Aircraft & Yacht Acquisition
Buying and selling aircraft and yachts. Inspection, valuation, import and registration, crew and management, and the honest arithmetic on what ownership actually costs against chartering.
The principle
Most families arrive at this after enough hours chartered to feel they are paying rent. That instinct is sound and the arithmetic is often not. An aircraft costs money on every day you do not fly it, and the annual figure surprises almost everyone the first time they see it properly set out.
Our first job is usually to talk you out of it, or rather to put the real number in front of you and let you decide. Below a certain number of hours a year, chartering wins comfortably. Above it, ownership starts to make sense, and fractional sits between the two for people who want the certainty without the whole burden.
Where the answer is to buy, the work is unglamorous: a pre-purchase inspection that finds what the seller did not mention, an import and registration path settled before an offer is made, and a management arrangement that does not quietly consume the saving you bought the aircraft for.
What we arrange
01
Hours flown, typical sectors, how many seats you actually use, and whether the aircraft would charter out when you are not aboard. Set against acquisition cost, crew, hangarage, insurance, scheduled maintenance and the engine programme. We produce that figure before you look at a single aircraft, because it usually changes which aircraft you should be looking at.
02
Aircraft are sold on their logbooks as much as their airframe. Damage history, engine and airframe hours against their programmes, airworthiness directives complied with, and any period where records are thin. An independent pre-purchase inspection at a facility we choose rather than the seller's usual shop. The same discipline applies to a yacht: independent survey, sea trial, and an engine hours record that matches the story.
03
An aircraft on the Indian register carries DGCA obligations and a different cost and operating profile from a foreign registration, and the choice affects who may fly it, where, and on what terms. Yachts face the same question between Indian coastal registration and foreign flagging. Both are settled before an offer, because they change the number and occasionally the aircraft.
04
Whether to place the aircraft with a management company, whether to permit charter out of it, and who employs the crew. Charter revenue offsets real cost and brings regulatory obligations, wear and other people aboard your aircraft. We negotiate the management agreement rather than accept a standard form, because that document decides what ownership actually feels like.
05
The market for a particular type is small and well informed, and an aircraft that has been visibly listed for months loses value simply for having been listed. We approach known buyers directly, prepare the records first, and let the aircraft come to market once rather than sit on it.
The Beckon standard
Questions, answered once
It depends far more on how you fly than on how much you fly. Regular sectors on a predictable routing favour ownership. Occasional long-haul on varied routings almost never does, because you own an aircraft that is the wrong size for half your trips. We model your actual travel from the past two years rather than a projection, since projections flatter ownership.
It depends on where you fly and who operates it. An Indian registration carries DGCA obligations and suits an aircraft based and used here. A foreign registration can be more flexible for international operation, with its own consequences for domestic use. It is a question for your aviation counsel and your chartered accountant together, and it should be answered before an offer, not after.
It offsets real cost and it is not free money. You accept a commercial operating regime, more cycles on the airframe, and other people aboard your aircraft. Some owners find the trade worthwhile and some are quietly unhappy within a year. We set out both honestly before you commit to a management agreement that assumes it.
Yes, and preparation matters more than marketing. Records in order, deferred maintenance addressed, and a realistic asking figure. The buyer pool for any given type is small and talks to itself, so a quiet approach protects the price in a way a public listing does not.
By call, message or WhatsApp to your concierge. There is no form, no ticket number and no queue. One line is enough to begin.
Beckon is Rs. 4,00,000 annually with a Rs. 1,00,000 joining fee, exclusive of GST. Beckon Black is by invitation only. Service costs are billed separately at actuals, with no commissions and no markups.
No. Vendor and supplier invoices are passed to you exactly as received. Beckon is paid by your membership, which is why our recommendation is never for sale.
Beckon members are supported from ten in the morning to ten at night, seven days a week. Beckon Black members have a named relationship manager available at every hour.
Every request is held by a single named concierge. Details are not circulated internally, staff are bound by confidentiality undertakings, and Beckon signs a non disclosure agreement with any member who asks.
No. Membership is limited instead. We keep the house small so that no concierge is ever carrying more than they can hold properly.
Yes. Our members live and travel across London, Dubai, Singapore, Zurich, New York and the Mediterranean, and we hold relationships in each.
Through introduction by an existing member, or through an application read personally by our secretary. Every applicant meets us before an invitation is extended.
A private conversation
A line, a call or a message is enough. Your concierge will ask what is necessary and take the rest from there.
Speak to BeckonService costs are billed separately at actuals. No commissions, no markups.