Resources for Corporate Aircraft Sales and Leasing

If you fly frequently for business on commercial aircraft or corporate chartered aircraft, consider other options available. Your company's bottom line never completely escapes your conscience, so ensure the most bang for your buck by exploring corporate aircraft leasing or buying a corporate aircraft for the business.

Buying or leasing corporate airplanes allow you and your employees to spend more productive time working and less wasted time at the airport. It also lets you conduct business in multiple locations during the same trip, and a late meeting won't force you to stay away from home an extra night because the last flight departed as your meeting ended.

You'll find 3 primary ways to own or lease corporate airplanes: full ownership, fractional ownership and leasing. Keep these things in mind as you evaluate and compare corporate aircraft leasing or purchase:

1. How much and why you fly will help you decide whether aircraft leasing or ownership makes sense for you and your company.

2. Your personal security situation will improve since you control the passenger list.

3. Thoroughly understand the cost aircraft leasing vs. aircraft sales -- fees, maintenance, fuel, insurance, hangar, flight crew and piloting.

Enhance the status and flexibility of your company with corporate airplanes

Work the numbers, but if you or your employees travel more than 300 to 400 hours a year, that may justify talking to someone in aircraft sales about a new or used corporate jet.

Consider corporate jets for lease if the initial sticker shock makes you nervous

Corporate aircraft leasing doesn't differ greatly from owning a corporate jet. You usually still have to hire pilots and crew, schedule maintenance, rent a hangar and purchase insurance. The difference appears most notable at tax time when you can't take the depreciation deduction you might be entitled to if you owned the aircraft. Decide what type of lease best meets your needs. An operating lease allows you to take possession of the aircraft, but the lessor retains the aircraft title. A financing lease works much like an automobile lease where you have the option to purchase the aircraft at the end of your lease term.

Look into fractional ownership to avoid the hassles of full-ticket aircraft leasing or purchase

Fractional ownership offers the benefits of essentially having an aircraft at your beck and call, but you don't bother with aircrews, maintenance or renting hangars. Essentially, you buy a fraction of interest (as little as 1/16, which translates into 50 hours of flying per year) in an aircraft that belongs to a fleet. Then the company makes your aircraft, or one like it, available to you with minimum notice. You let them know your schedule, and they take care of the rest. Like leasing and ownership, fractional ownership ends up on the pricey side but with costs that are more predictable.

• Even if go with corporate aircraft sales and leasing over fractional ownership, you don't have to deal with all the aircraft management issues that go along with that decision; consider hiring an aircraft management company that handles air crews, fuel, maintenance, hangar space and aircraft-related accounting services for companies that lease or purchase corporate jets.