Buying an aircraft is not a matter of choosing a model, it is a matter of managing risk. The difference between a good deal and a bad one almost never lies in the purchase price: it comes to light at the very first heavy maintenance check.
Flight hours are not the main indicator. Airframe life is counted in cycles, and a business jet with four thousand hours flown on short legs can be more worn than one of the same age with the same hours flown on long routes.
To the price of the business jet you add the inspection and the rectification of findings, the delivery flight, customs clearance, registration, insurance and the first year of upkeep. For a midsize aircraft with modest flying, the annual ownership budget runs into millions, not hundreds of thousands.
A simple rule: below 100–150 flight hours a year, charter is almost always better value than buying. Your own business jet begins to justify itself at a consistently higher figure, or when the aircraft is needed as a tool of availability rather than as a way to save money.
The range is wide: from $3 million for an ageing light jet to $80–90 million for a new ultra-long-range aircraft. Within a single model the spread reaches a factor of two, driven by flight hours, maintenance programme status and the condition of the interior.
Legally no, in practice yes. An inspection costs tens of thousands of dollars and regularly turns up findings worth hundreds of thousands. Skipping it saves nothing but time.
From choosing a specific business jet to entry into service is usually 2–4 months. Most of the time goes on the inspection, the rectification of findings, customs and registration, not on the search.
A new aircraft comes with a warranty, a configuration built to your own specification and fresh maintenance programmes. A used one saves money but has to be checked. Where the sensible line falls is almost always decided by the planned annual flight hours.
Route, passengers and budget — we will show what fits and prepare a proposal.