Should I Buy a New Aircraft or a Used Private Jet?

When it comes time to make decisions about executive business travel, one of the most important choices companies are faced with is whether to purchase a new business jet or a used private jet for important business trips.

New and used aircraft have their own set of pros and cons that must be weighed by various key players in your company, including your accounting department, chief pilot, and director of maintenance. Once you have come to a decision on whether you’re purchasing a pre-owned business jet or a brand-new aircraft straight from the manufacturer, the hardest part is often securing the plane of your choice. This AircraftExchange guide can help you make sense of your decision and show you where to find pre-owned aircraft for sale.

New jets come with a full warranty that can help to reduce operating costs.
When you purchase a brand-new private jet straight from the manufacturer, your new aircraft comes with a full warranty, which guarantees the maker will take care of any repairs with original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, parts, at their authorized repair facilities.

This warranty can save jet owners money within the first five years of the purchase of a brand-new aircraft because the owners will not need to pay any repair costs. However, there is a price difference in exchange for this guarantee.

Used private jets are less expensive to purchase than new jets.
Brand-new jets have a higher purchase price than those you can find used on online marketplaces and through dealers, like on AircraftExchange.com. A bigger, up-front purchase price can make even the most confident accounting departments balk, whereas if you purchased a pre-owned aircraft, you can actually save millions of dollars on the acquisition cost.

And, when you purchase an aircraft through an International Aircraft Dealers Association Accredited Aircraft Dealer, you can be confident that the used jet you’re getting has been represented truthfully by an experienced and ethical private aviation industry expert. When you have the full history of the aircraft available to you, you know you are buying a business jet that is unlikely to need wide-ranging repairs and did not suffer from deferred maintenance at the hands of its previous owners. A well-maintained used aircraft is not likely to need costly major fixes or upgrades, meaning you’re also saving money on operations costs for years to come.

Buying a new jet from the manufacturer allows you to customize the aircraft to your liking.
Many aircraft manufacturers offer the buyer choice of their preferred cabin layout, if the aircraft they’re purchasing is capable of these customizations. Take the Gulfstream G550, for example. The cabin can be laid out in three different ways, with either three or four living spaces. When purchased brand-new, buyers could determine their preferred layout of the space, and their new aircraft would be delivered to them to their exact specifications.

When you buy a pre-owned aircraft, you do not get to make those design choices, and often the cabin layout comes as-is. This means companies looking for specific amenities in an aircraft may not be able to narrow their search to make and model, but class and technical specifications instead, before identifying the amenities they’ll require on their business flights

However, pre-owned aircraft that have been used for executive business travel generally will fulfill any needs your company and its leaders may express, as its previous owners likely used the aircraft for similar purposes. As long as the cabin space of a pre-owned business jet will meet your c-suite leaders’ needs, having customized it yourself is not at all necessary for satisfaction with the aircraft. Furthermore, pre-owned aircraft can still be upgraded to meet your needs, whether that includes changes to the cabin or avionics.

Used business jets are faster to acquire.
Although doing your due diligence on a used aircraft you’re considering purchasing is imperative, the tasks you must complete on this checklist take significantly less time than purchasing an aircraft direct from the manufacturer. In fact, most plane makers have a lengthy waitlist that can have you waiting for a business jet for years because manufacturers assemble only a limited quantity of each aircraft.

However, when you purchase a used private jet for sale, you do not experience the manufacturer’s delays, and your IADA Accredited Aircraft Dealer and their brokers can help you through each step of the process as you make this very important aircraft acquisition. Your company’s executive leadership will be taking off in their new-to-them aircraft long before they would be if they were on the waitlist to purchase a brand-new plane.

The manufacturer provides pilot and maintenance training services when you buy a new business jet from them.
One of the most persuasive reasons to purchase a brand-new private jet over a used one is that your aircraft’s manufacturer will provide all the training your team of pilots and maintainers need to successfully fly and take care of your new business jet. The value of this included service is often priceless, especially for companies that have just purchased a state-of-the-art, brand-new release aircraft.

However, private business pilots usually feel confident flying a pre-owned aircraft, because they are already familiar with the avionics and the plane, as they likely have flown one before. The same with your aircraft maintenance team; when the equipment they are tasked with working on isn’t a brand-new release, they are capable of caring for the aircraft based on their own expertise and experience in the aviation industry. This completely negates the need for private, long-term instruction from the manufacturer, and your pilot and team can undergo their standard annual training to stay current in the industry.

Find a Private Jet for Sale Online
Looking to buy a private jet that will suit all your business travel needs? AircraftExchange.com should be the first and only place you look.

The only aircraft listed for sale on AircraftExchange are those represented by IADA Accredited Aircraft Dealers, which means you don’t have to sift through misleading ads for charter companies, go through third parties, or worry about the accuracy of listings. AircraftExchange, through IADA, verifies all aircraft listed for sale by their international network of dealers to guarantee transparency and ethics in every transaction.

Find an IADA Accredited Aircraft Dealer near you. Browse used private jets for sale at AircraftExchange.com.