Family Office Aviation Procurement Guide Sets Out Mission-First Approach to Choosing Charter, Jet Card, Fractional, Lease or Ownership
Why It MattersThe guide moves private aviation buying from fleet specifications toward usage profiles and contract terms, so brokers and operators face closer scrutiny of availability commitments, disruption plans and peak-period definitions.
ACMI World has published a family office aviation procurement guide that advises procurement should start from the journeys that cannot be compromised rather than from an aircraft's specification sheet. It recommends building a 12 to 24-month travel profile from actual trips, recording sectors flown, passenger numbers, luggage and equipment, lead times, overnight stays, international routings and cancelled or changed plans. The guide distinguishes annual flying hours from peak concurrency: an office flying only 150 hours a year may still need two aircraft at once during school holidays or major events.
The guide states there is no universal break-even point between chartering, leasing and ownership, and that the comparison should focus on control, availability and fixed exposure. Ad hoc charter suits irregular travel and avoids residual-value risk but can be hard to secure at peak times. Jet cards offer clearer pricing, though buyers should check peak-day restrictions, call-out rules, fuel surcharges, expiry provisions and what counts as a substitute aircraft. Fractional ownership suits consistent, planned demand, but share size, interchange rules and programme geography matter.
On governance, the guide recommends one accountable decision-maker supported by legal, tax, security and finance advisers, and a brief covering aircraft age, maintenance status, configuration, connectivity, baggage capacity, home base and acceptable downtime. It advises separating fixed costs (crew, management fees, insurance, hangarage, scheduled maintenance) from variable costs (fuel, navigation and landing charges, catering, de-icing, positioning, crew hotels, unscheduled maintenance), and obtaining aviation-specific tax advice early for UK-resident principals on VAT and Air Passenger Duty.
For due diligence, it advises confirming the Air Operator Certificate, safety oversight, insurance limits, crew training and maintenance arrangements, establishing whether a broker acts as principal or agent, and requiring a concrete disruption plan with escalation contacts, replacement-aircraft parameters and response times. It also calls for negotiating minimum daily flight-time charges, positioning rules, overnight charges, peak-period definitions, cancellation windows, fuel adjustments and annual escalators, along with availability commitments and downtime remedies for dedicated aircraft.
