Last week, JPMorgan economists lowered their global GDP growth forecast for the second half of this year by 0.5 percentage points, to 2.1 percent. “If it persists,” JPMorgan Equity Research said in its just-issued business jet monthly report, “the disappointing economic data should pressure new bizjet demand, further postponing a recovery in a market in which 2011 deliveries were still about 40 percent below the 2008 peak.”
NetJets
There have been two key developments in recent efforts by the U.S. government to extract more tax money from fractional-share operators, the subject of a NetJets lawsuit against the government and the government’s counter-lawsuit.
EU-funded project Accepta is co-funding the publishing of Egnos (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System) landing procedures and/or installing its navigation equipment at 40 additional airports in 11 European countries by the end of 2013. The countries soon to get the system at their airports include Finland, France, Italy, UK, Austria and Spain. Egnos, Europe’s equivalent of Waas GPS, has many benefits including operational, economic (especially for business aviation), safety and environmental, said the company.
Fractional ownership giant NetJets Europe (Stand 7051) is diversifying into aircraft management services. In an interview with AIN, sales director Marine Eugene explained that NetJets Aircraft Management has been established as a separate operation and will soon have its own air operator’s certificate (AOC). It will focus on large-cabin and long-range business jets, from the size of the Dassault Falcon 2000 upwards.
NetJets Europe announced this week at EBACE that it is diversifying into aircraft management services. According to NJE sales director Marine Eugene, NetJets Aircraft Management has been established as a separate operation and will soon have its own air operator’s certificate. It will focus on large-cabin and long-range business jets, from the size of the Dassault Falcon 2000 upwards.
NetJets Europe is launching management services in Europe as a separate division from its fractional operations in the region. It will be similar to U.S. Executive Jet Management arm at NJE’s sister company. AIN contributing editor Thierry Dubois sat down with NetJets Europe director of sales Marine Eugene at EBACE to learn more about the new program.
The rebirth of the Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (Abace) in Shanghai was, by common consent, a resounding success–especially considering the many challenges that organizer NBAA faced in running a modern trade show in China’s main business city. The March 27-29 event drew 156 exhibitors in a 43,000-sq-ft space provided by Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Centre at Hongqiao Airport. The static display was populated by some 27 aircraft and was overlooked by eight exhibitor pavilions occupied by companies too large to exhibit inside the main hangar.
Los Angeles-based aircraft charter and management firm Jet Edge was named “Private Jet Services Company 2012” yesterday by the Institute of Transport Management. Bill Papariella–a business aviation industry veteran with experience at Sentient, Marquis Jet and NetJets–founded Jet Edge last July with the help of Bard Capital Group CEO Richard Bard, Western Jet Aviation CEO Jim Hansen and four other former NetJets senior sales executives. The company has five large-cabin Gulfstreams among its fleet.
Embraer’s business aircraft deliveries declined to 99 last year from 144 in 2010, according to the Brazilian OEM’s fiscal-year 2011 and fourth-quarter 2011 results, released recently. Embraer Executive Jets’ share of total company revenue dropped to 19 percent last year from 23 percent in 2010. The company delivered 50 business jets (more than half the annual total) in last year’s fourth quarter, 11 fewer than for the same period in 2010.