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PartsDesk
Guide

How to source aircraft parts faster.

Sourcing a part isn’t hard; doing it fast and right, ten times at once, is. This is the RFQ-to-quote playbook a working broker runs — five steps, no fluff.

A parts broker’s day is email. Ten RFQs go out to ten suppliers and come back as thirty-plus replies, each in a different format, half of them missing the one detail you need. The deal goes to whoever sends the first accurate quote — which is rarely the broker still digging through the inbox. The fix isn’t working longer; it’s a repeatable path from request to quote. Here it is.

01/Structure the RFQ before it goes out
A clean request gets clean quotes. Before you send, pin down the part number, the condition you’ll accept, the quantity, the certification you need (an FAA 8130-3 or EASA Form 1), the aircraft and any open directives, and the deadline. If it’s AOG, say so in the first line — a supplier prioritises what they can see is urgent.
02/Fan it to the right suppliers, not all of them
Spraying one RFQ at fifty vendors buries you in thirty replies and burns goodwill. Send it to the suppliers who actually carry the capability and have come through before, and a couple of stretch options — then thread every reply back to the same deal so nothing arrives twice and nothing gets lost between phone calls.
03/Compare on landed cost, not the sticker
The cheapest line is rarely the best quote. A serviceable part with a clean trace and a two-day lead beats an as-removed unit that’s cheaper on paper but needs a shop visit and three weeks. Normalise every offer to effective landed cost — condition, lead time, certification, shipping and FX — before you rank them.
04/Clear the paperwork before you quote
The deal that falls apart at delivery costs more than the one you lose at quote. Confirm the certificate matches the condition, the trace holds, the part isn’t caught by an airworthiness directive, and neither party is sanctioned — before you put a number in front of your customer, not after they’ve accepted it.
05/Quote first, then follow up
The first accurate answer usually wins the deal, and a quote that sits unsent loses it. Once the landed cost is clear, apply your markup against a margin floor and get it out — then chase the supplier reply or the customer’s decision before it goes cold. Speed only counts if the number is right; getting both is the job.

Notice where the time actually goes: not the judgment — which supplier, what markup, whether to take the deal — but the busywork around it. Re-keying RFQs, chasing replies, normalising quotes, checking certs. That’s the half a small desk can’t scale by hiring, and it’s exactly the half PartsDesk runs for you — parsing, sourcing, pricing and drafting — so the broker keeps the judgment and the customer, and loses the inbox archaeology.

Run the playbook on autopilot.

See PartsDesk parse, source and price real RFQs on your own inbox in a 30-day pilot.

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