

PILATUS PC-12 MARKET OVERVIEW FOR MARCH 2023
MARCH MADNESS
Here we are in March and the infamous “March Madness” NCAA basketball tournament. 64 teams battle it out over three weeks, cumulating in the big “Final Four” weekend and championship just a couple of days later. It’s always been exciting and most likely will continue to be for many years to come. I think one of the best aspects of this wonderful sporting event is that the “little guy” or smaller school has just as much chance of winning it all as the big schools like Kentucky or Kansas! Very cool – certainly motivation for any player.
As we have always seemed to do (taking an analogy or metaphor), we are equating the Pilatus market to “March Madness” of sorts. At JetSwiss we keep a separate file of all the infamous sayings ‘Brokerville’ sends out via email blasts and advertising. Get ready, they’ve been showering your email inbox for the past few weeks hot and heavy! We get a real kick out of it—never a dull moment and lots of laughs in our office. March “Broker” Madness has started.
Here are just a few classic advertising subject lines from ‘Brokerville’:
• Subject: “Market-Driven” Smart Price Reduction
• Subject: “Price reduced. Market-based pricing…” (so you were not market priced before??)
• Subject: “Next to sell” Open to all offers!
• Subject: “Eager to Sell” A great opportunity
• Subject: “Owner says it must go” and of course, “Owner says next to go, bring your offers”
• Goes on to say “Keen to sell. Send an offer.”
• • Subject: “Seller Motivated, replacement aircraft in service”
• Subject: “Highly Motivated owner, seeking compelling offer”
• Subject: “Priced to sell by years end”
• Subject: “Incentivized for quick close” (upon actual conversations, “offer must be above xxxx”)
When our industry gets a little quiet or the market is shifting, the broker games begin. With airplanes slowly coming onto the market (an increase of 6 aircraft this month, bringing the total to 38) and days on market increasing (14 of the available aircraft equating to 37% of the market have been for sale for over 100 days) brokers try to bring value to their projects via creative marketing tactics, price reductions, or dare I say incentives. These are designed to entice buyers to make an offer. See the classic advertisements listed above. Five aircraft have lowered their price in the last 30 days an aggregate total of $1,709,000 (average of $341,000 per aircraft)! This represents a 6.6% reduction in price per aircraft. Keep in mind, these numbers represent the entire worldwide market and are not derived or synonymous with Controller.com. Instead of knowing the competition, knowing the airplane inside and out, and pricing correctly from the start, “Brokerville” likes to play the game. The question to ask yourself is, what does this do for me? Is it in my best interest to have my agent essentially begging for offers to drum up activity? Or is it better for my agent to take on the competition and win the matchup? The latter is a sales strategy whereas the former is flipping a penny into the wishing well.
Let the Madness Begin!
MARKET CHANGES







IN THE LAST 30 DAYS BY MODEL YEAR

Asking Price By Total Hours
$7,000,000
$6,000,000
$5,000,000
$4,000,000
Asking Price Total Hours
$8,000,000 0 2500 5000 7500 10000 12500
Similar to the Asking Price vs Model Year chart, this information helps our clients determine “the mileage on the car” for their specific budget.
$3,000,000
DOUBLED $2,000,000
“Want to own a low time aircraft?” This chart will give you an indication on what you will spend. Note: aircraft under 1,000 hours total time historically yield much higher prices.

This chart reflects the current market for Pilatus PC-12 aircraft that are on the retail market. Want to know how much your Pilatus dollars will buy? This is a great place to start. As you can see, the aircraft model year plays a key factor in pricing of the aircraft, and thus generates a commensurate trend curve. This data provides a baseline for our aircraft evaluations.
ON AVERAGE JETSWISS SALES ACHIEVE 97% OF THE ASKING PRICE


TIME ON MARKET
0-30 Days on Market
31-60 Days on Market
61-90 Days on Market
4-6 Months on Market
7-12 Months on Market

22%
22%
17% 25% 14%

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SPRING CLEANING
5 WAYS TO TIDY UP YOUR AIRCRAFT
• Make sure your aircraft log is up to date – Many folks keep a flight manifest of to/from info, engine trends, passengers, This little piece is a small habit that can yield big rewards in the future. Tax topics, MX status, Pilot logbook updates, etc., all are impacted by keeping close track of cycles and times!
• POH up to date - Keep it legal silly! Yes, we all are guilty of not updating our POH when we get the little white envelopes from Pilatus! At a minimum, keep a separate folder in the cockpit where you can temporarily house these updates. Then periodically you can update the actual POH (I like a nice four-hour flight at high altitude to do this stuff myself).
• Everything has its place, every place has its thing – I covered a buddy’s flight for him with the aircraft owner the other day and the cockpit was a mess! Keeping a clean, tidy cockpit also enhances your ability to conduct a clean, tidy flight. You know where everything is, you don’t need to go looking for a pen, etc. I have found that being disorganized in the cockpit starts before the flight occurs. Slow down, prioritize, and organize long BEFORE the flight. “Make your bed” has always been one of my favorite sayings…
• Entries in place – have you inserted the logbook entries from your last event or annual inspection? Do you have an envelope sitting in the storage area of your cockpit with these things in it? We recently did an audit with a customer and the pilot for their operations and found multiple logbook entries in envelopes still in the cockpit! Keep in mind, you are legally obligated to keep records for the aircraft. The day you do not have these to prove something was accomplished to your MX director, he will beat you over the head with a yardstick. So will the next buyer of your aircraft!!!
• 8130s/337s organized – Let’s face it, this stuff sucks. There are a ton of these documents floating around various random boxes of “airplane material” when we start a project. It’s a mess and this is especially true if the aircraft is older. So, do your best for mankind and take a day to organize these documents into large three-ring binders or file totes – by date if possible. Some day you will be glad you did!
• Store docs and logs in a secure/fireproof place – This should go without saying. It may seem like overkill, but in the aviation industry, we almost have to think “glass half empty” when it comes to risk-avoiding circumstances. Just think, what if my office or house had a fire and all my aircraft logs were destroyed? The value of your asset would be affected, your life would be a mess for several obvious reasons, etc., all because you did not want to
spend a few hundred dollars on a fireproof safe! Do it now!
• • Any items due/schedule – this is always a no-brainer! The biggest suggestion I have with this specific topic is to PLAN AHEAD. Shops these days are jammed up and calling 30 days in advance will most likely yield poor results for you. If you know your annual is due in June, call them in February! Also, don’t be the guy who must never do the annual early! Don’t be afraid of performing MX early, yes you give up 30 days of timing, but in some instances, you gain better timing with your own flight schedule and lives!
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• Everything has its place, every place has its thing, all tidied up—this is the same concept as keeping a tidy cockpit! Messy hangar, messy airplane, etc. The biggest emphasis here is to store chemicals properly, store ancillary aircraft items properly, and so on. Have two extra seats for your aircraft? Place an extra-large garbage bag over each seat and store them elevated on a shelf if possible.
• Floors cleaned – after a year of opening and closing the hangar door in all different kinds of weather, all kinds of “stuff” gets tracked in. This in turn tends to get inside the airplane. Clean hangar floor equals clean airplane floor.
• Fire extinguishers current? Are there exit signs/lights needed in your hangar? Any other safety-type equipment need to be up to date? First aid kit fully stocked? This is a good time to walk around the hangar inside and out and just check on things.
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• Time to deep clean the inside and outside –It should take a full day or more to detail the aircraft correctly. This is not cheap, but it should be done once a year at a minimum, and preferably quarterly in between dry washing.
• Get inside the wheel wells - this is probably the most overlooked area of an aircraft. How do you see everything properly to perform a preflight inspection? Can you see leaks as well if the wheel wells are black? This is an essential area that should get attention.
• Dress the boots - You know a full set of boots for a PC12 can cost upwards of $65,000 to replace. Want to know why you replace boots? You don’t keep them ‘conditioned’ properly and dressed. The rubber gets old, dry, and brittle. Boom, you spring a leak on a seam, etc.
• Use your “toothbrush” in the cockpit - I like rubbing alcohol and Q-tips as well. I have also done great damage with baby wipes whilst flying along at FL280!! Human fingers have oil and dirt on them, which transfers to the switches, etc. You know, the switches with WHITE lettering on them. Gross!
• Let’s make it “White Glove” ready – enough said. Respect the multi-million-dollar asset by showing it the love it deserves.
Happy Spring, everyone!