Brokers: Business Aircraft Sales Remain Strong Despite Tariffs, Other Headaches

A panel of experienced aircraft brokers offered their insights on the state of what continues to be a high-demand market for new and pre-owned business aircraft during a Flight Deck session at 2025 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE).

Even with the return of 100% immediate expensing (also known as bonus depreciation) for the foreseeable future, brokers are still feeling pressure from buyers and sellers to close deals by the end of 2025.

“Absolutely, the market is heating up,” said Zipporah Marmor, managing partner with Opus Aero in North America. “If you’re looking to close an airplane this year to take advantage of the bonus depreciation for this year, then you need to move – or, you need to have moved already.”

Lack of available slots for pre-buy inspections is a large factor. “We’ll need to see some creative closing dynamics if you are waiting too long,” agreed jetAVIVA CEO Emily Deaton. “If you have a really significant tax pressure and you want to run the process in its full traditional way, it’s already too late to do that now.”

The market also continues to absorb the effects from tariffs, even as the chaos that followed the Trump administration’s initial April 2 announcement has mostly subsided.

However, some transactions are simply no longer possible in the current environment that can mean double-digit percentage increases to prices, not just on aircraft sales, but also parts and maintenance. Brad Harris, president and CEO of Dallas Jet International, talked of a large cabin intercontinental business jet that was undergoing importation for a client in the northeastern U.S. when tariffs hit.

“Suddenly there was a $19.5 million charge on this airplane,” he said. “We canceled the deal, flew to London, ended up in Belgium and found a European buyer and flew the airplane to Basel for a pre-buy. It’s actually closing today. But that was an airplane that we expected to sell in the U.S.”

Marmor expects the tariff situation to drive “bifurcation,” with American-registered airplanes remaining with U.S. buyers. “Those that are outside the U.S. are just not marketable right now in the U.S.,” she added, “depending on the conditions.”

While the market has largely returned to 2019 pricing levels from the frenzy of pandemic demand, The Jet Business Founder and CEO Steven Varsano noted other trends that emerged during COVID have continued. “We’re still seeing a lot of young buyers,” he said. “We’re still seeing first-time buyers go into big airplanes [and others] getting into fractional because they want to experience flying to Europe without getting on an airline.”

However, the changing political climate in the U.S. has led to other changes. “People aren’t talking as much about sustainability, though there’s still interest there,” Varsano said. “The OEMs are always looking to improve their effects on the atmosphere and [reduce] operating costs. That’s years in the making, and they’ve made steady increases to the efficiencies of these airplanes.”

When queried by moderator Jessie Naor, founder of The VIP Seat Podcast, for their predictions for the year ahead, all the panelists expressed guarded optimism for continued demand and steady growth, barring significant external disruptions.

“I’ve always looked at the [stock] market,” Harris said. “‘Where are we with the economy? Where are we with interest rates? Where are we with wars? Where are we with recession?’ If the stock market is doing well, people are buying airplanes.”

Noting that all the panelists are members of the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) Deaton emphasized the benefits to both buyers and sellers of enlisting the help of experienced brokers who understand the many nuances that come into play. “We are the most collaborative and competitive group of people in the industry,” she said, “because we work deals together.”