Aircraft financing: how credit to buy a jet works in Brazil

What are the ways to finance an aircraft in Brazil?

Source: ANAC Resolution 293/2013 (compiled text), Law 7,565/1986 and Bradesco's official pages for businesses, queried Oct 12, 2026. The Finame and lease conditions come from Bradesco, which is one bank among many: each institution publishes or negotiates its own.

Fiduciary lien. This is the most common structure when the buyer wants to be the owner from the start. Resolution 293 says it is only valid and effective after recording in the RAB. In practice, you operate the airplane, but it carries the lien until payoff. Under the regulation, the recording of an act like this is declaratory and gives effect against third parties (art. 24), and a transfer of title requires recording the instrument that conveys ownership.

Mortgage. The Brazilian Aeronautical Code treats the mortgage and the fiduciary lien on an aircraft in the same chapter (arts. 138 and following), and art. 138 says aircraft, engines, parts and accessories, including those under construction, can be mortgaged. Resolution 293 adds that an aircraft subject to a mortgage or another in rem encumbrance is not admitted to registration without the creditor's express consent (art. 26).

Lease. Bradesco's business leasing page includes aircraft and vessels among the leasable assets and lists, as general features of the product, the option to renew, return or buy the asset at the end of the contract. The page carries no conditions specific to aircraft (down payment, term, rate). How a lease shows up in the registry, and why the lessor is listed as owner while the operator is another company, is in bank leasing of a Phenom 300.

Finame. The BNDES Finame page at Bradesco says the line finances new machinery and equipment, cites nationally built "business and commercial aircraft" registered with BNDES, and adds the caveat that financing is subject to eligibility, availability of funds and credit approval. It applies to a new aircraft built in the country, not to an imported or used one.

What about the dollar line Bradesco launched in 2026?

In May 2026, the press reported the launch, by Bradesco Bank (the Miami subsidiary), of a dollar line for the purchase and refinancing of business jets, with financing of up to 75% of the value of new or pre-owned aircraft, an amortization term of up to ten years and the aircraft itself as collateral. It was presented at the Catarina Aviation Show 2026 (Money Times, May 21, 2026, and Mercado & Consumo, May 22, 2026). The source is the press: Jet Tracker did not locate the product page on the bank's website. Confirm conditions, term and eligibility directly with the bank.

Whatever the conditions, dollar credit has a cost the rate does not show: whoever earns in reais takes on the currency risk for the entire contract, a point Bloomberg Línea highlighted in an August 2026 report on this line.

What does the bank assess before releasing credit?

Jet Tracker does not know any institution's credit policy and does not assert criteria: ask each bank which documents it requires and which value reference it accepts. On the side you control, three things are worth preparing: your financial profile, the aircraft's reference value and the documentary status of the registration.

Aircraft value. Each bank defines how it assesses the collateral, and the appraisal that counts is the one it accepts. What you can bring is context: comparable listings of the same model. To show why the asking price alone is not enough, look at the Pilatus PC-24: Jet Tracker has 23 active listings, 10 with a price, a median asking price of $11.07 million and a range from $1.6 million to $12.6 million (public listings monitored, queried Oct 12, 2026). The two lowest values, $1.6 million and $2.75 million, sit far from the others, which start at $9.8 million: they may be a share listing or a typo, and Jet Tracker did not verify. That is why the asking price does not, on its own, support the value of collateral. The Jet Tracker valuation lays out the comparables, and the article how much is my airplane worth explains what goes into the math.

Registration status. Any open item in the registry (court attachment, prior mortgage, restriction) stalls the deal. The next section is the roadmap for checking it.

How to check and handle the lien in the RAB

The Brazilian Aeronautical Registry, kept by ANAC, is where registration, transfer and in rem rights over the aircraft are recorded. The guide on how to look up the RAB shows the public lookup. What Resolution 293 adds for someone who is financing:

• Ask for the certificate before signing. Anyone can request a certificate from the registry without stating the reason, issued within 5 business days (arts. 5 and 6). It can be a full-history or summary certificate, and contains all acts up to the date of extraction (art. 7).
• Check the recording of your collateral. A fiduciary lien is only valid once recorded, and a mortgage is only constituted by recording (art. 24, §§ 2 and 3). Follow the filing through to registration.
• Be wary of a court attachment. The recording of an attachment is evidence of fraud as to any later transaction (art. 27). A cheap jet with a recorded attachment can turn out expensive.
• Respect the 30-day deadlines. The seller must send the sale notice to the RAB within 30 days, and the acquirer has 30 days to request transcription of the title, under penalty of a fine (arts. 29 and 30). The same deadlines apply to the payoff of a lease (art. 34).
• Demand the release at payoff. A mortgage can only be cancelled on presentation of express authorization or a release granted by the creditor (art. 93). To cancel the registration, for example on export, proof of settlement of the lien, if any, is required (art. 91). Without the release, the aircraft remains encumbered and resale stalls.

A note for anyone who reads the RAB as a data source: the regulation calls the act a "sale notice", but the registry shows ownership movements and does not reveal the contract behind them. The guide on how to buy an airplane lists the documents to cross-check with the RAB.

Is it worth financing or paying cash?

There is no single answer, and Jet Tracker has no credit rate to close the math for you. The comparison is between the total cost of credit (interest, structuring, appraisal and registration fees) and what the down payment capital would earn if invested. What the Jet Tracker comparison tool shows is the other side of that math: the size of the cost of keeping capital tied up. In the scenario of a used Phenom 100 bought for $2.4 million, with an opportunity rate of 12% per year, the opportunity cost of the immobilized capital is $261K per year, against $90K of straight-line depreciation (cost comparison tool, estimate, queried Oct 12, 2026). Both numbers change with the assumptions, which you can adjust in the cost comparison tool.

Ask for a written simulation from more than one institution, with the total effective cost, and compare the same term and the same currency. For an imported aircraft, the credit math goes together with the cost of importing an aircraft.

Step by step before you sign

1. Define the aircraft's reference value with comparables, before talking about credit.
2. Request the registration certificate and read every act: ownership, encumbrances, attachments, use contracts.
3. Collect written proposals from more than one institution, with the same structure and the same currency.
4. Define the structure (fiduciary lien, mortgage or lease) with a lawyer and an accountant, because tax and accounting effects differ and are not covered here.
5. Follow the recording of the collateral in the RAB through to registration and keep the updated certificate.
6. At payoff, ask the creditor for the document and record the release within the deadline.