How to read an aircraft parts quote: every field, what it usually leaves blank, and what to ask before the PO
A quote for the same part number can come back as three lines in an email, a scanned PDF, or a forty-column spreadsheet — and every format uses its own name for the same field, when it names the field at all. This guide walks every field on an aircraft parts quote: what it means, what suppliers usually leave blank, and the question that gets the missing piece, with a link to the deep-dive guide where one exists.
The short answer
- Most fields are optional in practice, not just in theory. A blank field is not a "no" — it's a question you still have to ask.
- Two fields go missing most often: the delivery term and the ships-from country — exactly what decides where the seller's price stops and how far the part still has to travel.
- Condition is the field suppliers almost always answer; the paperwork behind it — certificate and trace — is blank on about half the lines.
- Read the table below field by field, or skip to the checklist for what "complete" looks like.
Ten suppliers, ten formats
In practice, nothing standardizes how a quote reaches you. One supplier answers inline in an email, fields run together in a sentence; another attaches a PDF with its own headings; a third pastes a spreadsheet row per line. The same piece of information — certificate, trace, minimum order — can sit under a different label, a different place, or nowhere at all, on every reply to one RFQ. Writing an RFQ that pulls more of it out in the first answer: a complete, comparable RFQ. Putting several suppliers' answers side by side once you have them: comparing many suppliers in one table. This guide sits between the two: what each field means, and what to do when it's missing.
In supplier quotes we received between mid-June and late September 2026 (about 126,000 quote lines, 15,900 part numbers), 73.9% arrived in the body of an email and 26.1% in a PDF. Certificate was blank on 46.5% of lines, trace on 56.3%, ships-from country on 61.1%, and the delivery term (Incoterm) on 83.4% — the most often blank of these. Only 6.8% of lines had certificate, trace, lead time, condition and ships-from country all filled in at once.
Every field, what it means, what's usually missing, and what to ask
Where we have an in-depth guide, the field name links there; the table gives only what you need to spot the gap and ask.
| Field | What it means | Common gap | What to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part number / alternate | The OEM's number for the exact part, plus any alternate, superseded or dash-numbered part offered against your line. | An alternate named with no statement of one-way or two-way interchangeability — or the line carries an NSN instead of a manufacturer's P/N. | Is the alternate interchangeable both ways, and under which reference (IPC, service bulletin)? |
| Description | The part's name — sometimes a full nomenclature, sometimes one generic word. | Blank on 5.7% of the lines we received, and often generic; a bare "valve" doesn't confirm the exact configuration. For AN, MS and NAS hardware, the number itself carries the detail. | Does the description match your IPC line? If it's generic, ask for a photo or a spec sheet. |
| Condition | The code — NE, NS, OH, SV, AR and the rest. | Almost always answered — blank on only 2.4% of the lines we received — but the code alone doesn't say what backs it up. | What paperwork proves this condition? |
| Qty available vs. qty requested | How many the supplier can actually supply against how many you asked for. | A quote can answer your line without flagging that the quantity is lower, or price a lot — a kit of many — against a request for one piece. | Does the quoted quantity match what I asked for, and can it be split? |
| Unit of measure | What one unit of the price is, usually written as a code such as EA (each), PR (pair), KT (kit) or FT (foot). The codes are a convention, not a rule — see our glossary of abbreviations. | Reading every price as "each" when it's per kit, pack or foot multiplies the total by the pack size. | What's in one unit, and can it be broken down to the quantity you need? |
| Unit price & currency | The price per unit of measure, and the currency it's quoted in. | Currency left off (often assumed to be USD), and no explanation for why one supplier's price is far from another's for the same P/N and condition. | Confirm the currency. For the price gap itself, see why the same part number gets very different prices. |
| Minimum order / minimum line charge / per-transaction fees | A floor on the line: a minimum quantity, a minimum dollar amount per line, or a flat fee added to the whole order regardless of line count. | The minimum was blank on 29.9% of the lines we received; a charge left off the quote can surface first on the invoice. | Is there a minimum line charge or a per-order fee, and does it apply per line or per PO? |
| Price breaks | A lower unit price at a higher order quantity. | Stated on only 8.1% of the lines we received — most show a single quantity and price, so you can't tell whether a larger buy would price lower. | Is there a better price at two, five or ten times this quantity? |
| Lead time / stock | From stock ("STK", "immediate") or a number of days after receipt of order (ARO). | Blank on 9.5% of the lines we received; 42.2% said "stock" or similar, which alone doesn't say when the part ships or reaches you. | Lead time to ship or to my door, and is "in stock" confirmed today? See aircraft parts lead time. |
| Certificate | FAA 8130-3, EASA Form 1, a Certificate of Conformity, or a release from a third country's own authority. | Blank on 46.5% of the lines we received; where one is named, it can be a form your registry doesn't recognize — ANAC, TCCA, CAAC and other authorities appeared on about 1.9% of our lines. | Which certificate, issued by whom? See 8130-3 vs EASA Form 1. |
| Trace | The documented chain of custody back to a certificated source. | Blank on 56.3% of the lines we received — more often than the certificate. | How far back does the trace go, and is it attached or "available on request"? See traceability. |
| Tag date | The date the release certificate was issued. | Confused with the date of manufacture; there is no regulatory maximum tag age, but many buyers set their own limit. | What's the tag date, and does your program accept it? See how old can a tag be. |
| Ships-from | The country, and ideally the city, the part actually ships from. | Blank on 61.1% of the lines we received. Where it was stated, 62.4% named the United States and the rest another country. | Ships-from country and city — it decides transit time and which country's export rules apply. See Incoterms for aircraft parts. |
| Incoterm | The delivery rule — EXW, FCA, FOB and the rest — that sets who pays which leg and where the risk of loss passes. | Blank on 83.4% of the lines we received — more often than certificate, trace or ships-from. | Which rule, which edition, and the named place? Full explanation: EXW, FCA or FOB on a parts quote. |
| Quote validity | How long the price and quantity stand. | Rarely a field of its own — it usually lives in the email text, not the line item, and "subject to prior sale" can undercut a validity date you were given. | How long is this price good for, and is it subject to prior sale? See quote validity and prior sale. |
| Exchange / outright | Buy the part outright, or exchange it for a core you send back. | An exchange price quoted as one number, with the core charge, return deadline and over-and-above terms mentioned only if you ask. | Ask for the outright price too — and for exchange, the core charge, deadline and O&A terms. See exchange without surprises. |
| Warranty | What's covered, for how long, and starting from what date. | Often not on the quote at all — you find out the terms, or their absence, after a part fails. | Warranty length, starts when, and the RMA process. See warranty returns. |
| Payment terms | Prepay, deposit, net terms, wire only. | Banking details that arrive in a separate email, or change after the quote, are the opening a payment-fraud attempt uses. | Get terms in writing on the quote or PO, and verify banking details out of band. See paying a supplier safely. |
When a certificate is named, which one is it
"Certificate blank" is not the same as "certificate unclear." A form your registry doesn't recognize is, in practice, still a gap.
Of the same set of lines, FAA Form 8130-3 was mentioned on 16.7%, EASA Form 1 on 11.9%, both together on 5.7%, and a plain Certificate of Conformity on 18.5%. A release from a third country's own authority — ANAC/SEGVOO, TCCA, CAAC, DGCA and similar — turned up on about 1.9% of lines, most often ANAC/SEGVOO. Which of these your aircraft's registry will actually accept is covered in 8130-3 vs EASA Form 1 and, for the less common authorities, in release certificates from other authorities.
When a delivery term is named, which one — and from where
The Incoterm field is worth pressing on: it changes the price you're actually comparing, not just the paperwork.
Of the lines that did name a delivery term, 66.3% were EXW (Ex Works) in some spelling, 27.5% FOB and 3.2% FCA. Of the lines that did name a ships-from country, the United States accounted for 62.4%. Across all countries, the ships-from field held 236 different spellings of the country name. A quote naming neither the term nor the place cannot be brought to your door on the same basis as one that does; see EXW, FCA or FOB on an aircraft parts quote for what each rule actually decides.
A quote is complete when…
| Check |
|---|
| The part number matches your IPC line, and any alternate states one-way or two-way interchangeability. |
| Condition is a real code (NE, NS, OH, SV, AR) — not left blank. |
| A certificate is named — 8130-3, EASA Form 1, CoC or another authority's release — and you know whether your registry accepts it. |
| Trace is stated, even if only "available on request," rather than silent. |
| The quantity quoted matches the quantity requested, in a unit of measure you understand. |
| The unit price carries a currency. |
| Lead time says "to ship" or "to your door" — not just "stock." |
| The ships-from country is named. |
| An Incoterms rule and a named place appear, not just a number. |
| Minimum order, minimum line charge and any per-transaction fee are on the line — not first seen on the invoice. |
| A quote validity date is stated, and you know whether it's subject to prior sale. |
| Warranty and payment terms are in writing, not implied. |
A quote that clears every row is rare — only 6.8% of our lines had even five of these (certificate, trace, lead time, condition and ships-from country) all filled in. Treat the gaps as the real work of comparing quotes, not an afterthought.
See the fields side by side, line by line
Send your RFQ to [email protected] in the file you already have — Excel, PDF, a scan or the email body, five lines or five hundred. Your inquiry will be reviewed by a specialist within one business day. In our client portal, RFQ Radar, every answered line shows part number, description, condition, certificates, quantity, unit price in US dollars, lead time in days, minimum order and, where the supplier states it, the country the part ships from; the list can be searched, sorted and downloaded to Excel or CSV.
Our client portal, RFQ Radar, keeps every quote, order and invoice in one place.
Before you buy, check what certificates and trace come with each part. Aircraft on ground? See our 24/7 AOG desk.
Sources
- MG AVIATION TECH — offer lines from supplier quotes received mid-June to late September 2026, aggregated by field; no prices, supplier names or client names published.
- The regulatory detail behind each field is verified and sourced in the linked in-depth guide for that field; this page summarizes and does not restate those sources.