Aircraft Management After Purchase: Going It Alone vs Hiring a Manager

What happens the day after closing?

The day after closing, the aircraft becomes an operating business that needs a pilot roster, a maintenance plan, an insurance policy in force, a hangar contract, and someone answering the phone when a tire goes flat in Aspen. Most first-time owners underestimate this. The transaction ends at delivery; the operation starts the next morning, and the FAA, the insurer, and the engine program all expect a responsible party on file.

The choice is binary in practice: run it yourself (Part 91 self-managed) or hand the keys to a management company under their operating certificate or yours. Both are legitimate. The right answer depends on how many hours you fly, whether you want charter revenue, and how much administrative friction you'll tolerate.

What does self-management actually require?

Self-management means the owner — usually through a single-purpose LLC — directly employs the crew, contracts the maintenance, and carries the operational liability. That requires at minimum two type-rated pilots for a jet (captain and first officer, with a third on rotation for anything above light-jet utilization), a director of maintenance or contracted DOM-of-record, a scheduler, and a bookkeeper who understands aviation-specific accounting including IRS Section 280F and personal-use SIFL calculations.

Realistic fixed overhead for a self-managed midsize jet runs $850,000-$1.2 million annually before a single hour is flown. Two captains at $180,000-$240,000 base, two first officers at $110,000-$150,000, payroll taxes and benefits at roughly 25% on top, hangar at $4,000-$12,000 per month depending on geography, insurance at $35,000-$120,000 depending on hull value and pilot experience, and recurrent training at $35,000-$50,000 per pilot per year at FlightSafety or CAE.

The advantage is control and cost. No management fee, no 5-10% markup on fuel and parts, no shared crew, and full discretion over scheduling. The disadvantage is that you are now running a small aviation company. If your captain quits in October, you are interviewing pilots in November.

What does a management company actually do for $10K-$25K per month?

A management company provides the operational infrastructure — crew employment, scheduling, maintenance oversight, insurance procurement, regulatory compliance, and 24/7 dispatch — in exchange for a fixed monthly fee plus pass-through direct operating costs. The fee scale is roughly $10,000-$15,000 monthly for light jets and turboprops, $15,000-$20,000 for midsize, and $20,000-$25,000+ for large-cabin and ultra-long-range.

The fee covers the back office. It does not cover fuel, maintenance, crew salaries, training, hangar, or insurance — those are billed at cost (or cost-plus, depending on the contract). Read the management agreement for the markup structure: some companies pass fuel through at cost with a tankering discount shared with the owner, others mark up retail by 3-7%. Same for parts. The honest companies disclose the markup explicitly; the less honest ones bury it in "administrative recovery" line items.

The leverage a management company provides is real. They buy insurance as a fleet, which can cut a first-time owner's premium by 30-50% versus an individual policy. They negotiate fuel contracts at major FBO chains — Signature, Atlantic, Million Air — that shave $0.50-$1.50 per gallon off retail. They keep a crew bench, so when your captain takes vacation, a qualified replacement shows up. And they handle the Part 135 certificate if you want to charter the aircraft.

When does charter revenue change the math?

Charter revenue through a management company's Part 135 certificate can offset 30-60% of fixed costs on a midsize jet flying 200+ owner hours per year, and it is the single biggest financial argument for hiring a manager. The owner cannot legally charter the aircraft under Part 91 — that requires a certificated operator. A management company with a 135 certificate places the aircraft on their charter fleet and books third-party trips when the owner isn't flying.

Typical economics on a midsize jet: charter rate of $7,500-$9,500 per hour, of which the owner receives roughly 85-90% of the hourly revenue net of direct costs, with the management company keeping the remainder plus a per-trip handling fee. A jet flying 200 owner hours and 200 charter hours per year can generate $400,000-$700,000 in net charter revenue against fixed overhead. The trade-off is wear on the airframe, accelerated engine cycles, and reduced availability — charter trips get booked into your schedule and bumping a paying customer creates friction.

If you fly fewer than 150 hours per year and don't want charter, self-management gets harder to justify because the fixed crew cost is the same whether the aircraft flies 100 or 400 hours. Below 100 hours, fractional or jet card usually beats ownership entirely.

Which management companies should be on the short list?

The major national players are Jet Aviation, Executive Jet Management (a NetJets subsidiary), Clay Lacy, Solairus, Jet Linx, and Meridian, with regional operators like Pentastar, Priester, and Elliott Aviation holding strong reputations in their geographies. Each has a different posture. EJM leans toward larger-cabin owners and integrates with the NetJets ecosystem. Solairus operates a distributed model with bases nationwide. Clay Lacy has deep West Coast charter demand. Jet Linx markets to owner-flown light and midsize aircraft.

Interview at least three. Ask for the management agreement in writing before any letter of intent. Specifically ask: what is the fuel markup, what is the parts markup, who owns the crew, what happens to the crew if you terminate, what is the notice period (typically 60-90 days), and what is the charter revenue split. Ask for a sample monthly owner statement from a comparable aircraft with the prior owner's identifying information redacted. If they won't show you one, that tells you something.

What are the pitfalls first-year owners miss?

The three pitfalls that consistently surprise first-year owners are insurance loading, crew turnover, and the gap between budgeted and actual direct operating costs. First-time owners pay 50-200% over experienced-owner rates for hull and liability — a management company's fleet policy mitigates this but does not eliminate it. Crew turnover in 2023-2024 has been brutal across the industry; expect to lose at least one pilot in the first 18 months and budget $40,000-$75,000 in recruiting and training to replace them.

Direct operating cost budgets from brokers and OEMs typically run 15-25% light. A midsize jet quoted at $3,200 per hour all-in usually lands at $3,700-$4,100 once engine reserves, unscheduled maintenance, and actual fuel burn at current Jet-A prices are tallied. Build the budget on actual numbers from a comparable aircraft's prior 24 months of statements, not the OEM brochure.