Steve Varsano, founder of London-based business jet sales brokerage The Jet Business, is optimistic about the industry these days. Keeping things in perspective, he said that there are now 35 percent more business jets in the fleet since the recession took hold in 2007. “That’s 5,000 more jets flying today than just six years ago, which is pretty good when you think about it,” he pointed out.
Business jet
May 22, 2013 - 2:00pm
The Embraer Lineage 1000 on the static line at EBACE 2013 has been sold to Belgium’s FlyingGroup. Ernest Edwards, president of Embraer Executive Jets, and FlyingGroup CEO Bernard van Milders, climbed aboard to celebarate the sale of the first ultra-large cabin Embraer Lineage 1000 delivered in Belgium. The aircraft, which will be operated both privately and for charter by FlyingGroup, will be based in Antwerp and operated to points as far away as Kazakhstan, and even beyond, according to van Milders.
May 22, 2013 - 12:18pm
The Challenger 350 will become the time-to-climb leader of the entire Bombardier business jet line once it enters service next year, Bombardier Challenger vice president and general manager Stéphane Leblanc said at a technical briefing at EBACE. Bombardier expects the super-midsize jet to reach 41,000 feet in 18 minutes, surpassing the manufacturer’s current leader, the Learjet 60.
May 22, 2013 - 12:17pm
JetNet iQ director Rolland Vincent is “very optimistic” about the outlook for business aviation in Europe, as well as the rest of the world, he said yesterday at EBACE. Over the next 10 years, the company is calling for deliveries of 9,317 business jets worth $257 billion. In 2022, the projected business jet fleet would thus reach 25,937, a 36-percent increase from the 19,016 jets flying today.
May 22, 2013 - 8:00am
Bombardier Business Aircraft chose Strasbourg, France-based Happy Design (Booth 7011) to render the paint scheme on its Learjet 75 demonstrator here at the EBACE static park. Happy Design’s Didier Wolff has also been commissioned to create designs for the entire Bombardier line of demonstrators, including Learjet, Challenger and Global models.
May 22, 2013 - 3:00am
The new Garmin G3000-based Prodigy Touch avionics suite for the Embraer Phenom 300 was certified early May by Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil and the U.S. FAA; EASA approval is expected in April 2014.
May 22, 2013 - 2:00am
Embraer Executive Jets (Booth 7041) continues to expand at its headquarters in Melbourne, Florida. The business jet division of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer has been assembling and delivering Phenoms since 2011 at the southeast U.S. complex and its customer center there has been open for about a year and a half. In addition, it is building a new engineering center, and there is ample room for further growth.
May 22, 2013 - 1:30am
Cirrus Aircraft is here exhibiting its SR22 piston single on the static display in a bid to persuade business aircraft owners that “there is always a good reason to have another plane,” as Jan-Peter Fisher, a Cirrus representative in Germany, put it. For example, the SR22 can land at small airfields that cannot accommodate a business jet. The five-seater is “about the fun of flying,” Fisher went on, not forgetting to mention the high cruise speed for the category: 200 knots.
May 22, 2013 - 1:00am
The economic slump in Europe hasn’t slowed the growth of Austria’s GlobeAir, the air taxi operator that launched operations in 2008 with a pair of Citation Mustangs. During an EBACE briefing, GlobeAir CEO Bernhard Fragner reported a profit of €200,000 ($260,000) last year and projected further positive results for 2013.
May 21, 2013 - 5:15pm
Evergreen Apple Nigeria (EAN, Booth 2135) announced here at EBACE that it has signed a representation agreement with Gulfstream Aerospace. This announcement comes just a week and a half after the closing of a successful Nigerian business aviation conference, the country’s first, hosted by EAN. The company is the first fully integrated FBO, maintenance and hangar facility for business jets to open at Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
