Charter Sales, Airport Development... Maybe Even An SSBJ
by ANN Special Correspondent Dave Higdon
Day two of the 60th Annual National Business Aviation
Association Convention settled into a steady state with fewer press
announcements, but no lack of news. Thanks to continued buying by
the on-demand market, some diverse developments in airport
development and a trickle of aircraft development news, the
business-aviation news at the convention retained its sense of an
evolutionary trend.
And with so much to see and hear, the near-30,000 in attendance
had plenty to see and touch on the one million-plus square feet of
exhibit floor of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Among the developments Wednesday was the expected announcement
of a $200 million investment in exchange for a 50-percent stake in
Epic Aircraft taken by Dr. Vijay Mallya, a wildly successful
entrepreneur from India, as reported Wednesday morning by
Aero-News.
The strategic-development partnership developing between Airbus
and Epic was also confirmed during a brief press conference by
Epic's Rick Schrameck and Arnaud Martin, Airbus VP of corporate and
VIP jet programs. The only element missing from the press
conference was Dr. Vijay Mallya, who used his own personal funds to
make the investment.
Meanwhile, around the convention center -- but off the exhibit
floor -- NBAA delegates attended dozens of professional meetings on
topics ranging from international operations to managing and
aircraft to maintaining those aircraft, handling tax issues and
keeping up with training requirements.
And there was even a ripple from the Atlanta convention site
that reached the hallowed halls of Congress that indirectly
responded to the concern of the Secretary of Transportation Mary
Peters' comments at Tuesday's opening general Session. In that
sessions, Peters' expressed her concern that H.R. 2881 -- the
leading bill to support continued use of excise taxes -- lacked a
"cost-based" funding mechanism to develop a new-technology ATC
system. Delays, DoT's sales pitch goes, will worsen without such a
funding scheme.
In Wednesday episode in Washington,
NBAA's Steve Brown told the U.S. House of Representatives
Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation that
aside from weather, airline scheduling is the main cause of flight
delays and cancellations - despite the carriers' $12 million
concerted effort to sell the belief that general aviation is the
primary cause. Though he is NBAA's senior VO of operations, Brown
is not some biased partisan with no standing to speak - he's a
former FAA associate administrator for ATC, a position that put him
in charge of the system that has become so delay plagued.
"Based on my years of managing the airspace, when there are
capacity issues in the air, it's usually because of problems being
caused by airline hub operations on the ground at congested
airports," Brown told the committee.
The DoT's "own reports contradict the numerous, erroneous
allegations from the nation's big airlines over the past several
months attempting to blame record delays and increasing suggestion
on the business aviation community. In reality, Brown noted, the
airlines' practice of scheduling more operations than an airport's
runway acceptance rate that's at fault - such as trying to put 57
flights into JFK between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. when the actually
good-weather capacity is only 44. Compound this level of scheduling
hour after hour and something has to give.
Meanwhile, back in Atlanta record business and record attendance
kept things, well, interesting. Here's a rundown of developments
from Wednesday.
Cessna's Mustang Mania - A Record Flight And A Record Sale
Saturday, NBAA president Ed Bolen, aviation ambassador Jamail
Larkins, FBO owner Pat Epps and Cessna spokesman Bob Stangarone
flew a Citation Mustang from New York City -- site of NBAA's
founding in 1947 -- to Atlanta's DeKalb-Peachtree Airport to
commemorate the association's 60th year. On Wednesday, the National
Aeronautics Association presented Stangarone with a certificate
attesting to the first record flight of a VLJ with a time of 2
hours, 23 minutes and 44 seconds.
It was the Mustang's second record after winning a record order
for 30 from an unnamed European customer. This order brings the
total number of Mustangs sold to 350... not bad for a design in
service for less than a year.
Airports Developments Are Also Part of The NBAA Mix
In Kansas City, MO, the city's aviation department is busy
working on a plan to develop an all-new general aviation terminal,
a new self-fueling station and a new complex of at least 102
T-hangars, 10 box hangars and tie downs for 16 aircraft, plus
facilities for a fractional operation and other needed
improvements. The initial phase of this expansion on the airport's
west side is due for completion in late 2008 or early 2009. And
other facilities expansions may come after that, officials of the
Kansas City Aviation Department told Aero-News Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a few miles west in Denver, the SunBourne Companies
is busy developing a virgin 125 acres of land adjacent to
Centennial Airport that will include a new, as-yet-unnamed FBO,
hangars, fueling facilities and support businesses such as flight
schools and maintenance facilities, owner Mike Packard told
Aero-News Wednesday. Since the opening of Denver International
Airport more than a decade ago, business at Centennial has more
than quadrupled as measured by fuel sales and increased by nearly
twice in terms of flight operations. Groundbreaking for the new FBO
is expected later this year, with completion in the fourth quarter
of 2008.
XOJet - Like The Energizer Bunny, They Just Keep Going...
After contributing to the aura of
sales success for two straight days, XOJet, the innovative new
business-jet-transportation company, again drew the attention of
the NBAA audience by announcing new financing totaling $363 million
from two sources. From TPG and Lehman Brothers Global Principal
Strategies, XOJet secured $143 million in equity and debt
financing, plus another $220 million in aircraft lease financing
from Lehman Brothers GPS. To date, XOJet funding totals $542
million to support its unique jet ownership, charter and leasing
business.
Aerion Edges Ever Closer to A Supersonic Business Jet,
Says Barents
Long-time business-aviation executive Brian Barents told
Aero-News that the company has frozen the aerodynamic design of its
Aerion eight-seat supersonic business jet, with the next step
edging ever close. "Next we need to sign an OEM, and we're in
discussions with several possible candidates," he said in a
conversation Wednesday at the company's exhibit. "The hold up isn't
money, though; there's plenty of money available."
The hang-up, he said, is finding that OEM candidate with the
time and engineering talent and personnel to tackle the project.
"Everyone is very, very business right now," said Barents in his
characteristic understated style. Evidence abounds of how busy
everyone in business aviation is these days - particularly at this
record setting NBAA convention. "We keep chipping away and working
with candidates and we're going to find the right one yet," he
said.
But muffling the sonic boom of flight past Mach 1 is not part of
the company's plans, as it is at Gulfstream Aerospace, which in
recent years has undertaken a research effort focused on reducing
the impact of the shock wave that accompanies supersonic
flight.
"Our wing is much more efficient at sub-sonic speeds than the
wing design typical of supersonic aircraft, such as the Concorde,"
he explained. So while Aerion's design would be able to fly at
supersonic speeds where regulations allow it, it would also be able
to efficiently cruise at subsonic speeds over territory where
supersonic is prohibited.
Aerion approached the design from this perspective because the
technological challenges of muffling the boom tackle the problem in
steady state cruise. "But if you accelerate, climb or turn, the
boom returns," Barents explained. "Our research showed we can
create a plane that handles both environments with good economics,
unlike a plane like the Concorde, which sees its fuel flows more
than triple at subsonic speeds."
"Now we just need to find the company with the engineering
talent in sufficient quantity and of the quality needed to
coordinate the design, testing and certification. That company is
out there."
Business & GA Trade Show Comes to Europe
Planemakers, engine makers and other vendors have been talking
at length this week about the growth in international markets,
growth that's supplanting the U.S. as the majority buyer of
aircraft. To help develop the business and general aviation markets
in Europe, World Aviation Communications tells Aero-News that it
plans to launch a brand new event in Prague next April through its
AeroExpo subsidiary.
AeroExpo Prague will be held April 25-27 at the city's Pribam
Airport, a site selected because 70 percent of all general aviation
flying in Europe occurs within 500 miles. And with brand new
covered exhibit space, restaurant and hotel space on and near the
field, the organizers expect to be able to attract a wide variety
of exhibitors and general-aviation pilots and buyers.
AeroExpo held its first event in 2006 and a second earlier this
year at Wycombe Air Park outside London, which brought more than
11,500 through the gate. The Wycombe Air Park event and will return
June 13-15, 2008.
The Prague show is geared to help develop the burgeoning markets
in both East and West Europe, according to the company's managing
director, John Brennan. "We wanted to create a venue that would
attract and benefit all the region's key players," he said. "With
business aviation burgeoning in the region and light-sport aircraft
becoming a reality, this was the next logical step.
Hot Sales Make For Big Numbers...
Thirty jets here, 80 more than, another 30 and another 25 -- all
single-customer sales we've reported -- plus a smattering of single
and multiple sales to individuals and NBAA 2007 has contributed
mightily to the already huge backlog of business aircraft on
order.
A rough estimate by Aero-News puts the total value of sales
announced here to somewhere north of the $2.6 billion mark at this
convention. Whether the final tally goes beyond the record
$3-billion plus set at a prior NBAA convention remains to be
seen.
But with one more day to go, it's not inconceivable that the
total value of aircraft sold will go higher.
As Georgia's most famous fiction femme fatale, Scarlett O'Hara
would say, "Tomorrow is another day."
Stay tuned...