Long-Term Approach Needed in Aircraft Brokerage Business

Q: What are the main challenges to buying and selling aircraft in Mexico?
A: Buying or selling aircraft is a long process. However, since Jet Mach’s operations often involve the import or export of aircraft, the process is slower because aviation authorities of two different countries are involved.  When buying an aircraft, our main challenge is to find the best value jet in its class and many times we find it in a foreign market. When selling, usually there is much competition and owners always think that their aircraft is the world’s best and so they want to sell it over its market price. Our main challenge is to educate owners about market reality and still find the right buyer at the right time.
Q: What is Jet Mach’s strategy to stand out while competing in the business aircraft market?
A: We take full responsibility for the purchase or sale throughout all stages of the process. We strive to deliver great service because we place the highest value on our long-term relationships with customers. Aircraft are not products that are constantly renewed. It usually takes seven years for companies to replace their planes, so we need to remain in contact with clients throughout that time and support them when they need us. Dassault Falcon and Bombardier are the main brands we sell because we have a long-standing business relationship with them. Jet Mach has been Bombardier’s exclusive representative in Mexico for over 10 years. The market identifies us with these brands and we sell many Learjet, Challenger and few Global jets. We also sell Hawker, Citation, Gulfstream and Embraer planes.
Q: How does Jet Mach plan to expand its operations in the Mexican market?
A: We are introducing more salespeople because we want to reach a greater market share and grow our brokerage operations by 20 percent. It makes more sense for Jet Mach to focus on the main corporate jet aircraft owners, keeping a strong and solid relationship with the top 50 Mexican businesspeople. There are many different kinds of aircraft; while some planes may cost US$500,000 dollars, others may cost US$60 million. We focus on the high end of the market. Jet Mach only makes four to five transactions a year and we want to increase that to six or seven. In the first half of 2018, we sold one Hawker 400, one Challenger 300, one Challenger 350 and purchased one Legacy 650 and a Gulfstream 450.Our hangar in Monterrey is already saturated and we are considering building another. This project has the potential to double our sheltering infrastructure and operations and could be finished by 2020. We also want to increase the amount of Skywash specialized cleaning products we sell fourfold. This year we started to sell to commercial airlines, which increased our sales by 300 percent year-over-year.
Q: What changes are needed in Mexico for executive aviation to grow?
A: Mexico has the second-largest executive jet fleet in the world but there are hundreds of old planes reaching obsolescence and many others need to be upgraded. There is great potential for growth in Mexico’s aviation market. For instance, some people do not need to own a plane because they only fly between 50 and 150 hours a year and there are special packages that would suit their needs. Airport infrastructure and more professionalized executive aviation companies are needed for Mexico to grow its executive aviation segment. While it is possible to reach almost any point in the US by plane thanks to that country’s extensive airport network, Mexico lacks the necessary infrastructure to achieve that air connectivity.
Q: What actions should the government take to strengthen aviation in Mexico?
A: Mexico still has not had a president that understands the importance of supporting executive aviation. The next administration must assign enough budget and equipment for the Mexican aviation authorities to support the growth of aviation in general and executive aviation in particular. It is necessary to recognize the importance of aviation to Mexico’s economy and evaluate all the deficiencies that hurt DGAC to successfully alleviate them.

Jet Mach is a Mexican aircraft brokerage company and a distributor of Skywash aircraft-cleaning products. It also shelters aircraft at its hangar in Monterrey. The company offers its clients consulting and manages administrative procedures