Aircraft age: what changes at 10, 15 and 20 years
The year of manufacture sits on the first line of every listing and explains most of the price spread within a type. On the Gulfstream G550, early 2004–2008 aircraft go for $12–17 million and late 2014–2021 ones for $25–35 million, with a median around $21 million, based on my information. A factor of three on one and the same type.
Below is what physically happens to an aircraft as it ages, which years bring the large bills, and how that reads in the price of a particular aircraft.
Two counters run at once
An aircraft has two independent counters of life used.
Hours and cycles. Airframe time, time on each engine, the number of landings. This counter is driven by flying.
The calendar. Part of the work is tied to a date. Airframe inspections at 96, 120 and 180 months come around on the calendar, and they fall due on an aircraft that has stood in a hangar for a year exactly as they do on one that has been flying.
Hence a practical rule: an aircraft of a respectable age that has flown little is cheaper than a same-age aircraft with high time less often than the buyer expects. It has already been through the calendar checks, or is coming up on them, and the bill for those is the same either way.
What falls due by the year
| Age | What comes due | Order of cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5–8 years | scheduled checks by hours, first replacement of interior items | tens of thousands of dollars |
| 8–10 years | 96-month airframe inspection, first major engine work outside a programme | hundreds of thousands |
| 10–12 years | 120-month inspection, paint, cabin refresh | $1.5–2.5 million in the heavy class |
| 12–16 years | avionics and connectivity retrofit, second round of paint | $0.2–1.2 million by type |
| 15–20 years | 180-month inspection, engine removals, a narrowing pool of buyers | $1.5–2.5 million plus the engines |
| over 20 years | limits on financing and insurance, a narrow exit market | counted on the individual aircraft |
The figures are benchmarks for heavy types as of August 2026, based on my information. The specifics come from the aircraft records and the service centre's price list.
Year ten: the first major airframe check
The 120-month inspection comes due around ten years. On the Global Express and related types it runs $1.5–2.5 million and takes weeks of downtime in the shop.
The market prices its status directly. An outstanding 120-month check on a Global 6000 takes $0.8–1.5 million off the price of the aircraft, based on my information. The seller knows that number, so does the buyer, and the negotiation runs around it.
Hence the first question on any listing for an aircraft over eight years old: when is the next heavy check, and does it fall inside the first year of ownership. If it does, the discount on the price and the bill from the shop cancel out to roughly zero, except that the bill arrives a year later.
Paint and a cabin refresh usually surface alongside the check. The previous owner puts them off on the way out of the asset: the work costs money and lifts the sale price only in part.
Year fifteen: the avionics stop meeting the requirements
Communication and surveillance requirements were tightened after most of the types now on the pre-owned market had gone into production. An aircraft built to the rules of its own year needs a retrofit by year fifteen.
Orders of magnitude by type, based on my information:
▪️ An ADS-B Out and FANS 1/A package on a Hawker 800 — $200,000–350,000. ▪️ The same package on a Challenger 604 — $600,000 to $1 million. ▪️ On a Global Express — $0.7–1.2 million. ▪️ Broadband satellite internet on a Global 5000 — $0.5–1 million.
The G550 separately: aircraft built before 2008 need a retrofit to current communication and surveillance requirements. The work runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars and weeks of downtime.
An aircraft with the package already fitted costs more by exactly the price of that work. This is the case where the more expensive listing turns out to be the cheaper entry in practice: what you compare is the price plus the cost of bringing the aircraft up to your own flight profile.
Year twenty: the pool of buyers narrows
By twenty years, three constraints that younger aircraft do not have are added to the technical bills.
Financing. Banks and leasing companies limit the age of the collateral and the term of the agreement. An aircraft over twenty years old is more often financed over a short term and with a larger down payment.
Insurance. The underwriter looks at age, type and crew experience. On older types the terms are tighter and the agreed hull value is lower.
Exit from the asset. The pool of buyers for an older aircraft is narrow, and days on market grow. For reference on timing in a healthy market: the Challenger 350 sells in 72 days on average, the G650 in 112, the Challenger 300 in 165, the Global 7500 in 189, based on my information. Age shifts these figures upwards on any type.
Liquidity belongs in the cost of ownership on the same footing as the expenses. What else eats into residual value I covered separately.
How age enters the price
The spread within a type comes from four items, and the year of manufacture works through each of them.
Engine life remaining. Time on each engine and what is left to removal. On an older aircraft what is left is shorter by definition.
Status of the hourly cost programmes. Active cover passes to the new owner and counts as an asset in the transaction. The market prices its absence in concrete terms: a Challenger 604 or a Global 6000 without an engine programme loses $1.5–2 million, a Phenom 300 $500,000–800,000, based on my information. Enrolling retroactively costs more than continuous participation, and on an older aircraft that is a separate bill.
The avionics fit. Looked at against your airspace and your routes.
The state of the records. Completeness of the logbooks, component histories, service bulletins complied with and not complied with. An older aircraft has more paperwork, and gaps in it turn up more often.
In 2014–2015 I oversaw the return of the technical records on 21 Transaero aircraft that were out on lease. On an older aircraft the gaps sit exactly here, and collecting what is missing after the fact does not always work out.
What of this is visible before the inspection is in the article on aircraft records.
What to ask on the individual aircraft
Five questions before the deposit, each of them closed out with a document:
- Dates of the next calendar airframe inspections — 96, 120, 180 months depending on the type.
- Time and life remaining on each engine, the APU separately.
- Status of the engine, APU and airframe programmes, and the terms on which they pass to a new owner.
- The avionics and communications fit: what is installed now and what your routes will require.
- The date of the last paint and the last cabin refurbishment.
The answers are checked against the logbooks. How to work with the seller before the inspection is set out in the article on what to ask the seller.
Conclusion
The age of an aircraft is read through the calendar of heavy checks, the state of the avionics and the engine time remaining. Year ten brings the first major airframe inspection, year fifteen the retrofit to current communication requirements, year twenty the limits on financing, on insurance and on how fast you can exit the asset.
A young aircraft costs more to buy and is predictable over the first years. An older one gives a low entry price and calls for a three-year forecast against the calendar of work. Both approaches work; the choice is calculated on your planned hours, your routes and your ownership horizon.
The figures in this article are benchmarks by type as of August 2026, based on my information. The budget is counted on the individual aircraft and its records.
Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, purchase and entry into service of aircraft.
We work out the calendar of maintenance and a three-year budget for the candidates on your short list: https://grok.flights/go/tc-zadacha
Which aircraft is right for you?
Enter your route, passenger count and budget — we will show the aircraft that fit, with prices, and estimate the cost of the flight.
Find the right aircraft