Every fall, the same phone call starts coming in: “We want to close on an aircraft before December 31.” Sometimes it’s a flight department that finally got budget approval. More often, it’s a buyer whose tax advisor pointed at 100% bonus depreciation and asked why the aircraft isn’t in service yet. Either way, the calendar is now the hardest part of the deal — and the fourth quarter is when unprepared buyers learn that the closing process has its own schedule.
Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent Now — but December 31 Still Isn’t
The 2025 tax law restored 100% bonus depreciation for new and used business aircraft acquired and placed in service on or after January 20, 2025, and this time there’s no scheduled phase-down. The IRS even followed up in January with Notice 2026-11, clarifying that some aircraft under contract before that date can still qualify on delivery. That permanence has taken some panic out of the market — nobody is racing a disappearing deduction anymore.
What hasn’t changed is the tax year. If you want the deduction against 2026 income, the aircraft generally has to be acquired and placed in service — not just under contract, not just in escrow — by December 31. “Placed in service” is a facts-and-circumstances test, and the qualified-business-use requirements attached to bonus depreciation are exactly the kind of thing your aviation tax counsel should walk through with you before you sign anything. We broker aircraft; we don’t give tax advice. What we can tell you is how long the middle of the deal actually takes.
What the Q4 Closing Clock Really Looks Like
Work backward from December 31 and the weeks disappear fast:
- Finding the right aircraft: pre-owned inventory is still tight — the tightest since early 2024 in several categories — and clean, well-pedigreed airframes are selling quickly. Two to six weeks if you’re decisive and your broker knows where the off-market aircraft are.
- Letter of intent and purchase agreement: one to two weeks with responsive counsel on both sides.
- Pre-buy inspection: this is the choke point. MRO capacity is stretched, and pre-buy slots at reputable facilities book out weeks ahead in Q4. Budget two to four weeks including discrepancy negotiation — and reserve the slot before you think you need it.
- Title, escrow, and registry: title searches, lien releases, International Registry enrollment, and FAA filing all surge at year-end. Escrow agents prioritize transactions with confirmed closing dates, so lock yours in early and get title work ordered at contract, not at closing week.
Add it up and a well-run deal takes eight to twelve weeks. Start in late September or October and you close comfortably. Start at Thanksgiving and you’re paying rush premiums, accepting inspection compromises, or watching the deal slip into January — along with the deduction.
Where Deals Slip — and How We Keep Them on Schedule
The year-end deals that fall apart usually don’t die on price. They die on logistics: a pre-buy facility that couldn’t take the aircraft until mid-December, a lien from two owners ago that nobody caught early, an engine program transfer that stalled, or a delivery flight that weather pushed past the holiday. Every one of those is manageable in October and a crisis in the last week of December.
Because we operate aircraft as well as broker them, we build the closing plan like a flight plan — with alternates. That means holding a pre-buy slot the day the LOI is signed, ordering title and registry work immediately, keeping the escrow agent updated on a confirmed closing date, and having crews positioned for the delivery flight so the aircraft is genuinely in service, not sitting in a hangar waiting for paperwork.
Buying Before Year-End? Start This Week
If a 2026 closing is on your list, the runway is shorter than it looks. Our sales and acquisitions desk is run by people who fly these aircraft every day, and we’ll tell you plainly whether your timeline is realistic — and what it takes to hit it. We’re available 24/7 at (858) 529-7860 or quotes@onflyair.com. The buyers who close in December are the ones who called in September.