EBACE Show News - May 20, 2008 - (Page 16) EBACE 2008 Fourth Phenom 100 Marks Maturity Campaign ‘Gruesome,’ Says Buffett: Airlines a ‘Bottomless Pit,’ Should Have ‘Shot Orville Down’ “Now let’s move to the gruesome,” NetJets owner Warren Buffett said in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders this year. “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth and then earns little or no money. “Think airlines,” he wrote, where “a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. “Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down. “The airline industry’s demand for capital ever since that first flight has been insatiable,” Buffett Warren Buffett. continued. “Investors have poured money into a bottomless pit, attracted by growth when they should have been repelled by it. And I, to my shame, participated in this foolishness when I had Berkshire buy U.S. Air preferred stock in 1989. “As the ink was drying on our check, the company went into a tailspin, and before long our preferred dividend was no longer being paid. But we then got very lucky. In one of the recurrent, but always misguided, bursts of optimism for airlines, we were actually able to sell our shares in 1998 for a hefty gain. “In the decade following our sale, the company went bankrupt. “Twice.” Embraer’s fourth Phenom 100 made its first flight on March 26, from the Brazilian airframer’s Gavião Peixoto plant. The event marked the beginning of the aircraft’s maturity campaign that will simulate, via an intensive flight schedule, real operating conditions, including exposure to extreme hot and cold weather. “The fourth aircraft will play a significant role in the Phenom 100 program,” said Luís Carlos Affonso, evp, Executive Jets. “The maturity campaign is intended to confirm the jet’s quality and high-utilization characteristics.” Flight tests on the first three Phenom 100s have included flutter and stall, flight quality, performance and the automatic flight control system. Certification is expected in the second half of 2008. The first customer Phenom 100 is already in preassembly. Jet Aviation Handling? Try Dnata Switzerland Jet Aviation Handling AG, the airport handling division of Jet Aviation Group, has been rebranded as Dnata Switzerland AG following its acquisition by Middle East airport services provider Dnata in November 2007. The former Jet Aviation corporate identity has been updated to reflect the change, with logos, staff uniforms, vehicles and signage at Geneva and Zurich airports receiving a new look. Senior Vice President and General Manager Urs Zorn says, “These changes do not affect the underlying focus and direction of the company, which remains to provide the highest levels of service.” NetJets Europe Boosts 2008 Aircraft Deliveries Lisbon, Portugal-based NetJets Europe has accelerated delivery of new business jets to serve increasing customer demand. The fractional operator will take delivery of 39 jets valued at more than $715 million in 2008, boosting its fleet by 29%, to 174 aircraft. The new jets comprise 10 Cessna Citation XLSs, three Dassault Falcon 2000LXs, two Falcon 7Xs, one Gulfstream G450, three G550s, seven Hawker 400XPs, nine Hawker 750s and four Hawker 4000s. NetJet customers took 73,622 flights in 2007, an increase of more than 17% from 2006. NetJets Europe is at Booth 753. Mid-Continent Delivers Next Generation DG In response to a growing need for lighter and more reliable aircraft instruments, Mid-Continent developed its new 3300 series electric directional gyro. Weighing just 1.8 pounds, the 3300 series is at least one pound lighter and 1.5 inches shorter than most electric DGs. A key feature is the 10-32 multi-voltage capability, which enables one version to work in any aircraft. Increasing the margin of safety, the expanded input voltage range and minimal running current draw allows the DG to work longer as power becomes scarce on the way to a power system failure. Raisbeck EPIC GOLD for King Air B200GT Owners of King Air B200GTs can now enjoy the benefits of Raisbeck’s EPIC GOLD Performance Package, which has been available for several years on some B200 models. Available for B200/B200GTs already factoryequipped with Hartzell/Beech four-bladed propellers (s/ns BB-1509 and after, BY-1 and after), EPIC GOLD includes Raisbeck’s ram air recovery system, dual aft body strakes and enhanced performance leading edges. Raisbeck is at Booth 367. Midcoast Aviation Offers Inflight BlackBerry Enhancing its office-in-the-sky capabilities, Midcoast Aviation (Booth 1147) now offers BlackBerry connectivity. The company already has performed the installation on a Gulfstream IV and two Bombardier Global Express aircraft. This system requires minimum user interaction and is as simple as plugging in a BlackBerry device to the supplied connection in the aircraft cabin. An onboard pen-tablet computer serves as the interface device between the BlackBerry and the aircraft’s high-speed data sat system. 16 May 20, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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