Two identical jets, same year, same hours. One sells in six weeks near asking; the other sits for a year and closes US$1.5 million light. The difference, more often than any other single factor: engine programme enrolment. If you learn one acronym set before buying a jet, make it this one.
What a programme is
An hourly cost maintenance programme converts the lumpiest risk in aviation — engine overhauls and surprise failures — into a fixed cost per flight hour. You pay as you fly; the fund absorbs scheduled overhauls (seven figures per engine pair on large-cabin types) and most unscheduled events, usually including rental engines so the aircraft keeps flying. In effect it is engine insurance plus a sinking fund, priced by people who know the fleet data better than you do.
The names you will meet
| Programme | Provider | Typically found on |
|---|---|---|
| CorporateCare / Enhanced | Rolls-Royce | G550, G650, Globals |
| ESP | Pratt & Whitney Canada | Phenom 300, Latitude, Falcon 2000 |
| MSP | Honeywell | G280, Challenger 350 (HTF7350), Learjets |
| OnPoint | GE Aerospace | Global 7500 (Passport), Challenger 604/605 (CF34) |
| Tip-to-Tail / engine plans | JSSI (independent) | Cross-fleet alternative, older airframes, airframe add-ons |
OEM programmes maximise resale recognition on their engines; JSSI's independence lets you cover engines, APU and airframe under one roof and is often the pragmatic route for older aircraft the OEM plans no longer love.
What it costs — and what off-programme really means
Plan on a few hundred dollars per engine flight hour on light types, rising past US$1,000/hr for a large-cabin pair on premium tiers. That sounds heavy until you price the alternative: a single big overhaul event on a large-cabin engine pair can exceed US$2–3 million, timed by the engines, not by you. "Off programme, priced accordingly" in a listing means exactly that — the market subtracts expected exposure, and buyers' lenders (see the financing guide) frequently require enrolment as a covenant anyway.
Buyer's checklist during diligence
Verify with the provider, not the broker sheet: enrolment tier and what it excludes; account fully paid up; transferability and any transfer fee; mid-life buy-in owed if enrolment lapsed; and rental-engine terms for your base region — a loaner that ships from Arizona serves a Singapore-based jet slowly. Fold the answers into your pre-purchase inspection findings and price the aircraft on total exposure, never on the airframe alone. Every listing on our marketplace states programme status where disclosed — it is the first field we check too.
Sources & further reading
- Rolls-Royce — CorporateCare coverage.
- JSSI — hourly cost maintenance programmes.
- Guardian Jet — programmes and residual value.