General Business Aviation News

Private Boeing 757-200 with interior designed by Edese Doret

NetJets has been caught by surprise by headwinds in China amid Beijing's austerity drive and a slowing economy, the business aircraft supplier's chief executive said. Less than three months after NetJets won regulatory approval to provide charter services in China, business in and around China is slowing as domestic firms cut the number of aircraft they are importing, Jordan Hansell told Reuters news agency. "I didn't think it would drop until it actually occurred. It surprised us a little bit," Hansell said.

The slowdown is a temporary setback for the country's fledgling general aviation market. With hopes for the sector high, plane makers from Embraer to Gulfstream have either started manufacturing jets in China or reinforcing sales staff. But China's economic growth weakened to 7.3 percent in the third quarter, and November's soft factory and investment figures suggest full-year growth could slow to 7.1 percent in 2015 from an expected 7.4 percent this year.

Beijing's austerity drive also hurt sales of luxury items, including business jets. China bought only 16 business jets during the first nine months of the year, down from 30 in 2013. The number of chartered flights is also set to fall below last year's 20,000. "There was a blip in the middle of the summer where it really slowed down," said Hansell. "And then it started picking up back again but you don't make up for the drop of the summer."

Still, Hansell views NetJets' China investment as "a long-term proposition," saying the country "has the highest growth potential than any market in the world". Hansell said NetJets is offering only "a handful" of chartered flights in China, using two Hawker 800XPs aircraft - one in Shenzhen and one in Shanghai. NetJets has no plan to bring more jets into China or start selling shares in aircraft, Hansell said. NetJets operates its China private aircraft charter service through a three-way agreement with Chinese private investment firm Hony Capital and Fung Investments.

(Reuters)

Luxaviation Group has snapped up Lisbon, Portugal-headquartered charter and management company Masterjet. The deal marks the fifth acquisition of a business aviation company in just over three years by the Luxembourg-based group, which is now the second-largest business aircraft operator on the continent after NetJets Europe, with a fleet of just under 100 aircraft. The UK's London Executive Aviation, France's Uni Air, Belgium's Abelag and Germany's FairJets were absorbed into the group in May 2014, January 2014, June 2013 and October 2011 respectively. Masterjet operates eight business jets including two long-range Dassault Falcon 7Xs and a refurbished, VIP-configured Airbus A320. The company will retain its identity, leadership and operational independence, says Luxaviation. (FG)

Business jets should not be subject to an ICAO proposal to require plane makers to install equipment that would better track aircraft, according to an industry group. ICAO has proposed fitting commercial jets with ejectable flight recorders and wants them to report their positions more frequently. The goal is to help rescuers find missing planes more quickly. The International Business Aviation Council, which represents business jet makers, said the plan should not apply to jets with 19 or fewer passenger seats. "When they spend their safety dollars, they really want value for money," said Peter Ingleton, director of the group's ICAO liaison office.

"There doesn't seem to be value for money, safety-wise, in diverting safety expenditures away from traditional areas into things like tracking and deployables," he told Reuters. A draft of the tracking plan released before the conference did not include the exemption, but in a presentation on Tuesday ICAO's Secretariat said it should only apply to planes with a take-off mass of more than 27,000 kg and with more than 19 seats. That detail, like the rest of the plan, will need to be approved by ICAO's governing council after the conference.

Ingleton said the added cost of installing new safety devices are more easily defrayed on larger commercial planes than on a small business jet where the expense would be spread over a smaller number of passengers. "It's a huge cost that would push up the cost... to the customer." Global aviation leaders are gathered in Montreal to push for new standards in tracking aircraft. The new guidelines call for a combination of regular tracking in normal flight and accelerated signals whenever an aircraft flying over oceans or deserted areas gets into trouble.

(Reuters)

It is official now, the long mooted and speculated about ACJ380 for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud has been canceled. Airbus made the decision to terminate it in December 2014 after nothing was going on with the aircraft. Despite all the internet rumours and suggestions as well as hear-say about what the aircraft could have potentially had onboard, the aircraft never had an interior installed on it. The order was originally placed back in 2007 for the nearly 6,000 sq-foot space interior on the ACJ380. Apparently years after the Saudi Prince sold the aircraft and ever since then... it has been in Toulouse, France doing nothing.

A look at a Royal Jet BBJ... check it out

http://www.royaljetgroup.com/en/section/our-fleet/vip-chartering/boeing-business-jet-bbj

You can see a VIP cabin conversion company here... New United Goderich

http://newunitedgoderich.com/index.php?xpage=vipconversions_inc.php

The Gulfstreams and Learjets crowding the tarmac at the small airport in Augusta after flying in for the Masters Golf Tournament are sending a clear signal: Luxury flying is unabashedly back. “This year should be bigger for us than any year since ’07,” said Jordan Hansell, chief executive officer of NetJets, the largest private-aviation company, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Both golf and private aviation suffered during the 2008-2009 recession. Business jets were shunned after auto executives took them to Washington to request bailout money. After that, companies found that corporate jets were an easy area to cut costs. A U.S. economic rebound is helping the industry shed its tarnished image. Deliveries of new small- and medium-sized business aircraft rose 12 percent to 480 in 2014, the first gain since 2008. Used jet prices have hit the bottom and are rising for some models. And people are taking their jets again to the Masters, said Diane Johnston, director of marketing at the Augusta Regional Airport in Georgia. (Bloomberg)

Charter business company Silver Air has announced that it added WiFi to the business jets in its charter fleet. WiFi is an integral part of business jet travel these days but for the recreational charter customer it is more of an added convenience.

http://www.silverair.com

With competition heating up in the Great China area for business jet competition, Comlux is thinking about possibly partnering with an entity for completions center in China. The knowledge comes from the 2015 ABACE where Comlux has two big business jets on static display, ACJ319 and a BBJ.

Jet Aviation is proud to announce the addition of two new Gulfstream G650ER business jets to its managed fleet in EMEA and Asia. With these new additions, Jet Aviation’s G650 managed fleet has grown to seven aircraft. Delivery of the aircraft is expected by the end of May 2015. The two new G650ER aircraft represent the company’s sixth and seven G650 aircraft in its EMEA and Asia fleet, four of which are based in Asia. Both of the new G650ER aircraft will be home-based in Hong Kong. MRO work for them is to be at Jet Aviation’s own Hong Kong facility.

LuxAviation, Luxembourg-based private charter company says they are offering discounted rates to and from Singapore for the upcoming Singapore Yacht Show which runs from April 23-26th. Some of the rates are as much as 50% off flights compared to the market pricing. The company boasts a fleet of over 100 aircraft as well as 50-plus years of experience in the industry. Their latest acquisition is that of an ACJ320 widebody VIP aircraft.

LuxAviation video, for those who may not know who the company is...

Berkshire Hathaway company NetJets has donated some $1 million to further its aviation research and professional development partnership with The Ohio State University. The Columbus, Ohio-based fractional ownership provider formed the partnership with Ohio State four years ago to establish the center for aviation studies that would focus on NextGen initiatives.

Four Seasons Boeing 757... a look inside.

http://pix11.com/2015/04/25/take-a-look-inside-the-worlds-first-luxury-flying-hotel-photos/

More can be seen here as well

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...inside-the-four-seasons-new-private-jumbo-jet

Four Seasons themselves have uploaded a video 2 days ago about the unveiling of the newly finished 757 VIP

German based charter-type company MHS Aviation has announced that it has added a third Challenger 604 to its fleet. The 12-passenger Bombardier business jet adds to their overall portfolio by notching the fleet up to 17 jets now. The new addition is expected to be on call for charter without previous owner ́s approval. This is now the fourth new aircraft acquisition by MHS in the last six months. Previous to this Challenger has been a Gulfstream GV, an Embraer Phenom 300 and a Cessna Citation CJ3.

Million Air (Dallas) shows off their Hawker 900XP

Chartright out of Canada announces that they have added a brand new Challenger 350 from Bombardier. The Challenger 350 was introduced by Bombardier in 2014 and offers a spacious cabin capable of seating 8 passengers. Fully loaded the Challenger 350 can fly up to 3,000 miles non-stop, and can achieve its full range of 3,300 miles with all 8 passengers on board. The Challenger 350 boasts very low operating costs and a superbly appointed cabin. The combination of cabin size and economics makes the Challenger 350 well suited for short, medium and long range flying.