Whether you own an aircraft personally or as part of a business, you need to know how much it’s worth. Knowing this information is crucial for several reasons, including the possibility of selling it, paying property taxes responsibly, and listing the values of assets appropriately. Determining how much an aircraft is worth is not as simple as looking up the value of a car, however.
How Much Is an Aircraft Worth?
While you can often look up aircraft values on your own, the best way to determine an aircraft’s value is by having a professional appraisal. However, you might get a few different determinations all in the same report:
- Base Value: This value is the appraiser’s assumption of an aircraft’s value in an open and stable market. It’s often the “best case scenario” value rather than what you can realistically expect to actually get for your plane.
- Comprehensive Appraisal: This value might involve opening parts of the aircraft and getting under panels to confirm what the maintenance records indicate.
- Desktop Appraisal: This value doesn’t involve any physical inspection of the aircraft but instead just market research and looking at maintenance records for the best estimate.
- Distress Value: This is how much a plane might be sold for under abnormal circumstances, such as liquidation or auction settings.
- Financial Appraisal: This kind of appraisal looks into the income potential of an aircraft in terms of residual values and leasing opportunities.
- Full Appraisal: This value does involve both maintenance records and a physical inspection of the aircraft.
- Securitized Value: A lease-encumbered value might be the most accurate market value you can get since it takes into account depreciation and any remaining lease or financing payments left on a current aircraft.
Keep in mind that a thorough appraisal is going to require significant analysis of your maintenance records, so be sure you have those available. They will tell an appraiser a lot about the condition of any aircraft as it currently is.
Owning Isn’t Always Better
You might have been thrilled when you first started owning or leasing an airplane, but there are costs involved with it that might not always be worth it. Granted, you get a sense of independence, but there’s a price tag that comes with the status symbol.
It all starts with the upfront costs of buying or leasing a plane. After that, you have recurring costs to account for, too. When you actually travel, you’ll need fuel and possibly a pilot. Even when not flying, you have to pay for maintenance and storage. Those maintenance costs go up the more hours you fly in the air. Insurance is always a necessity, too.
Private Charters Might Be Cheaper
You don’t have to own an aircraft or lease it yourself to enjoy the status symbol, convenience, and comfort of private air travel. You can also hire the services of Stratos Jet Charters or one of the other many charter plane services available across the country. The immediate benefit is being able to choose where you fly since you won’t be restricted to routine commercial routes.
Even more than that, you can make your own schedule. As you do, you might even fly in better safety since private jets often fly at higher altitudes above inclement weather than commercial jetliners do. You also get to skip layovers and only go to the destinations that you prefer.
You can also control the crowd you’re around if there even is one. You can bypass the masses of strangers at public airports, and you’ll only fly with those that you invite along. There won’t be baggage fees, but there might be some delicious catering on the plane instead of generic snacks.
There are several good reasons for always knowing what your aircraft value is, from taxes to insurance. If you decide to sell, then you still enjoy air travel privately and on your own schedule with the right charter services. Depending on how much you fly, they might just be more affordable than owning and maintaining your own aircraft all the time.