Aircraft easy to buy cheap, but costly to maintain

If you think owning a private plane is only for the super-rich, think again.

David Rosenblum, president of a medical billing company, bought a used twin-engine Aero Commander of 1957 vintage recently. Rosenblum did not tell northjersey.com how much he paid for it, but “the purchase price was less than the cost of overhauling the engines.”

PlaneCheck, one of the biggest firms in the business of sale and purchase of new and used aircraft, has listed 1,691 planes available for sale worldwide on its website. Interestingly, though the number of planes on sale increases every day, enquiries are weak.

On March 30, the website offered 1,681 aircraft for sale and reported 1,460 visitors online. Three days later, the number of planes on sale went up to 1,691 but there were only 368 visitors.
Apart from PlaneCheck, there are several big companies like Aviation Business Inc that have put up more than 800 planes on sale. C&S Enterprises has more than 100 and USA Aircraft Brokers Inc nearly 80.

The moot point, though, is: when everyone is selling why should you be buying? Giant corporations, from Bank of America to Citigroup and Starbucks, have put private jets on the block. In the first week of February, Bank of America sold three corporate luxury jets and a helicopter. Last December, the bank had nine corporate jets, including four Gulfstreams, while the Merrill Lynch acquisition brought along a Bombardier Global Express as well.

“It is easy to procure used aircraft cheap, but it’s a costly affair to maintain and run these machines. High parking charges, fuel and pilots’ salaries are a big pinch,” said a senior aviation executive with a prominent industrial house in Delhi.

“For every aircraft we have to employ at least two pilots and an equal number of engineers. You can imagine how much we have to spend,” he added.