http://www.blueskyexecutiveaviation.co.uk

Business aircraft sales, acquisitions, trading and brokerage services provider, Jetcraft Corporation – headquartered in Raleigh, NC – have commented this week on the state of the international business jet market.

“Fundamentally, Jetcraft’s market outlook remains unchanged – despite recent financial uncertainties in Europe and the US,” says Chad Anderson, President, Jetcraft Corporation. “Specifically, we are seeing two trends that we believe are representative of the international business jet market at this time.

First, prices at the top of the market – new long range to large business jets – have stabilized significantly. This good news for sellers has largely been driven by strong demand from emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. In parallel, we continue to see demand recovery in North America, from both public companies and high-net-worth individuals. Second, there remains a healthy supply of ‘legacy’ business jets models on the market – approximately 15% of the total of these fleets worldwide are currently for sale – which creates attractive opportunities for buyers. It is worth noting that ‘legacy’ aircraft such as the Bombardier Challenger 604, the Gulfstream GIV or the Dassault Falcon 900B may offer exceptional value,” adds Mr. Anderson.

“We believe that confidence in the business jet market is holding because the volume of transactions has remained quite stable,” continues Jahid Fazal-Karim, Co-Owner and Board Member, Jetcraft Corporation. “Business jet purchasers are generally acquiring aircraft based on anticipated lift requirements six to 18 months from today. This trend illustrates continued confidence as globalization of business continues, the need for long range business jets – particularly in emerging markets – is here to stay. Furthermore, access to credit and financing has not been noticeably impacted by recent macroeconomic events. Jetcraft is guardedly optimistic and we continue to monitor risk. On balance, we expect our sales results to remain very favorable through year end,” concludes Mr. Fazal-Karim.

By Curt Epstein

http://www.ainonline.com

Gulfstream parent company General Dynamics announced last month that Larry Flynn will succeed Joe Lombardo as president of the Savannah-based airframer, starting September 1.

Lombardo served not only as president of the jet maker since 2007 but also as executive vice president of General Dynamics’s aerospace group, and he will retain the latter title. “This will enable Mr. Lombardo to spend additional time ensuring that both Jet Aviation and Gulfstream Aerospace are focused on meeting their customers’ requirements,” a General Dynamics spokesman told AIN, noting that Lombardo, 63, would assume a supervisory role in both companies. The move also aligns the executive structure of the aerospace group to match that of General Dynamics’s other business groups, the spokesman said.

After the similarly unexpected announcement in June of the resignation of Jet Aviation president Peter Edwards, who had led the international aviation services provider since 2007, Lombardo assumed temporary leadership of the company until former Gulfstream CFO and senior vice president Daniel Clare assumed its presidency in July.

During General Dynamics’ second-quarter earnings call at the end of July, chairman and CEO Jay Johnson noted problems within Jet Aviation that affected the quarterly earnings for the company’s aerospace division. He specifically cited slowdowns in production output from Jet Aviation’s completions division and said that the company has taken “specific steps to reshape that business.”

Before this appointment, Flynn, 59, was Gulfstream’s senior vice president of marketing and sales, a role he held since 2008. Before that he had a successful seven-year stint as president of Gulfstream product support. He joined the company in 1995 as vice president of aircraft services, bringing more than 25 years of aircraft service facility experience to the business jet manufacturer.

Very Light Jets (VLJ’s) are micro jets, and there are a few new designs coming to the jet charter market. They promise to bring most of the speed and luxury of large corporate jets at a fraction of the operating cost, and size.

Chartering a cabin class corporate jet such as the Gulfstream comes with a price. Flying this flagship business jet will run you around $5,000 per hour. The Eclipse 500 and Diamond D-Jet are currently chartering in the neighborhood of $1,300 per hour. You miss out on the big jet appeal when fly a VLJ, but you can comfortably move four people in these small jets without the big price tag.

The Eclipse 500 joined the charter ranks a few years ago. It promised to have a big production run and even bigger impact on the air taxi and charter business. Over 200 aircraft were made before the company ran into financial difficulty. These airplanes are still flying strong in the jet charter ranks and fill an important niche.

The Diamond D-Jet is similar is size and scope to the Eclipse. Both jet aircraft with cruise almost 1,500 miles at speeds close to 400 mph. Diamond has not experienced the financial difficulties suffered by Eclipse and continues its production run. Both of these charter jets have price tags in the two million dollar range. This makes the $1,300 per hour charter rate a bargain. By comparison a turboprop charter is more expensive and moves slower.

Eclipse 500

Diamond D-Jet

Piper Aircraft, best known for its single engine propeller airplanes, is ramping up facilities to produce the Piper Jet. This single engine jet will carry four passengers just as the current VLJ aircraft, but will have the full marketing and production might of Piper Aircraft behind it. The Piper Jet is scheduled to hit the jet charter market in 2012 or 2013. This will be the only single engine jet available for charter. It will be interesting to see how this airplane is received by the air charter population. Modern single engine airplanes are extremely safe and reliable, but the paying charter crowd will decide if they are comfortable with only one engine. In my experience, many charter flyers specifically request twin engine charter airplanes for their peace of mind.

Piper Jet

Piper Jet Interior

The Honda HA-420 HondaJet should be arriving with the PiperJet in late 2012 or early 2013. It may be the fastest VLJ at close to 500 mph. Seating will accommodate four to six based on the configuration. The most interesting feature of the HondaJet so far is the mounting of the engines. They are carried on wing pods above the wings. VLJ’s do not have the ground clearance to carry engines below the wings as a conventional airlines does; most are mounted near the tail.

These two additions to the jet charter fleet should stir things up a bit. They should have a larger footprint than the Eclipse 500 and Diamond D-Jet as Honda and Piper have more marketing and production dollars at their disposal. This should also keep the VLJ charter cost competitive considering the increased number of VLJ aircraft available for jet charter.

HondaJet

HondaJet Interior

MILFORD, CT, October 29, 2010 Press Release — Connecticut Air Charter has developed a comprehensive website designed to convey the ease and convenience of charter aviation. Servicing clients with the largest selection of aircraft available, Connecticut Air Charter offers piston aircraft, turboprop aircraft, jets, and helicopters to any desired destination at the lowest prices available.

The new website has been designed to provide customers with easy accessibility to information pertaining to everything from the types of aircraft used, to destinations, to safety. Connecticut Air Charter helps travelers get to anywhere from anywhere. With flights ranging from local, national, and international, Connecticut Air Charter will find the best price for any chartered flight.

Keith Reed, President and CEO of Connecticut Air Charter said, “We are extremely proud of our new website. The site exudes the professionalism we pride ourselves on every day. And, our new online charter quote feature allows visitors to our site to obtain a fast, easy, secure quote, 24 hours a day.”

As a referral-based company, there are no contracts to sign or fees to pay to Connecticut Air Charter. We receive payment from the charter operator we place you with. Because air charter prices vary seasonally, and charter operators are constantly making changes to their fleets, We stay on top of these changes and provides customers with an accurate quote every time. A pilot since 1994, Keith Reed is your aviation insider who will arrange the ideal air charter for your personal or business needs.

Connecticut Air Charter’s commitment to safety is evident. The new website also has a link exclusively dedicated to safety. We only partner with charter operators who significantly exceed FAA requirements, ensuring the experience that clients expect and deserve.

For more information on the launch of the new website for Connecticut Air Charter, call 203-742-1656 or visit http://www.ctaircharter.com.

About Connecticut Air Charter:

Connecticut Air Charter has partnered with some of the worlds largest charter operators. These charter connections result in large discounts for clients, in addition to discounts on hotels and rental cars. Each and every charter inquiry is processed by a licensed pilot that will make a recommendation based on years of experience and an intimate knowledge of working with air charter operators.

Because there is no fee paid to Connecticut Air Charter by the clients they serve, their incentive is to find the best deal to keep them coming back.

Connecticut Air Charter, LLC, is an air charter broker, partnered with several local and national charter operators. This gives you access to more aircraft at lower costs than you would find on your own. Connecticut Air Charter will always deliver you the best deal that fits your business or personal travel requirements.

As President of Connecticut Air Charter, I see many requests for helicopter charter quotes. As you may suspect, chartering a private helicopter is not the cheapest form of transportation.  More times than not, chartering an airplane for the mission at hand is less expensive and more practical.

I’ll go over the numbers, but let me give you a simple rule that usually applies.  ”Unless you are flying directly into a NYC heliport, chartering a private plane is a better bet.”  The primary NYC heliports are located on East 34th street, West 30th, and downtown Manhattan.  You can’t land a chartered airplane at those locations, so naturally a helicopter is your only option.  But flying to and from anywhere else in the tri state area, your least expensive and most practical option is usually a chartered airplane.

I arrange helicopter charters and airplane charters.  I have no bias toward either, it’s all about cost and time en route. Let me give you a real world example.

I spoke with a gentleman recently who asked me to arrange a helicopter charter for him to LaGuardia Airport from New Haven, CT.  He was traveling alone.  There are no helicopter charter operators based in CT, so a helicopter would have to travel from White Plains or NYC to pick him up.  When chartering a private airplane or helicopter, you pay for the “dead leg” portion; the repositioning of the aircraft.

At $600 per hour for the smallest charter helicopter available in the tri-state area, the total trip cost would be close to $1,000.  Flight time from New haven to LaGuardia is only 30 minutes, but you also pay for the 30 minutes it takes to bring the helicopter to New Haven, plus the return of the helicopter to it’s home airport in New York.  The flight would be on a very comfortable Robinson R-44 that seats four.

Robinson R44

The Robinson R44 is comfortable for three people or so but is still considered a light helicopter.  Helicopter charter prices rise dramatically above this level.

Instead of the scenario above, I suggested a charter airplane based in New Haven.  At $270 per hour, the 30 minute trip to LaGuardia, and 30 minute return trip for the airplane, would yield a total trip cost closer to $600.

As I mentioned above, I do arrange many helicopter charters.  If you need to get to a NYC heliport from CT or Long Island, the only way to get there is by helicopter, at a cost of approximately $1,000.  And you can’t beat the view along the way.

To get accurate and unbiased quotes on any type of private air charter, you should always consult with an expert at Connecticut Air Charter.

www.ctaircharter.com