Light jet market slump with recovery still awaited for business aviation

Analyst Richard Aboulafia told London Financial Times that buyers in the low end of the market usually need financing and that's been hard to get.

The Middle East and Asia has been responsible for keeping the higher end of the market on growth.

"Buyers of big business jets tend to be the ultra-rich or governments and are thus insulated from the tight credit market. While the bottom end of the market has been in the tank for two years, sales of high-priced products are actually up slightly," Aboulafia said.

Some aircraft brokers say the price of used light and midsized jets has hit an all-time low and despite whispers of a recovery are staying stubbornly in the basement. "Basically, there are no buyers," Anne-Bart Tieleman, managing director of GA Finance in Amsterdam, was quoted as saying. "You can buy an almost brand new aircraft for 25-35 percent less than what you had to pay two or three years ago."