Yes. International buyers purchase U.S. aircraft regularly. Confirm the airplane can be imported into your country, review the records, use an independent pre-buy shop, close through an aviation escrow company and plan the export before closing.

No. In Europe and many other countries you can keep it on the U.S. register, usually through an owner trust with a U.S. trustee, and fly it at home on its N-number, with no export certificate and no new registration. The airplane is then maintained under FAA rules, pilots need licenses that satisfy both the FAA and their country of residence, and import VAT or GST generally still applies where the airplane is based. Local rules decide whether residents may base an N-registered airplane, so confirm them before you buy. Aerista can help arrange the trust.

For a well-prepared piston airplane, typically two to four weeks for Canada, six to twelve weeks for the UK and the European Union and three to four months for Australia, where most airplanes are shipped. Modifications that need local approval and gaps in the records are the usual causes of delay.

Usually. Private buyers pay import VAT or GST in most countries: 19% to 22% in the largest EU markets, 20% in the UK, 10% in Australia, 5% GST plus provincial tax in Canada and 16% IVA in Mexico. Civil aircraft are generally free of customs duty. Businesses may be able to recover the tax.

Not on asking prices. Aerista’s November 2026 comparison found European Cirrus asking prices broadly in line with North American asks, generation for generation. The U.S. offers far more choice, but ferry costs and import VAT usually make a U.S. airplane more expensive landed in Europe than a comparable VAT-paid European airplane.

Compare the cost of waiting for a local buyer, including carrying costs and market decline, with the cost of moving the airplane to the U.S., and check whether paid VAT or GST makes it worth more at home. A realistic local price change is sometimes the best option of all.

Not for an airplane built in the U.S., such as a Cirrus, Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft or Mooney. The FAA certifies used airplanes under 14 CFR 21.183(d): evidence that the airplane conforms to its FAA type design, an inspection to the 100-hour standard and an inspection by the FAA or a designee. Your current authority only has to deregister the airplane. Some designees still ask for an export certificate, so agree the paperwork with the designee before the airplane moves. An airplane built outside the U.S. normally does need an export certificate of airworthiness.

Yes. The steps on this page are the same for any certified airplane, from a Cessna 172 or a Piper PA-28 to a Beechcraft Bonanza, a Diamond or a turboprop. What changes from one airplane to the next is the detail: modifications and STCs that need approval in the destination country, the avionics its airspace requires and, for jets and larger turboprops, the extra operating rules. Many of our examples use Cirrus because it is among the most-traded high-performance singles in the U.S. and Europe.

Yes. The process is the same for the SR20, SR22, SR22T and Vision Jet. What changes with age is the equipment: airplanes built from about 1999 to 2008, with analog or Avidyne panels, are the most likely to need radio, transponder or ELT work before they can fly in Europe, while Garmin Perspective airplanes from 2008 on usually need less. First-generation Vision Jets are certified to 28,000 feet and later ones to 31,000 feet.

Yes. Vision Jets are normally flown to their new country by a qualified crew rather than shipped. In the EU and the UK, any airplane with a turbojet engine is a complex motor-powered aircraft, so the owner declares the operation under Part-NCC, uses a CAMO for continuing airworthiness and needs pilots with the type rating. Confirm whether the airplane’s JetStream and engine program coverage transfer and how they are supported where it will be based.