... And Keeps ANN Staff On Its Toes!
by Aero-News Special Correspondent Dave Higdon
Anyone who questions the Theory of Evolution could have had
their doubts erased Monday thanks to a tradition for the day-before
action at the National Business Aviation Association Convention: a
marathon day of press conferences and briefings that focused on the
evolution of products, systems and services.
From the Airbus Corporate Jet to the Spectrum line of products,
the planemakers and vendors spoke almost entirely of programs in
progress, of sales successes and sustaining growth -- rather than
the sexier pronouncements of all-new products and programs.
For example, the dueling world of Airbus Corporate Jets and
Boeing Business Jets, both companies concentrated their briefings
on the strength of sales of their ultra-large-and-ultra-long-range
wings.
From the BBJ folks, the focus was on the record 30 sales logged
since NBAA's 59th meeting last met in October in Orlando. At last
year's convention, Boeing Business Jets celebrated the sales of 121
BBJs since the company launched in 1996. Those 30 include 21
737-based BBJs, BBJ2s and BBJ3s, plus seven 787 VIP versions and
two 747-8 VIP models. The three 737-based BBJ models are sold out
through 2012, the company noted.
From the Airbus folks, the news was focused on their own record:
100 sales of the ACJ in 120 months thanks to a record year with 28
sales of the ACJ line, which is based on the A320 family of
airliners. Airbus is showing an ACJ Elite, the smallest of the ACJ
trio, for the first time at NBAA. The company also noted the sale
of the first A380s, the massive double-decker airliner, as a
corporate aircraft.
From another French-based company came word of the first
appearance of the new Falcon 7X from Dassault since its
certification earlier this year. Business aviation's first
fly-by-wire jet is moving into the hands of customers even as the
40 7Xth starts final assembly in France. Work on an upgrade to the
Falcon 900EX triple could be in the works and the company
acknowledged that a 900LX would sport new winglets that help extend
the range and fuel efficiency of its 2000LX twin.
In the same category of medium-to-large jets, Gulfstream
announced continued growth in its support, design and production
operations at its home base in Savannah, GA -- as well as the 40th
anniversary of its tenure in the southeast Georgia city.
Gulfstream, company executives confirmed, continues its
groundbreaking work on technologies that will reduce or eliminate
sonic booms and allow a new generation of supersonic business jets
to break the Mach barrier over the Continental United States.
From Adam Aircraft, the new management team delivered an upbeat
report on their tighter focus on completing certification of the
A700 VLJ and ramping up serial production of the A500 centerline
twin -- now that it's approved for altitudes up to FL250 --
and, after certificated in 2008, the A700. The company also
announced a training partnership with SAFERjett that will provide
full-motion-sim training for the A700 and advanced training devices
and panel trainers for the A700 and A500. Finally, Adam plans to
unveil the redesigned interior for the A700 (shown below) that
includes a belted lavatory seat and an innovative stowable privacy
partition. The company has a target of delivering more than 1,000
of its two designs in the next seven to 10 years.
Spectrum Aviation founder Linden Blue talked about the
competitive advantages of his company's developmental S-40 Freedom
and S-33 Independence, which should result in certification of the
$6.2 million Freedom in 2010 -- with the Independence to follow.
According to Blue, the mid-size-cabin Freedom should turn in direct
operating costs that are about half those of a popular, smaller
twin turboprop. The GE-Honda HF-120 that will power the Freedom
should be in the hands of Spectrum in late 2008, if R & D
efforts continue on schedule. Interestingly, Blue noted that the
D.O.C.s of the Williams FJ33-powered Independence VLJ should be
almost exactly the same as those for the Freedom.
From the business-jet folks in Canada came the announced of a
new integrated aviations system for the Bombardier Global Express
XRS and Global 5000 ultra-long-range business jets employing
Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion, an evolution of the company's
standout Pro Line 21 system. Dubbed Global Vision, this "flight
environment" panel created for the planemaker by the design
consultant firm Design Q. The company unveiled a mock-up of the new
panel during a press event Monday evening at its static display at
Fulton County Airport.
Rockwell Collins new Pro Line Fusion system is a substantial
upgrade of the Pro Line 21 that fuses, if you will, a real-world
infrared-based vision system with a synthetic vision system based
on a database of the world's terrain, plus a new weather-radar
system -- all on the primary flight display. Using a new generation
of high-resolution active-matrix LCD displays, the Pro Line Fusion
system employs four 15-inch screens. Fusion also supports a
heads-up-display that allows the pilot to maintain situational
awareness while continuing to look out the windshield.
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer provided updates on its Lineage
1000 business jet - a variant of the EMB-190 100-seat
airliner -- as well as its two Phenom projects, the 100 and
300. With these programs in track and progressing on-schedule, the
company is also expected to launch two new jets between the Phenom
300 and Legacy 600, with rumors abounding that these two new jets
will carry the Phenom 400 and Phenom 500 names.
At its annual business-jet forecast event Sunday evening,
Honeywell predicted deliveries of 14,000 business jets between 2007
and 2017, continuing a growth trend that will result in deliveries
of more than 1,000 business jets this year - the first time the
industry has cleared that high bar. Making up the 14,000 in the
forecast, the company predicted, will be: more than 2,000 long- and
ultra-long-range aircraft; 1,300 large- and medium-large cabin
jets; 2,600 medium- and medium-large cabin jets; 3,850 light and
light-medium jets; and more than 3,800 very light jets. Another
6,000 to 7,000 personal jets are also forecast to be sold in the
10-year period. The tab for all this business-aircraft hardware - a
whopping $250 billion-plus.
And this was only a small sampling of the news on the day before
the 60th annual NBAA convention. With opening day Tuesday you can
expect a planeload more.