EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008 - (Page 26)

EBACE 2008 London Executive Circles the UK Capital London Executive Aviation (LEA) should have five of its ten-ship fleet of Citation Mustangs in place by the end of this month, with the sixth and seventh due by year end. The last three will be under management, as will an Embraer Lineage 1000 and a Gulfstream G450, all due to arrive in 2009. The Mustangs are being positioned at four airports around London for maximum flexibility, so minimizing deadheads and streamlining availability. The first is already based at Farnborough, two will be at Luton, with a further one each at Stansted and Biggin Hill. All aircraft are fitted with 5.5° steep approach software from the factory, so LEA had the distinction of flying the first revenueearning Mustang into London City Airport. LEA managing director George Galanopoulos told Show News, “Our first Mustang only arrived in February and it picked up work much faster than we expected—passengers love the four-seat cabin and its quietness. Every new aircraft takes time to get established, but the Mustang has been accepted far quicker than when we introduced our first Citation XL, which took six months.” LEA will use its Mustangs like taxis—very fast taxis. Asked if he was picking up a new clientele because of the aircraft’s $2,400 per flight hour It’s an exciting time, but we tag, which is 25%-30% less than that of a Citation Bravo, Galanopoulos said, “No not need to be cautious and yet, but it’s very early days. They are mostly wary of oversupply of the existing customers more used to chartering twin market, as a lot of people turboprops, and the price of the King Air is roughly the same as that of the Mustang.” have got very excited over LEA is aiming at a utilization of between the last three years.” 700-800 flight hours per aircraft per year. —LEA managing director “Reliability has been very good,” Galanopoulos noted, “but we have had some transponder George Galanopoulos problems associated with the Garmin 1000 avionics suite which Garmin says will be software upgraded in July. It’s one of those silly problems and isn’t a problem for U.S. operators where the N-number call sign remains the same, but in Europe we have to change the transponder code for each flight segment.” Will the Mustangs affect the popularity of other light jets in LEA’s fleet? “There is still a market for the next size aircraft because the Mustang is only a four-seater and customers very often need a five- or six-seat aircraft or larger,” says Galanopoulos. “People don’t really care about the fact that the Mustang is cheaper if they’re used to flying in something larger like the Bravo or the XLS.” LEA’s fleet will number 20 aircraft by the end of May. A second managed Challenger 300 arrived mid-April, and a fourth Citation XL is due in June, joining the company’s four Legacy 600s. “We are looking for more XLs to manage, as it is by far our most popular aircraft,” said Galanopoulos. “We are also looking for largercabined aircraft. We hold the second European position for the Embraer Lineage 1000 and we will base it at Luton. The interior will be completed in-house by Embraer and will be very impressive.” “Business is good,” said Galanopoulos. “We have seen a bit of leveling off, which is normal for this time of year. My personal opinion is that the current uncertain financial climate will affect the aviation business, as it will any business, but I don’t think it will be a massive downturn. It’s an exciting time, but we need to be cautious and wary of oversupply of the market, as a lot of people have got very excited over the last three years.” —Mike Vines Pratt & Whitney Canada Sees Deliveries Triple Engine deliveries at Pratt & Whitney Canada have tripled in the last five years and it expects to ship around 4,000 this year. An economic downtown in the U.S. will not affect that forecast much as the engine maker’s customers are in so many diversified markets around the world, from business jets to helicopters to turboprop regional airliners, says evp John Saabas. Pratt, he noted, has certified some 60 new products in the past 26 12 years and is working on another 18 or so to bring into service in the next three to four years. It doesn’t stop there, he adds. P&WC has committed to invest Cdn$1.5 billion in technology and new products over five years (with 20% a repayable loan from the Canadian government). The newest business jet engine from Pratt & Whitney, the PW600 that powers the Eclipse, Mustang and Phenom VLJs, is now entering its second year of service. Its num- bers are growing rapidly as production of the aircraft ramps up, with about 500 engines delivered. Even discounting the risks of orders for the fractional and air taxi businesses, Eclipse has 1,000 orders, the Mustang just surpassed 500, and there are more than 700 firm orders for the Phenom, Saabas said. “In terms of being cautious, we have booked out 2009 and 2010 with our customers but honestly we see nothing but growth and strength in the market.” —John Morris P&WC evp John Saabas May 21, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008

A318 Elite is on a Roll A Circle Around London P&WC Deliveries Triple Avanti Sees Sales Shift RUAG Eyes Needy Cabins Global Gets Even NICEr Embraer Beefs Up Support Honeywell ‘Virtual VFR’ Signature Europe Grows Gestair Seeks to Double Aero-Dienst Turns 50 Gama Doubles in Size All is Not Woe with Oil Ocean Sky is Aggressive

EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008

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