“A lot of selling is about getting ready to sell,” the Masterclass host Jay Mesinger, CEO and president of the company told attendees. It was timely advice for many new owners. “In the past pandemic years, we had so many buyers come in, that there’s bound to be a whole host of people who were first-time buyers but are now becoming first-time sellers. And first-time sellers are going to need the programming of how to do a sale correctly”

A good starting point is planning the sale and recruiting the right quality and type of advisers to conclude the sale successfully. In addition to selecting a broker, sellers needed to choose a specialist aviation lawyer, maintenance facility to complete a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) and specialist financial help. Plus allow enough time to conduct due diligence.

‘Not as excited about the idea of selling’

Fully engaging first-time sellers in the sale of their jet is the primary mission of Sue Carriere, partner with business aviation law firm Carriere, Little & Leach. “One of the things I find with sellers – especially first-time sellers – is that they are not as excited about the idea of selling as they are about the idea of buying. So, getting them engaged to provide the information I need is my first goal,” said Carriere.

Focusing only on aviation law, Carriere works with clients’ advisers to ensure liability protection, tax mitigation, and FAA compliance. “Tax planning is as important on the selling side as well as the buying side,” she said. “They may have fully depreciated the plane by taking advantage of bonus depreciation or, in rare cases, keeping them for a long time. Now they need to engage an aviation savvy tax planner because it’s a very specific area of taxes.”

Sellers need to ask: is there recapture of the depreciation? “A lot of people never hear those words until it’s too late,” said Carriere. So, It’s important to plan the tax ramifications for the sale of the old plane, as they are planning a replacement strategy for the new plane.  Also sellers needed to engage specialist help weeks if not months before closing the deal.

Mesinger highlighted the need to seek specialist advice and for buyers to keep their advisers “in their own swim lane”. He told delegates: “To think your broker is going to be your tax consultant … is wrong and not a fair position for what should be a winning team.”

‘Eleventh-hour hold up’

Another plea for early action by first-time sellers came from Luci Johnson, operations, documentation and servicing manager with PNC Aviation Finance. “A lot of times when selling an aircraft, the lender is the last party that is brough to the table,” said Johnson. “But, in reality, we should be one of the first as soon as the seller is marketing the aircraft. Reach out to your lender with regard to what the pay off may be. There may be a shortfall that arises and we don’t want there to be an eleventh-hour hold up for the closing.”

As a regulated bank, PNC Aviation Finance has laws and regulations which it must adher to and protocols in place to ensure compliance. Providng PNC with the information it needs sooner rather than later is an important means of concluding a successful sale as soon as possible, said Johnson. “Do not reach out to your lender two days before closing. We need plenty of time,” she said. “We can respond very quickly but we want that to be the exception and not the norm.”

For Todd Duncan, chairman, Duncan Aviation, it is all about closing the deal and mitigating risks by bringing together a team of experts. That is particularly important with the recent shift in the balance of power in transactions. “This has gone from a sellers’ market to a much more balanced market in terms of aircraft sales,” said Duncan. “That’s why it’s especially important to talk about the team you [sellers] need and what their duties are.”

With specialist advice, sellers can gain true insight into the value of their assets and eliminate surprises within the pre-purchase inspection. PPIs are a critical part of aircraft transactions and one that has been overlooked in recent years, he said.

‘Difficult to schedule PPIs’

While finding slots had proved challenging, Duncan said availability had improved for some categories of aircraft. “For the past year, it’s been difficult to schedule PPIs,” he said. “We, and others, have tried to carve time out of our schedules. Within a two-to-four-week period we can take in small to medium-sized projects, depending on the scope of that pre-buy.” Larger aircraft are more difficult to get in and can take a month or two months.

His final advice to sellers, like his fellow speakers, was about the importance of planning. “The more they plan before hand, the better off they will be.”

Meanwhile, Mesinger, from Mesinger Jet Sales explained the need for the new Masterclass series like this: “What is usual and customary in aviation is always changing. What was usual and customary during the pandemic is not necessarily so today. So, we thought we would capture the new usual and customary in this new Masterclass series.”

The next free, one-hour CJI Masterclass – How to have the perfect ownership experience – takes place on May 22nd, 2024. You can listen to the first Masterclass here.

The more sellers plan their transactions, the more successful they will be, according to panelists.

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Our cover feature, US Charter: Can its climb continue? focuses on seven leading operators: Clay Lacy, flyExclusive, Jet Aviation, Jet Linx, Solairus, VistaJet and Wheels Up. After demand for private jet aviation reached new heights in the pandemic, is demand for charter beginning to slow? Plus, how do the operators we consulted view their prospects over the next 10 years?

But we begin the latest edition of CJIQ322 with a report about Hamish Harding, chairman, Action Aviation and his journey into space aboard the Jeff Bezos New Shepard 4 space rocket. Harding joined five other astronauts for the 10-minute space flight. Despite a tough training regime, Harding treasured the remarkable view. “Borderless, beautiful and fragile – Earth amid the complete blackness above, which was a clear definition of space as I experienced it.”

From space to supersonic speed (Mach 1.8 or 1,190 mph, to be precise), as we strap up to fly a modified Phenom Embraer 300 used as a camera ship to film the movie Top Gun: Maverick. Aviation entrepreneur Jonathan Spano explains how he backed a hunch to invest in repurposing the Phenom for aerial photography ahead of shooting (just with a camera) the supersonic Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets starring in the blockbuster movie.

“Had it not been for a big feature film like Top Gun, it would take 10 years to pay back my investment,” says Spano. “No sane person takes an $8m aircraft and takes nearly two years and seven figures on a project like this.” We also talk to Phenom pilot Kevin LaRosa who also flew another camera ship, a modified Aero L-39 Albatross Cold War jet trainer to film the dogfight sequences. “I flew the Phenom 300 for the approaches to the USS Theodore Roosevelt super carrier,” La Rosa recalls. “We are probably the only civilians ever to be approved to fly that close in a private jet.”

We stay with heroes – this time, sustainability heroes, as we unveil Corporate Jet Investor’s list of the 20 most influential men and women in sustainable business aviation. CJI recruited five leading independent industry figures to identify the Sustainability Power Players 2022 to mark the achievement who individuals who are driving real progress in aviation sustainability.

Big thanks to our judges: David Crick, accredited senior appraiser, American Society of Appraisers and MD DavAir Group, Marie-Laure Gassier, Jet and Yacht Finance specialist, BNP Paribas, Dan Hubbard, senior vice president Communications, NBAA, Anthony Lam, Director, External Affairs, Asian Business Aircraft Association, Tim Obitts, formerly president and CEO, National Air Transport Association and Ford von Weise, director – global head, Aircraft Finance at Citi Private Bank.

Commenting on the Power Players heroes, Dan Hubbard, senior vice president, NBAA said: “This inaugural list of nominees includes people who have been at the forefront of aviation sustainability and who are pioneers in moving the industry forward toward a carbon neutral future.”

From Piper Cubs to business jets in 66 years tracks the journey our latest Aircraft Family profile featuring Duncan Aviation. The Nebraska-based MRO specialist also provides aircraft sales, avionic installations, interior and paint completions as well as parts support for aircraft manufactured by Bombardier, Dassault, Textron, Gulfstream and Embraer. Today the company is led by Todd Duncan and also includes sons Harrison and PK on the executive team.

Far less durable has proved the UK firm Arena Television. This was one of the country’s biggest outdoor broadcasting firms, before its directors fled pursued for a suspected multi-million-dollar, asset-backed lending fraud. We unravel the tangled finances of the company, with help from Alan Cunningham, formerly partner, DLA Piper.

Another company profile – this time with a much happier outcome – concerns Four Corners Aviation. A sister company of Mente, Four Corners aims to have spotted a new niche in the private jet market by offering all the benefits of ownership “with none of the hassle”, according to Vincent Kavanagh, its head of Sales. “There’s more transparency to [the company’s new] Freedom programme over a five-year period than there is in a jet card solution, because the jet card is affected by market costs and inflation,” claims Kavanagh.

The edition also includes reports from our CJI Singapore 2022 conference and CJI Revolution.Aero conference staged earlier this year.

We close with our Day in the Life profile of ferry pilot Margrit Waltz. After completing 900 transatlantic crossings and logging 25,000 flight hours, Waltz is almost ready to retire. “In May ’87, I delivered three aircraft and a baby,” Waltz tells us. “I flew nine months pregnant, had a baby and a week later I was back in the cockpit.”

Meanwhile, read the digital version of Corporate Jet Investor Quarterly here. Or register for your free print copy here.

Above: The Phenom 300 camera ship – armed only with movie film – slides into the Super Hornet’s six o’clock position.

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Almost everyone involved in operating or selling business aircraft in the US will have touched upon Duncan Aviation. For Americans Duncan is not just a family owned company. It is an institution. Founded in 1956 the company now has 2000 employees with full service facilities in: Battle Creek, Michigan; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Providence, Utah. It also has more than 20 avionic facilities and 10 centres specialising in engine rapid response.

Outside the US Duncan is not as well known. Although this is changing, it is not a surprise. Duncan only has facilities in the US and just 0.25% of its staff are based outside America. Or, more simply, five people.

Arjen Groenveld, based in Amsterdam, was the company’s first international hire when he joined in 2005. Before that he was one of the company’s first international customers. On one of his visits to Duncan’s facilities he told the company that they were missing out on international sales. They listened. Then hired him.

Convincing Europeans to fly their aircraft to a US maintenance facility for heavy checks was not easy to start with. But Groenveld had a strong ally: the $/Eu exchange rate.

“The Euro/Dollar exchange rate was a huge help when I started,” says Groenveld. “Owners – many of whom were new buyers – would suddenly find that they had Eu1.2 million checks so it was easy to say we can save you Eu300,000 by flying to the US – even with ferry flights. That was easy, but once they had experienced how Duncan is different, many of them have stayed with us.”

Despite having 2000 employees, Todd Duncan the firm’s chairman, still refers to it it as a small company. But, it is a small company that has invested in technology. The company’s MyDuncan system gives owners or managers an easy way to track and approve costs.

“When I was an aircraft manager, I hated the fact that you would take an aircraft for maintenance and then have to wait weeks for the final bill. There is nothing worse than having to go to an owner and say: ‘I am afraid that check we did three months ago cost $200,000 more than we thought.’ At Duncan nothing happens without the owner signing it off.”

The company typically deals with more than 2000 aircraft each year. Some 46 of these are heavy maintenance checks – often including repainting and new interiors. A significant number of these are now flying in from Europe.

After experimenting with Groenveld, the company has also placed maintenance specialists in Mexico, Brazil and Auckland. It has also just hired its first salesperson outside the US: Tim Barber (pictured).

Barber joins in Europe

Although Duncan is best known for its maintenance, the company has always been involved in pre-owned sales and advisory. It is a founder member of the National Aircraft Resale Association and has been involved in 3,500 aircraft transactions.

“Duncan Aviation clearly has a fantastic track record in selling aircraft and great customer relations – which is brilliant. But probably the most exciting thing from my perspective is that I have is access to over 2000 real business aviation experts,” says Barber. “With one call I can get through to unique technical expertise – either Arjen or, very often, someone who I have not even met.”

Barber says that Duncan’s maintenance expertise also means it can help support transactions by bundling in services. Barber only joined the company in March but has already picked up two exclusive sales mandates and one advisory for a buyer.

“It has a small business feeling but is also a serious player in the business aviation industry,” says Barber. “When I was flying back from Lincoln after my interview I looked across the runway and all I could see were buildings with the Duncan Aviation logo. As a broker it is really inspiring.

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