In the five years since the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) rebranded itself as a global player in bizjet resales, it has delivered on ambitious plans first spelled out in September of 2018.
Brian Proctor, chairman of what was then called the National Aircraft Resale Association, planned for the newly renamed international organization to introduce a number of transformative initiatives. The future agenda included a new website, a highly sophisticated international search portal for aircraft offered by IADA dealers, processes to standardize and streamline aircraft transactions – including third-party accreditation of aircraft dealers in the U.S. and abroad – and a forceful presence at business aviation events.
“The renamed association’s new vision, laid out by the Board of Directors and Chair Brian Proctor, has become a reality and then some,” said current IADA Chair Zipporah Marmor. “We survived the crisis of a worldwide pandemic and quickly accelerated to unparalleled economic heights on the strengths of the association and the tremendous advantages and value of business aircraft to a recovering economy,” she added.
Marmor is VP of Transaction for ACASS in Montreal. Proctor is President and CEO of Mente Group in Frisco, Texas.
International Expansion
“Among the positives over the past years is the expanding strength of our international footprint,” said IADA International Committee Chair Stan Kuliavas, Vice President, Sales and Business Development for Levaero Aviation in Ontario. “While most of our IADA-accredited dealers were already doing business around the globe, over the past five years we have added international dealers located in Africa, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates,” he added.
IADA is also reviewing a number of other global dealers for new memberships. In addition, IADA expanded its affiliations with business aviation associations to include Asia, Canada, and Europe. Today, 99 percent of IADA dealers do business in North America, 74 percent of dealers operate in Europe, 58 percent are active in Latin America and the Caribbean, 47 percent do business in Asia and the Pacific region, 43 percent work in the Middle East and 41 percent in Africa.
IADA’s membership is also now comprised of the world’s major business aircraft manufacturers, to include Airbus Corporate Jets, Boeing Business Jets, Bombardier, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., Embraer Executive Jets, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Honda Aircraft Company, and Textron Aviation.
IADA Market Report
The quarterly IADA Market Report that the association subsequently developed is an informative and reliable view of the state of the aviation industry. It covers IADA-accredited dealers’ perceptions about the market taken from its survey of IADA members and actual sales data reported monthly by IADA dealers. It has become a prescient gauge of the market due to IADA’s commanding market share. IADA’s dealers consist of the top 17 percent of the world’s experts who handle 50 percent of used business aircraft sales. IADA-accredited dealers buy and sell more aircraft by dollar volume than the rest of the world’s dealers combined, averaging over 1,300 transactions and $11.8 billion in volume annually for the past two years.
AircraftExchange.com
IADA’s newly developed website soon rolled out a groundbreaking aircraft search portal to make it much easier and quicker for buyers and sellers to make airplane deals. The portal takes advantage of the strength of the organization, the high quality of its brokers and the world-class aircraft they handle.
“AircraftExchange has proven itself to be an invaluable exclusive business aircraft search tool featuring the best aircraft from the world’s most trusted dealers,” said Shawn Dinning, the chair of the AircraftExchange Board of Directors. Dinning, who is Senior Partner at Dallas Jet International, added, “IADA vets each listing to ensure it is offered solely and exclusively by an IADA member.”
Unlike unmonitored aircraft listing sites, AircraftExchange only accepts aircraft listed for sale by dealers affiliated with IADA. Users will not find charter service listings or bait-and-switch selling tactics. IADA verifies the legitimacy of every exclusive listing through examination of serial numbers and identifying marks, and only IADA-accredited dealers can facilitate sales.
Dealer Accreditations, Broker Certifications
“Shortly after rebranding as IADA, the organization launched a comprehensive program to accredit its dealer members and certify their brokers,” said IADA Executive Director Wayne Starling. Implementing stringent requirements overseen by a more independent third party was an initiative begun in February 2019. “It was a significant step in the organization’s signature campaign to achieve ethical, transparent transactions for the benefit of aircraft buyers and sellers worldwide,” Starling added.
Accreditation among the world’s leading aircraft dealers established consistent standards of behavior. Now buyers and sellers of aircraft are more confident in selecting the professionals and experts who provide counsel during negotiations and advise them in all aspects of aircraft transactions. Once IADA dealers achieve accreditation, they must maintain that high level of professionalism in order to retain their status.
In addition, the organization requires individual brokers who work for aircraft dealers to be IADA-certified themselves, through a rigorous testing process. The dual professional recognition programs – accreditation for dealers and certification for their brokers – form the backbone of IADA’s professionalism and rigid standards of ethical behavior. When business aircraft operators look to buy or sell an airplane, the IADA imprimatur signals professionalism and expertise.
IADA also operates IADA U, an online continuing education tool to keep certified brokers at the top of their game. Its curriculum includes coursework developed and taught by expert IADA products and services members who know their subjects inside and out.
IADA Foundation
“The IADA Foundation offers business aviation scholarships and other education, learning, and leadership opportunities,” said foundation board chair Johnny Foster, President and CEO of OGARAJETS. “We can also work through other organizations, including the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Georgia State University. In addition, IADA will be permitted to make contributions for aviation related disaster relief and aviation related philanthropic causes through the NBAA Humanitarian Emergency Response Operator Database, Angel Flight, and Corporate Angel Network,” he added. The IADA Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charitable organization.
