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PrivateJetBS | Edition 36

A Trip in the Life of a Jet Broker

Not a day in the life. There is no consistency.

Folks ask what a typical day looks like for a jet broker. There isn't one. Most of our days are never the same, and most of our trips are never a single day. So instead of a day, here's a recent trip I took.

WEDNESDAY

4:10 a.m. Alarm.
​The best part of this job is that I can live anywhere, because I go to where the clients are. The cost is that home is Crozet, Virginia, not a hub city. The best routing usually means an hour and fifteen minutes to Richmond or two and a quarter to D.C. I judge every itinerary by one measure: how long it keeps me away from my wife and kids.

This week Charlottesville cooperated. I took Delta, just after 6 a.m., nonstop to Atlanta.

8:00 a.m. ATL. Rental car. Straight to PDK.
​I originally built this trip around Auburn, and the showing got added later. Rather than add a travel day, I folded it into the same trip.

9:30 a.m. PDK. The part the buyer never sees.
​The aircraft was a Citation Sovereign listed for a longtime client, and the buyer was due around 11. I used those 90 minutes to get ready:

• Organized the logbooks and staged them in a secured conference room.
• Opened the aircraft up in the hangar.
• Plugged in a GPU from the FBO so the buyer walked up to the lights on and the air running.

A buyer forms a first impression in the first ten minutes. If the cabin is dark and stuffy and someone has to hunt for the logs, you've already started losing the negotiation. This prep isn't glamorous, but it's the job.

1:30 p.m. Showing wraps.
​We spent another 30 to 45 minutes buttoning up the aircraft and removing and securing the logs. Then I had lunch with the seller's director of aviation, partly because we were hungry. The DOA relationship is also one of the most underrated relationships in any transaction.

Afternoon. Leadership meeting, from rental car.
​I joined our jetAVIVA senior leadership team for Q4 planning from the driver's seat in the FBO parking lot. If you've never seen a jet broker's office, it's often remote and mobile.

4:00 p.m. PDK to Auburn.
​You know what 4 p.m. around Atlanta means. There were stretches at a blistering eight miles an hour. The upside of a slow drive is that the car becomes a rolling call center. I returned every call I'd missed during the showing and made the ones I'd been putting off. Two and a half hours later, I reached Auburn, Alabama.

6:30 p.m. ABAD welcome event.
​This was my first year at Auburn Business Aviation Days. I was invited to speak on behalf of IADA. I met faculty and students, had dinner with a group of fellow presenters, and went to bed early.

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THURSDAY

Early. The FaceTime.
​I may have dropped back a time zone, but I set the alarm early anyway for the one call I never miss: my kids on their way to school, thanks to my wife. They were in rare form, and it was the best meeting of my week.

I then showered, packed, and drove to campus. I parked by the football stadium and headed up to a room with breakfast and a view over the university.

Morning. The International Aircraft Dealers Association panel.
​Our panel opened the day. Three brokers from three competing firms delivered one shared message. Jordan Scales of Solaris Aviation moderated. He's an Auburn alum, like my two fellow panelists, and a longtime friend.

We covered:

• Who IADA is and why it was founded.
• The standards and ethics dealers are held to.
• The value IADA adds to the industry.
• How students in aviation, business, and finance can get involved through IADA's education resources and scholarships. (This was the most important part.)

Three more panels followed. One covered day-in-the-life stories from finance, maintenance, and other careers. One was a deep dive into A&Ps. The last featured interns, new hires, and recent graduates.

Noon. The stadium.
​I stuck my head inside the stadium: 85,000 seats. I was impressed. But I'm a Hokie fan (Virginia Tech). Lane Stadium's 65,000 is home and Enter Sandman wouldn't hit the same there.

2:00 p.m. Static display.
​The display was in one of the newest hangars on the field. Tables lined the walls for OEMs, brokerages, the university club, and more. Out on the ramp were a Phenom, Cirrus jets, a Learjet, a Global, a Diamond, and a Kodiak.

For two and a half hours I talked with students, alumni, and staff. We covered what they're studying, what they're curious about, what I actually do, and how IADA's education platforms can fit into their curriculum.

What stuck with me most were the recent graduates. They're in their early 20s, already on a path, and still asking what else is out there. The A&P track looks linear: get certified, get hired, turn wrenches. But it can grow into a long career that isn't always hands-on. That includes our world, where we hire and keep maintenance experts on staff to give clients a high level of education about the aircraft they're buying or selling. A broker is only as good as the technical minds behind them.

5:00 p.m. CT. Heading north.
​I drove two hours to Atlanta, returned the rental car, and took the tram to the terminal. TSA PreCheck earned its keep. I grabbed a bite, caught the 10 p.m. flight, and landed in Charlottesville just before midnight.

My tank was nearly empty, so I stopped for gas, then drove 30 minutes home. The dog met me at the door, and I spent the first few minutes calming her down so she wouldn't wake the kids. Then pajamas, teeth, bed.

Friday: 6:30 alarm at home, in my own bed. 7:30 kindergarten drop-off. 8:15 preschool drop off. 8:35 back at my desk.

The Takeaway

In two days I took two flights (much fewer than normally required), drove about five hours, and fit in a showing, a leadership meeting, a panel, a static display, and dozens of calls. None of it looks like the brochure version of this business.

If you're a buyer or seller, here's why that matters: the work that moves a deal is the work nobody sees. It's the logs staged before the buyer arrives, the GPU plugged in, the call returned from a traffic jam, the lunch with the DOA. It's also the time invested in the next generation. The people who will inspect, finance, and broker your next aircraft are sitting in a classroom right now.

Trust the Process, Not the Promises.™​
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Michael Barber PrivateJetBS Newsletter ​Managing Director & VP, Sales Operations at jetAVIVA​ Mobile, WhatsApp, & Signal: +1.919.475.8506 ​​​​

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