The market in one minute
Whole-aircraft trading runs on three things: the airframe's status (hours, cycles, damage history), the quality of its records, and where its engines and major components sit in their maintenance cycle. Two identical airframes can differ in value by millions purely on engine green time and records completeness.
Whether you're moving a single turboprop or a fleet of narrowbodies, the sequence is the same — what changes is who's at the table: owners, operators, lessors, banks and brokers with mandates.
The buy side, step by step
- Define the mission, not the model. Range, payload, runway performance, ops environment. The model list falls out of that.
- Screen the records before the aircraft. Status sheets, AD/SB compliance, damage history, engine trend data. A cheap aircraft with gappy records is an expensive aircraft.
- LOI and deposit into escrow. Standard practice — protects both sides while inspection runs.
- Pre-purchase inspection at an independent Part 145. Scope it to the aircraft's age and history; borescopes on the engines are non-negotiable.
- Close via escrow, registry and deregistration/re-registration. Title, liens, export CofA and delivery acceptance — this is where good process pays for itself.
The sell side, briefly
Preparation beats marketing. Sellers who assemble complete records, a current status sheet and clean spec sheet before going to market close faster and defend price better. Decide early whether you're selling openly or through a discreet mandate — once an aircraft is visibly 'shopped', price erodes.
Where the network comes in
PlaneMarketplace is a front door to the aircraft.market network: live listings across jets, props, rotor and commercial, plus the brokers, lessors and operators behind them. You state the requirement once; it lands in front of the whole chain.