NAFA member Kyle O'Donnell, Aviation Sales Executive at Elevex Capital, shares his latest article about why older business aircraft can be good assets despite banks’ age restrictions on financing them.
For owners and for the professionals who sell to them, the operating rule is simple: if the decline was really about the calendar, the problem was never the aircraft. It was the wrong lender.
The average business jet in the U.S. fleet is roughly 18 years old — JETNET and Airbus Corporate Jets have both put the figure in that band. Sit with that number for a second, because it is the single most consequential fact in business aviation finance, and it's poised to become more consequential.
Almost all lenders prefer newer aircraft. Most bank aviation programs cap airframe age at 15 years at loan maturity. Plenty prefer 10 at funding. That leaves a huge gap in the market: Secured Research analysis of the U.S. registry puts more than 60% of active business jets — call it 9,000-plus tails — outside the standard bank credit box on age alone. Before anyone pulls credit, before anyone reads a logbook.
This article was originally published by Elevex Capital on September 28, 2026.