No one should buy a used aircraft on the fly. But that does not mean the parties cannot, or should not, move quickly and efficiently to close a purchase. Some prospective purchasers treat buying an aircraft as if it is just like acquiring real estate, a car, or a boat. However, those purchases do not trigger similar complex and intersecting regulatory, liability, tax, risk management, financing/leasing, and technical equipment issues.
Sometimes trying to pace or schedule an aircraft purchase from any point in the deal continuum to closing seems more aspirational than practical. After more than four decades of practicing law, it seems no deal is the same; no deal is “simple;” and few purchases occur without external factors complicating decisions such as the U.S. presidential election, turbulent geopolitics, and economic conditions. How, then, does a purchaser start this buying journey, and what should the purchaser expect to happen?
David G. Mayer is a member of the global Aviation Practice Group at Shackelford, McKinley & Norton in Dallas, which handles private aircraft matters, including regulatory compliance, tax planning, purchases, sales, leasing and financing, risk management, insurance, aircraft management and operations, hangar leasing, and related corporate work. Mayer frequently represents corporations and high- and ultra-high-net worth individuals and other aircraft owners, flight departments, lessees, borrowers, operators, sellers, purchasers, corporations and managers, as well as lessors and lenders. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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