AINsight: Planning To Buy for the First Time or Upgrade?

The consensus seems to be in—the preowned business aircraft market will remain robust this year, according to most professionals’ opinions. I personally agree with this.

If this is indeed the outcome and the market remains strong, the most attractive time to purchase an aircraft will be in the first half of the year, because tax-driven purchasing will ramp up in the second half. So if you plan on purchasing early in the year and taking the depreciation properly, it will be necessary to make sure you qualify and are disciplined with business versus personal use.

If you can be, then you will likely capitalize on a market that will have more choices and more reasonable pricing than what it may look like in the third and fourth quarters.

In short, the savviest buyers will make their moves early this year as opposed to later. If you’re thinking about doing something along these lines, assemble your purchasing team (a good aviation attorney and a broker or acquisition agent) and get things in gear now as opposed to waiting.

These seasoned professionals will start providing you with good market intelligence now, so you can make a very educated purchase within the next few months before you have a lot more competition around you in the market. In addition, the maintenance shops that perform pre-purchase inspections get booked up, and don’t forget all of the other associated things that can cause you—as a buyer—to make compromises.

The key is to make the plan now, and you can more easily execute on it a little later as inventory begins to backfill into the market after the buying rush at the end of 2025. As the saying goes: “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”

Assemble your team and tell them you want to be smart. They will be able to give you lots of love and attention right now—more than they would be able to give you in October.