Business Spotlight

USA Aircraft Brokers

Former Flight Instructor Uses Real Estate Sales Model to Build the Nation’s Largest Aircraft Brokerage

February 14 - "It's a pleasure to get up every day and do what you Love!" says Keith Latour, owner and president of USA Aircraft Brokers, Inc. Keith started USA Aircraft Brokers in 1991 with the goal of becoming a nationwide network.

“One of the unique aspects of USA Aircraft Brokers is that it allows individuals who are interested in aviation the opportunity to work in the industry and make money doing something that they love, without any prior experience or without investing a lot of money up front” states Latour. “I started out as a flight instructor and charter pilot in 1974. By 1975 I owned and operated flight schools in three cities. I worked hard to make these schools successful. My work weeks were usually 60 hours or longer. One day I sold one of my small aircraft to a flight student. This was a real eye-opener for me. I immediately realized that the profit from that sale was as much as I would have earned from 4 to 5 months of hard work flying. At that point I actively began to pursue aircraft sales as a primary occupation.”

One of the unique benefits of working as a broker instead of a dealer is the low initial start up cost. “Initially I tried to inventory aircraft for sale”, said Mr. Latour, “but I quickly found that this was very time-consuming and expensive way to proceed. A credit line needed to be established to allow the purchase of aircraft. I had to locate an aircraft, travel to its location to make the purchase, insure it, fly it back, hope that nothing broke, and pay interest until it sold.” Another drawback to being a dealer as opposed to a broker is a dealer is exposed to significant amount of liability. “I found even after it was sold and delivered, as the dealer I potentially was libel for damages associated with that aircraft for years to come. The cumbersome process associated with maintaining the inventory severely limited the number and size of aircraft I could manage. More importantly, dealer inventorying was not as profitable as the initial sale that had inspired me to enter the aircraft sales business in the first place” said Mr. Latour.

Mr. Latour, who had prior experience in the real estate industry, began to think of aircraft sales along the same lines as a real estate. “It soon occurred to me that principles used in the real estate industry may apply to aircraft sales. My experience in real estate several years earlier had been lucrative enough to allow me to purchase most of my flight training in a relatively short period of time. With this in mind I sold all my aircraft and began brokering, which quickly became extremely profitable. For example, my first sale was an aircraft listed at $100,000. I made an $8,500.00 commission without having to invest any of my own money. I didn’t have to go to the bank to borrow the money. I didn’t have to insure the aircraft, pay interest or accept product liability on the aircraft after the sale. Within a few months I had a large number of aircraft listed and was able to live comfortably from brokering commissions.”

After years of success with his own brokerage, Mr. Latour began to expand on his idea and build the USA Aircraft Broker network, what he likes to refer to as “the RE/MAX of the Sky”. “Over the years I began to envision a national network of aircraft brokerages similar to what RE/MAX accomplished in the real estate industry.” Today, USA Aircraft Brokers has a network of 18 Area Brokers and 53 FBO Sales Agents located across the country.

Many of USA Aircraft’s current Brokers found the idea appealing. “I think that the model Keith built, a nationwide network of brokers working together is what initially attracted me to USA Aircraft Brokers” says Jim Schmidt, Area Broker for Ohio. Jim joined USA Aircraft Brokers in 1999 after being bitten by the flying bug a few years earlier.

“I got my private license in 1994 and it immediately became an ambition of mine to work in the aviation industry. I found out very quickly though, that legitimate opportunities to make a successful living in aviation are few and far between” said Schmidt. “Then I came across Keith’s ad in a national aircraft sales publication and gave him a call.” Mr. Latour explained that his brokers had every incentive to work together to promote all of the aircraft in the USA Aircraft Brokers system. “Just like a real estate agency, we will split commissions on any aircraft that we sell, even if we are not the listing agent. This gives everyone the incentive to work hard to find a buyer all across the country. That is especially important in aircraft sales because 90% of the time, a buyer is going to come from another part of the country” said Schmidt.

USA Aircraft Brokers has allowed Mr. Schmidt to fulfill his dream to work in the aviation business. “I started as a broker part time and used it as a way to fund my flying. I would fly out every weekend to FBO’s in my local area, looking for aircraft to list and to promote those that we already were representing”, said Schmidt. “I was able to sell some aircraft, write off my flight expenses and meet a lot of great people who shared my passion for flying. That’s not a bad way to spend a Saturday”, Mr. Schmidt concluded.

USA Aircraft Brokers uses the latest technology to promote the sale of its’ aircraft, including an interactive website that uses audio messages from brokers to promote their aircraft and email campaigns to all of the FBO’s in the country whenever a new aircraft is listed. “We try to reach the market anyway we can after we list an aircraft. Using our internet ad program and time honored methods like our quarterly newsletter that goes out to over 15,000 FBO’s and high performance aircraft owners nationwide, we can guarantee our clients the best possible exposure for their aircraft and sell it at top retail dollar”.

While pleased with the growth that the network has had so far, Mr. Latour feels that there is ample room for growth. “Like real estate, the key to successful aircraft brokering is listings. The more you have, the more successful every broker will be. My goal is to have hundreds of brokers working internationally for the success everyone in the network, and I believe we are well on our way to achieving that goal”, concluded Mr. Latour.

About The Company
Established in 1991, USA Aircraft Brokers is the oldest and largest network of aircraft brokers in the USA. The company is not a franchise or franchisor. We are a licenser selling a license to own and operate an aircraft brokerage under the name USA Aircraft Brokers. We offer comprehensive training and support to allow you to start working successfully as a broker within a two-week period.

For more information on becoming an aircraft broker fill out the Become an Aircraft Broker application on the USA Web Page at www.usaaircraft.com

Contact: Keith Latour – keith@usaaircraft.com

72 Kent St. Brookline, MA 02445

Toll Free: 877-417-3069 Tel: 504-723-5566 Fax: 617-735-9189