CJI Asia: Top analyst – ‘Asian recovery pushed back to second half 2021’

Recovery for business aviation in Asia has been put back to the second half of 2021, according to Jeffrey Lowe, CEO, Asian Sky Group. Lowe told delegates of Corporate Jet Investor’s Asia 2020 online conference that whilst optimism is rising, after two positive quarters, Covid-19 has impacted businesses more seriously than previously thought.

Lowe warned : “Any sort of recovery is being pushed to the second half of 2021. There’s no saving 2020, it’s done and it just will not be a good year for most people. They’ve come to the realisation they are not going meet their business performance targets for this year.”

More positively, optimism in the Asian region has begun to return, which is the good news, according to Lowe.

“The bad news is Covid is still here. The respondents to our survey certainly feel that whereas before they weren’t sure, now most feel certain they have been seriously affected by Covid-19.” In turn, that is pushing up the numbers of respondents who are estimating recovery in the second half of 2021.

Lowe said flight activity has almost fully recovered domestically but international travel is still down 50% or more.

In terms of business aircraft sales in Asia Pacific, Asian Sky Group reported that the number of aircraft offered for sale has . But fewer are being sold compared with the same period in 2019 and they have been sitting on the market for longer. However, there were some “positive trends” occurring in the second and third quarters of this year. “As a result, the pressure is on pricing and certainly that is line with asset values diminishing globally,” said Lowe.