How much does a used jet cost?

Answer 1

Used jet airplanes can be purchased for $3 million and up.

It's all over the map. Price depends on:

• model, age and condition

• does the plane meet Federal Aviation Regulation Part 36 noise abatement requirements? If it doesn't, you can't fly it into airports in populated areas. Add about $100,000 per engine if you need this.

• does the plane meet the Reduced Vertical Separation Minima regulations? Airspace has historically been broken up into these vertical separations: 1000 feet between the ground and 29,000 feet; 2000 feet between 29,000 and 41,000 feet; 4000 feet above 41,000 feet. Now they have GPS altimeters, radar altimeters and air data computers, and it's safe to stack planes 1000 feet apart vertically from FL290 to FL410. If the plane isn't set up for RVSM now, expect to pay at least $100,000 to get it put on the plane.

• how current are the overhauls on the engines, landing gear and all other time-limited systems? Overhauling a jet engine is very expensive, you really need to do all the engines on the plane at the same time, and most jets are multiengine aircraft. (A couple of the very light jets are single-engine, but most jets are at least two-engine airplanes.)

• How's the upholstery? There are only two reasons to buy a jet airplane: revenue service (meaning you sell tickets) and executive transport (meaning you fly rich people around). Neither paying customers nor rich people want to fly in airplanes with torn-up seats.

Like I said, jet pricing is all over the map. You can buy something like a used Boeing 727 that's overdue for everything for a million, million-five...anyway, reasonably inexpensive for a jet. You're then going to turn around and sink five or six million into bringing it up to date. By the time you're done, you've got a real pretty little jetliner that you can use to fly tourists from Chicago to Orlando, or whatever you want to do. You can also buy a two-year-old Gulfstream G450 for $40 to $50 million. That plane could be put into service fairly quickly--quicker than ordering a new one they'd have to build for you, at any rate. It already meets Stage III, it's already RVSM-certified, it shouldn't have enough hours on it to need any major services, and it's probably got a nice interior.