reviewed pricing in The Official Helicopter Blue Book ® Resale pricing adjustments were made for the following helicopter models: | ||||||||
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3Q Market Overview
Much as we’d all hoped to start seeing some improvement in overall helicopter economics, we’re sadly not there yet. Yes, there is a moderate amount of activity and interest, but values remain stubbornly low and are still falling for the most part. While there are a few models that have so far managed to hold their value, those models are limited to the traditionally-EMS marketplace. The Airbus EC-135P2/T2 & EC135P3/T3 series, Airbus EC145T1/T2/e series come to mind here. In addition, there are a few newer models with little to no active supply on the market which are weathering the storm, such as the Leonardo AW169, Bell 505, and the Bell 407GXP & 407GXi.
Sad to see that the AS350 values, which had been holding up surprisingly well, are starting to collapse under the strain of 2020. We are starting to see older Bell 206 and Bell 407 models values decline but the sales volume of them is not large enough for our liking on making an adjustment just yet, possibly next quarter if things keep going the way they are. And I think it’s no real surprise to anyone that the S-76s are down in value once again. We may see some value modulation in the D market once the world and its economy starts to normalize (I refuse to say “if” here, but I’m thinking it pretty loudly.) But the As, Bs, and Cs are pretty much done.
If by chance you are a helicopter owner or operator and are seeing something other than what we are publishing, please give me a call at 1-847-487-8258 or shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will be happy to discuss the market with you. If you have any sales you would like us to know about, I would also be happy to discuss them with you. Without your willingness to share information, we wouldn’t be here to keep the industry informed and up to date.
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2Q 2020 Blue Book Updates
HeliValue$, Inc. held its quarterly review of The Official Helicopter Blue Book®
on August 19, 2020. Resale pricing adjustments were made for the following helicopter manufacturers:
Airbus, Bell, Columbia Helicopters, Enstrom, Leonardo, MD, Robinson, Schweizer and Sikorsky
| Mfg.Model | Resale Value | Comments | ||
| Airbus | ||||
| AS350B2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AS350B3 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AS350B3e | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AS365N3 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| BK117A4 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| BK117B2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| BK117C1 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| BK117C2/EC145T1 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| BK117D2/EC145T2/H145 | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| EC130B4 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| EC130T2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| Bell | ||||
| 206B3 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 206L4 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 222B | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 222U | ↓↑ | Pricing change | ||
| 222SP | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 407 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 407Gx | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 407GXP | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 407GXi | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| 412EP | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 429 | ↓↑ | Pricing change | ||
| 429 WLG | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| 505 | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| Columbia Helicopters | ||||
| 107-II | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| 234-LR | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| 234-MLR | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| 234-UT | -- | Resale pricing made ACTIVE | ||
| Enstrom | ||||
| F28A | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| F28C | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| F28C-2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| F-280 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| F-280C | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 280F/FX | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 480 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 480B | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| Leonardo | ||||
| A109E | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| A109S | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AW109SP | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AW119Ke | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| AW119Kx | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| MD | ||||
| 530F | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 600N | -- | Added 2016 pricing | ||
| 900/902 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| Robinson | ||||
| R22 Beta | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R22 Beta 2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R22 Mariner 1 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R22 Mariner 2 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R44 Astro | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R44 Raven 1 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| R44 Clipper 1 | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| Schweizer | ||||
| 300CB | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| 300C/S300C | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| Sikorsky | ||||
| S76B | ↓ | Pricing change | ||
| S76C | -- | Pricing page INACTIVE | ||
| S76C+ | ↓ | VIP configuration down | ||
| S76C++ | ↓ | Price change/ VIP configuration increase |
Resale pricing adjustments are based on actual sales transactions and current market conditions such as overall trends in asking prices, increase or decrease in supply, demand, and sales volume. We obtain sales pricing data from owners and operators, lenders and lessors, brokers and equipment manufacturers worldwide.
While we do review all models each quarter, frequently traded models are updated as soon as they begin to show variation from the previously published values.
Stay up to date on resale pricing changes by purchasing an annual subscription.
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2Q Market Overview
All Blue Book adjustments as well as our comments below have been based on the general global economy, and specifically the helicopter resale market, leading up to August 19, 2020.
When are we going to wake up from the nightmare 2020 continues to dish out? The helicopter industry just can’t catch a break.
As you can see in the list of aircraft impacted by this quarter’s pricing meeting, values are decidedly heading in the wrong direction.
Many operators have been working diligently to downsize and restructure their existing fleets. By removing older models and models no longer in demand, they are continuing to thin out nonoperational aircraft and to consolidate the number of different models they operate. In our last newsletter, we mentioned the operators were benefiting from “parting out” their unused aircraft and selling off parts. Sadly, this has in turn left them with many unsaleable parts and unflyable aircraft. This downward spiral has been a direct result of the COVID pandemic and the global economic shut down, of course, but it came on the heels of an already weak helicopter market. Operations and related businesses are still not operating at full capacity: some have had to close down all together. We expect to see further consolidation between operators (and lenders!) as we progress through 2020. Worse, we expect to see the heli-tour industry decimated by the end of the year, with Sundance Helicopters leading the pack last week in closing their doors forever.
Really there are only two bright-ish spots. 1) A fairly significant number of helicopters actually provide essential services: emergency medical, offshore oil transport, and firefighting all spring immediately to mind. 2) The price of WTI Crude more than doubled between April 17, 2020 (at $20.43) and August 18, 2020, ($43.12). We can only hope this is a sign that the contracts for heavy helicopters will remain steady. If we wanted to be very optimistic, perhaps even that those contracts will start to grow again.
Sorry, we don’t really feel that optimistic. The oil companies and the operators who serve them have become so efficient that we’re unlikely to see any significant increase in helicopter contracts until the price of oil exceeds $60/bbl again for an extended period, which will probably not be in the next 2-3 years. Sharon reminded me (and therefore all of us), however, that industry participants go in generations as much as families do. In 20 years the people who have learned these lessons so painfully will largely be retired, and the next gen of brash, forward-looking managers will decide that the by-then-$90/bbl-and-still-rising oil economy demands more workers on the platforms and more platforms and more exploration and more helicopters to service all of that. New financial entrepreneurs will look at the helicopter industry and decide it’s underfunded and ripe for exploitation. They will pump up the helicopter economy and everyone will make a massive amount of money. Again. Until the price of oil comes down. Again. This is not the first time this has happened; it’s just the first time we’ve had a pandemic we can conveniently blame.
This will pass, eventually. Our industry will look different, for a while. Until people forget, and efficiencies start to feel like restrictions, and the bubble starts to inflate once again.
If by chance you are a helicopter owner or operator and are seeing something other than what is being published, please give me a call at 1-847-487-8258 or shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will be happy to discuss with you. If you have any sales you would like us to know about I would also be happy to discuss with you. Without your willingness to share information, we wouldn’t be here to keep the industry informed and up to date.
HeliValue$ leads the way with remote helicopter appraisals
Long-established helicopter appraisers HeliValue$ has used the opportunity of lockdown, and have pivoted their work to appraise helicopters remotely. From a recent Helicopter Investor town hall webinar where both President Jason Kmiecik and Owner Sharon Desfor spoke, it is clear that the company is leading the way in adapting to the situation.
After an initial few weeks of hiatus as the aviation finance industry responded to the sudden stoppage, HeliValue$ soon found their traditional customer base needing appraisal work done, and pivoted their offering to achieve this. Having previously sent an engineer onsite to perform a physical inspection of a helicopter, the work is now entirely remote – with the obvious savings to the customer (typically a bank, lessor, financier or insurer) not having to pick up the air fares or hotel expenses of going on site. The aim is still to verify the physical state and maintenance records and provide a valuation report, but the removal of the travel element means that the process is completed quicker than before.