Short
Commercial management is when a management company charters your aircraft during periods when it's not used by your flights. The idea is to reduce downtime: the average private jet flies 200-400 hours per year, with a potential of 800-1,000, and fixed costs for a long-haul aircraft exceed 1.5-$2 million per year, regardless of flight hours. For the super-midsize class, third-party loads offset 30-60% of these costs. The owner retains departure priority, but the aircraft wears out faster.
Buying a business jet is only the first step. Then operation begins: hiring and training crew, maintenance, regulatory compliance, flight planning, insurance, accounting. Aircraft management means handing all this operational work to a professional company that effectively becomes your flight department. Below we cover what the service includes, how it works legally and when it makes sense.
Why an owner needs it
Large corporations with several aircraft usually establish their own flight department — staff pilots, technicians, dispatchers. For a private owner or family office, maintaining such a structure for a single aircraft is irrational: the fixed costs and administrative load are too high.
A management company solves this differently: the owner gets the same flight-department functions but through the management company's scale — its experience, supplier relationships and established processes. This makes it possible to use the aircraft without immersing yourself in daily operational routine.
What the service includes
The range of services is broad and usually covers the whole operation. Flight operations: planning and dispatch, obtaining permits, filing flight plans, coordinating ground handling and catering. The management company ensures the aircraft is ready to depart when the owner needs it.
Crew: recruitment, vetting, training and ongoing oversight of pilots and cabin crew — including tracking qualifications, schedules and duty limits. The technical side: arranging scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, repairs, avionics and cabin upgrades, and keeping technical records.
The administrative and financial side: insurance, accounting and reporting, negotiating fuel rates and discounts, securing hangar space, ensuring compliance with national and international requirements. In effect the owner gets a single accountable party instead of a dozen separate contractors.
Who the aircraft manager is
At the centre of the arrangement sits a dedicated aircraft manager — the owner's single point of contact. They coordinate the whole team of specialists and ensure issues are resolved without drawing the owner into details: from crew recruitment and flight scheduling to financial reporting and upgrades.
The profession is formalised in the industry: NBAA runs the Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) programme, which identifies qualified professionals able to lead a flight department or a company operating business aircraft. Holding this qualification is a practical marker when choosing a management company.
Managed charter: offsetting costs
Many management companies offer to charter the aircraft out when the owner does not need it. The company handles the whole process: marketing the aircraft, taking bookings, operating the flights and billing, turning an idle asset into a source of income.
Net charter income can cover a noticeable share of annual fixed ownership costs. But there is a price: wear and hours increase, commercial compliance requirements are added, and the aircraft is not always instantly available. The decision on managed charter follows from how much the owner flies personally.
The legal side: Part 91 and Part 135
A key nuance worth understanding before signing is which rules the aircraft operates under. An owner's private flights operate under FAR Part 91, commercial charter under Part 135. If the aircraft is placed on a management company's Part 135 certificate, the allocation of responsibility changes.
Industry publications stress that under Part 91 operation the owner retains operational control as far as the regulator is concerned, and therefore primary liability. Moreover, contract terms can affect the tax treatment of flights — the question of 'possession, command and control' of the aircraft matters to tax authorities too.
The practical takeaway: a management agreement should be reviewed with a specialist lawyer. NBAA publishes guidance on aircraft operating and ownership options, including support-services agreements, dry leases, joint ownership and time sharing — material that helps identify which structure suits your situation.
Safety and standards
Professional management directly affects safety. The management company ensures the aircraft is operated by trained and qualified pilots, monitors regulatory compliance and implements safety management systems.
The industry benchmark here is the International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO), along with independent audits such as ARGUS and Wyvern. A management company holding these certifications is a practical indicator of process maturity, not merely a formality.
How to choose a management company
There are several criteria. First, experience with your aircraft type: operating a heavy long-range jet differs from a light one. Second, reputation and safety record confirmed by audits. Third, financial transparency: how costs are calculated, whether there are hidden commissions, how the owner is reported to.
Fourth is scale fit. A large company gets better fuel and insurance rates through volume, but a smaller one may offer a more personal approach. Fifth is geography: having a base and infrastructure where you fly most. It is worth remembering that the best management is neither the most expensive nor the cheapest.
What it costs
The payment structure usually includes a fixed monthly management fee plus variable costs paid by the owner: fuel, maintenance, fees, crew salaries. Specific amounts depend on aircraft type, utilisation and the service package.
Savings arise not only from the load removed but from scale: management companies obtain fuel, insurance and maintenance discounts unavailable to a private owner. Part of this saving offsets the cost of the service itself, and with active managed charter, part of the fixed costs too.
Registration and jurisdiction
A separate task in ownership is choosing the registration jurisdiction. It determines the applicable airworthiness rules, tax treatment, crew requirements and even the ease of a later sale. Different registries offer different combinations of these conditions, and there is no universally 'best' option.
The management company usually takes part in this decision alongside specialist lawyers and tax advisers. The practical criteria are where the aircraft is based, where it flies most and what ownership structure is used. A mistake here is expensive to fix, so the question is settled before purchase, not after.
Maintenance planning
Business-jet maintenance follows the manufacturer's programme: certain tasks fall due by hours, by calendar or by cycles. The management company runs this schedule, planning heavy checks in advance so the aircraft is not out of service at an inconvenient moment.
A separate tool is hourly programmes for engines and airframe. They convert the risk of a sudden expensive event into a predictable per-hour payment and improve resale liquidity, since buyers prefer aircraft with transferable coverage. Whether to enrol depends on the aircraft's age and the ownership horizon.
What stays with the owner
Even under full management, some decisions remain the owner's. These are strategic questions: whether to charter the aircraft out, whether to invest in cabin and avionics upgrades, when to sell and what to move to. The management company provides data and recommendations, but the choice is the owner's.
The owner also approves the budget and receives regular expense reporting. Good practice is monthly or quarterly reports broken down by line item, showing the real economics of ownership and flagging deviations from plan in time.
Typical owner mistakes
The first mistake is underestimating fixed costs. An owner moving from charter is used to everything being included in the flight invoice; in ownership costs run year-round whether the aircraft flies or sits in the hangar. The second is choosing a management company on price alone, without assessing experience and safety.
The third is signing a management agreement without legal review: how operational control is allocated, who is liable in an incident, how costs are calculated and whether there are hidden commissions. The fourth is treating charter income as guaranteed: it depends on the market, season and aircraft location and may fall well short of expectations.
Alternatives to full management
Management is not the only model. Fractional ownership divides the aircraft and part of the fixed costs among co-owners, with the programme operator taking on the operational side. Jet cards give a fixed hourly rate with no ownership at all. On-demand charter suits those who fly irregularly.
The choice between these is driven by annual hours and the need for control. Full ownership with management gives maximum control over the aircraft — cabin configuration, crew, availability — but also carries the highest fixed costs. The lower the utilisation, the stronger the case for lighter forms of access.
How JetHunter works with owners
JetHunter supports the owner across the whole cycle: from sourcing and purchasing the aircraft to arranging its operation and, if needed, selling it. This makes it possible to build the ownership structure deliberately — accounting for how much the owner plans to fly, which jurisdiction to register in and whether managed charter is wanted.
This approach removes the main risk for first-time owners: buying an aircraft and then meeting an operational reality they were not prepared for. Understanding the whole chain in advance turns aircraft ownership from a source of worry into a working tool.
«Aircraft management begins where the romance of ownership ends. An owner buys an aircraft and with it crew, regulations and liability; our job is to take everything off their hands except the pleasure of flying.»
— Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter
Author: Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter, President of the Association of Professionals of Executive Aviation Industry (APIDA). Over 14 years in the industry.
