Commonly Asked Questions When Buying a Private Jet

Owning a private jet is a dream that every american dreams. There would be hardly a human who wouldn’t have imagined themselves sitting in an aircraft, sipping champagne and enjoying meals made according to their taste while enjoying the luxuries of flying private.

But ask anyone who actually owns a private jet and they would tell you that the decision is not one that should be taken on a whim. You might even come across some who would quote the famous Spiderman quote to you, "With great power comes great responsibility". Well, they are not wrong. You should have answers to some crucial questions before you spend millions of your hard earned dollars in buying an aircraft.

Let us answer some of the questions for you today.

Is it okay to be a second-hand owner of a private jet?

It depends. The decision, which would come down to the operating cost, initial purchase price, and asset devaluation, will ultimately depend on you. First buy jets tend to have a greater initial price but lower operation costs. The inspection and maintenance costs also seep in in the future. Plus, new aircrafts are generally more efficient than old ones.

However, when you sit and make a graph of operation cost vs purchase cost, you will attain a profit margin only when the aircraft is five to fifteen years old.

Can I purchase a used aircraft and upgrade it?

Of course you can. You can upgrade the equipment, change the interior and paint, anything! But you should note that when you note the residue value or simply upgrade an older model, it might not always make an economic sense.

So, the answer to this will depend entirely on how much money you have to spend leisurely.

Who takes the responsibility of maintaining the aircraft?

There can be two scenarios. Either you handle all the operations and maintenance of your private aircraft or you employ a team to handle it for you - like 90% of the millionaires do.

The decision will ultimately fall down on time vs money. If you have enough time to take care of all the operations, talk to a FBO consulting agency and discuss your fuel and ground handling needs vs. if you have the money to hire a team to do it for you.

What we would advise is that going solo would make sense only when you have the support of applications like NOZL where you have direct contact with the FBO services provider. This way, you won’t have to indulge in conversations with third party service enablers.

Should I think about fractional ownership?

You can, but think of the disadvantages as well. Having a fractional ownership generally ripples down to a low residual value, low aircraft choices, and lesser financing options, the ‘at times hard to swallow’ fact that you only own a part of the airplane.

Additionally, you will always be restricted in terms of what you can do with the aircraft for it will always be a part of the fractional owners program. According to calculations, the cost of buying a private jet would be lower than having it under fractional ownership when you factor in the financing costs, purchase price, offset charter revenue, operating costs, and residual value.

Here were the four key questions that everyone tries to find an answer to before making the decision of buying a private aircraft. Hope you won’t be the one asking questions after this article.