A private-equity financier and a licensed pilot, Myers had been patiently looking to buy a jet for years. But when he began noticing a drop in the number of planes for sale a few months ago, he moved quickly to buy a Cessna CJ2.

The private-jet business collapsed after the 2008 recession as companies scaled back on travel to cut costs.

That can be seen in the number of used planes up for sale.

During the recession, used-plane prices were dropping as much as 6 percent each quarter, said Jay Mesinger, CEO of Mesinger Jet Sales.

While sales remain weak, at 676 jets last year, the dearth of inexpensive near-new aircraft is beginning to drive buyers to purchase new planes, brokers and analysts said.

Bombardier is protecting its turf in the midsize jet market from new planes such as Textron's Cessna Longitude and Embraer's Legacy 500, he said.

But the recovery this year seems more solid, said Chad Anderson, president of Jetcraft, a private-jet broker. For one thing, aircraft-makers have been vigilant to block speculators, who had bought planes to sell later at a higher price, from artificially driving up backlogs, he said.

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