AIRCRAFT BROKERAGE

Who says only real estate have brokerage? Planes may not be as hot as real estates are but there definitely is such a thing as aircraft brokerage. You might not have thought this to be existent, unless of course, you’re into airplanes yourself. How often do we hear of people looking around for a good airplane bargain, or those that ask us if we want to buy one? And how many times in a week do we see advertisements in the paper about such sale? Who bothers to count?

That is probably one of the reasons why anybody can sell an airplane. There are no special trainings available and no required licenses to secure in order for a person to sell an airplane. Why, even your seven-year old kid can sell your airplane if you’re too busy to do it yourself! The question is, would anyone want to buy it from him?

Aircraft brokerage, unlike the real estate business, is not regulated. This means that you have be very careful because even if there are a lot of really good brokers around, you might just end up doing business with those who are not. People engaged in aircraft brokerage without the essential knowledge of the business will just cost you money and gives you a costly experience to deal with.

Of course, there’s always the option to sell the aircraft yourself. But if you are rich enough to be in possession of one, then you probably don’t have the luxury of looking around for potential buyers. You might be able to pocket all the money from its sale, but you’d be losing much more by fooling around with your time acting as your own aircraft brokerage firm.

Aircraft brokerage companies are aircraft brokers and dealers at the same time. And what’s their difference? Brokers are those people that bring the seller and buyer together and profits through commission after a sale is closed. A dealer is almost always a broker himself. He buys the aircraft at about 10-15% less than what the seller sells it for. Some dealers accept trade-ins as part of their marketing scheme.

A good way to “dispose” of that aircraft would be through an aircraft brokerage company. However, because there are no regulations that control the aircraft brokerage business, it is best to spend time in choosing the most reliable firm. The good ones can give you the best offer and can guarantee the buyers of a fair deal as well. If you must decide on doing business with a broker, never entrust your property to someone who does not seem to know much about airplanes and the whole aircraft brokerage business in general. He might just be taking lessons from your airplane and will let you end up with unnecessary expenses.