What is the complete DIY buying process?

Start with the journey, verify who will operate it, compare complete costs and contractual obligations, then approve the purchase. Do not start by choosing a favourite aircraft or multiplying an advertised hourly rate by estimated flight time.

This playbook gives executive assistants, corporate procurement teams and family offices a buyer-owned process:

1. Establish the business requirement and approval authority.
2. Write one mission brief for every supplier.
3. Obtain operator-confirmed aircraft and airport suitability.
4. Source comparable proposals.
5. Verify counterparties, operating authority and insurance evidence.
6. Equalise prices, exclusions and disruption obligations.
7. Approve, contract and pay through controlled procedures.
8. Reconfirm the flight, manage changes and reconcile the invoice.
9. For repeat travel, replay actual missions through programme terms before committing funds.

DIY means controlling procurement—not assuming responsibility for operating an aircraft. The FAA warns that an easy booking process does not establish a legal charter, and that a pilot’s commercial licence alone is insufficient authority to provide charter transportation. (faa.gov)

The main workflow below covers US domestic, whole-aircraft charter. Separate sections extend it to jet cards, memberships, fractional access and aircraft-management reviews. International travel, public charters, aircraft acquisitions and complex sports or entertainment movements require additional specialist work.

How to read this document: regulatory requirements and supplier facts are cited. Templates, approval gates, project allowances and worked examples are this desk’s proposed procurement method—not statutory requirements, observed market averages or live offers. Obtain qualified aviation legal, tax and insurance advice where the transaction requires it.