I'll go ahead and put my two cents on this topic from my experience. Yes bonus depreciation is gone, however it was only allowed on new delivery aircraft. Bonus depreciation was really just a gimick to help boost sales. On the owner end it created a huge tax liability unless they planned on "long term" ownership.
Example:
Corporate Flight Dept X is new to whole aircraft ownership and decides to break into the business by purchasing a new Pilatus PC-12 in 2008 for $4.0M With bonus depreciation they are allowed to depreciate the aircraft over 5 years. Since Company X had large taxable event in 2008 accounting has decided they can ofset their tax liabilities through bonus depreciation. Over the next two years bonus depreciation allows company to depreciate $2.5M from the Pilatus.
Fast forward to 2010:
Corporation X decides they still love owning their own aircraft but the PC-12 just isnt fast enough for their desires. With the current aircraft market, they decide they can now sell their PC-12 for $3.0M and purchase a 500 series Citation for $1.5M Accountant tells them to use 1031 like kind exchange, but with the delta between aircraft sale and purchase being $1.5M That leaves the company on the hook for capital gains of $1.5M the remaining $1.0M residual depreciation from the Pilatus is tranferred to the Citation.
My point is that I would never suggest to any client using the bonus depreciation as good reasoning to justify an aircraft purchase. In today's volitile economy it may create larger headaches down the road than the short term benefit.
