Advisory · Family offices
Private aviation advisory for family offices.
Aviation is often the largest discretionary line a family office oversees and the least benchmarked. TRH gives the office an independent analyst for the decision, the contract, and the years after signing, with the same rigor applied to every other significant expenditure.
Who it’s for
How family offices approach aviation differently
Multiple principals, one program
Several family members with different missions, peak calendars, and privacy needs drawing on one share, one card, or one aircraft. The structure has to fit all of them, not the loudest.
Governance and documentation
The decision has to be defensible to the principal, the investment committee, and the next generation, with the analysis on paper rather than in a salesperson's memory.
Blended solutions
A whole aircraft for the core mission, a share or card for overflow and peak, charter for the rest. The pieces have to be modeled together, not sold separately.
Ongoing oversight
Aviation spend benefits from the same periodic review as any other significant category: escalation, utilization, and renewal timing tracked, not discovered.
Scope
What a family office engagement covers
The same seven areas as any advisory engagement, with three additions that family offices need and individuals rarely do.
- 01
Aggregate usage analysis
Every principal's real flying combined into one pattern, then pulled apart by mission, peak exposure, lead time, and privacy requirement.
- 02
Structure and blend
The five access models modeled against the aggregate pattern, including blended solutions where one structure covers the core and another covers the edges.
- 03
All-in economics
Each candidate normalized to one figure for the office's budget process, with capital, fixed fees, effective hourly cost, peak, taxes, and exit, across the hold.
- 04
Provider benchmarking
Programs and operators compared on terms, operating structure, and track record, with the office's privacy and security requirements applied.
- 05
Contract review and negotiation
Commercial terms read against the market and negotiated on the office's behalf, coordinated with the office's aviation counsel and tax advisors.
- 06
Governance documentation
A written decision brief the office can file: the requirement, the alternatives considered, the economics, the recommendation, and the terms obtained.
- 07
Ongoing program review
Annual or renewal-driven review of utilization against the structure, escalation against the market, and the calendar of notice windows.
Who decides what, and where TRH sits
In most offices, the principal defines the travel requirement and the office sets the budget envelope. The office's counsel governs legal structure and the tax advisor governs treatment. TRH's seat is the analytical one: the usage model, the structure comparison, the economics, the provider evaluation, and the commercial negotiation, delivered as written work the office owns.
That seat is deliberately independent of every vendor in the process. TRH sells no program, takes no referral fee from any provider it evaluates, and discloses its role and economics when it sources charter or supports an acquisition. The office should be able to hand our brief to any counterparty without worrying about whose interest it serves.
Privacy and discretion
Family aviation carries privacy requirements that programs handle very differently: aircraft consistency, crew consistency, how passenger information is held, and how flights are visible to third parties. These are evaluation criteria in our provider work, not afterthoughts. Engagement details are held in confidence, and the examples we publish are anonymized.
How it works
Three steps, no obligation.
Requirement and data
A conversation with the office, then twelve months of flying across principals, the agreements held, and the privacy and governance requirements.
The brief
Aggregate usage, structures and blends modeled, all-in economics, provider benchmarking, and a recommendation, in a document the office can file and hand to counsel.
Execution and oversight
Negotiation and sourcing on the office's behalf, then periodic review as usage and the market move.
Where our role ends
TRH does not operate aircraft; charter flights are performed by certificated Part 135 operators. TRH does not provide legal or tax advice; ownership structure, Subpart K allocation, liability, and tax treatment belong with the office's qualified aviation counsel and tax advisors, with whom we coordinate. TRH does not manage aircraft or employ crew; where the office owns, we help select and negotiate with a management company and benchmark it thereafter.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a family office aviation advisory engagement cover?
- Aggregate usage analysis across principals, structure selection including blended solutions, all-in economics, provider benchmarking with privacy criteria, contract review and negotiation, a governance brief the office can file, and ongoing program review.
- Can one program serve several principals with different missions?
- Sometimes. The aggregate pattern has to be modeled honestly against each structure's peak rules, minimums, and interchange terms. Often the answer is a blend: one structure for the core mission and another for the edges.
- How is the work documented?
- As a written decision brief: the requirement, the alternatives considered, the economics, the recommendation, and the terms obtained. It is the office's document.
- How does TRH coordinate with our counsel and tax advisors?
- TRH handles the commercial analysis and negotiation and hands legal structure and tax treatment to the office's qualified advisors. We work alongside them rather than replacing them.
- How is TRH compensated?
- By the office. TRH sells no share, card, or membership and takes no referral fee from providers it evaluates. Where TRH sources charter or supports a transaction, that role and its economics are disclosed.
- Can TRH review a program the office already holds?
- Yes. A program review reads the agreement, normalizes the true cost, checks utilization fit, benchmarks the terms, and recommends hold, renegotiate, restructure, or move.
Prepare a family office aviation review.
Send how the family flies and what the office holds. You'll get the aggregate pattern, the structures that fit, and the economics in a brief the office can file.