Part art, part science, closing successful deals in private aviation requires superior sales skills, tenacity and business insight. Here we profile some of the top aircraft dealmakers in the Americas.
WHEN people outside the industry picture private jet salespeople they might see champagne being knocked back with celebrities, earnest meetings on business jets flying across oceans and brokers nimbly jumping aboard superyachts to join the next party.
They do not see the late nights waiting for people to call (or being woken up at two in the morning), the fourth-degree sunburn after hours on the static display at Henderson Airport in Las Vegas during NBAA-BACE, or the heartbreak when a deal you are relying on falls down for any of many, many reasons.
Although the public perception is sometimes true, aircraft brokers and advisers will tell you that closing deals is getting harder and harder. Good aircraft advisers have the experience to know when to push deals through (and when to slow them down) and know the right people to call when there are tax, maintenance, finance or other issues.
Sadly, as with buying a house, buying an aircraft is not often a fun process. But good advisers can stop it from becoming a nightmare. This Dealmakers 30 list recognises the people based in the Americas who get transactions to close. Some of them specialise in advising buyers, some prefer selling; others are dealers who prefer buying aircraft and reselling them at a profit; many do both. All of the 30 were chosen after intensive research and surveys of more than 7,000 people.
It is hard to define a Dealmaker so we have been deliberately simplistic. We have not included salespeople at manufacturers or others such as bankers, lawyers and others who also have real transactional skills. These are all crucial to the industry but do not fit this list.
Several nominated people asked not to be included and, as with all lists, we are sure we have missed really worthy candidates (apologies if one of them should happen to be you).
We always welcome feedback and if you disagree with any of the choices please email Alud Davies at
