Ownership 2.qxp_Finance 20/07/2021 11:13 Page 1
OWNERSHIP
Privacy Considerations for Aircraft Owners (Part 2) Aircraft owners must be proactive to protect their aircraft ownership and operating information from public disclosure. Having previously identified some of the key areas where information may be publicly available, James Janaitis, Counsel with Crowell & Moring’s Aviation Group, explores methods to help safeguard your privacy… nce you have understood what information is publicly available that may compromise your privacy in relation to private aircraft ownership and operation, you are primed to consider the strategies you can take to prevent your information from being easily accessed. Fortunately there are a few, as we will explore over the following paragraphs.
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Special Purpose Entity
The use of a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) would entail setting up a corporation or LLC in a state of the owner’s choosing, and having the SPE own the aircraft. The FAA Registry would only show the name of the SPE as the owner, so the SPE should have a non-descript name, such as ‘ABC Holdings, Inc’, or ‘N1234, LLC’. Because the FAA does not permit the use of a registered agent’s address on a registration application, the owner would need to include their physical address on the registration 52 Vol 25 Issue 8 2021 AVBUYER MAGAZINE
application, which would then be readily available to the public through the FAA Registry website. Additionally, depending on the state of the organization, some of the information filed when setting up the SPE may be publicly available through the state’s corporate registration database.
Trust Ownership
The other alternative is to own the aircraft in a trust. Trust arrangements are commonplace in the aviation industry, and there is a number of companies that specialize in these products. They generally involve a trust agreement, which creates the trust, and a lease or operating agreement whereby the aircraft is leased from the trust to the individual or company that will operate the aircraft. Trust arrangements tend to be more expensive than using an SPE, with an initial set-up fee and annual fees of a few thousand dollars each. It is also strongly recommended that an aviation www.AVBUYER.com
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