B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 1 - (Page 64) NEW AIRCRAFT N BA A 2007 continued from page 62 to eight underfloor tanks to supplement the wing capacity, so customers with the maximum fuel uplift can fly 5,475 nmi with eight VVIP passengers, or 3,755 nmi as a corporate shuttle with 100 aboard. Prices start at $74 million for an empty 737-900ER. Verdict: Getting there Average operating cost is $5,300 per hour, while the bare airframe costs $157 to $189 million and outfitting (for which 40,000 pounds is allowed) is as much as you want to pay. Two of the approved outfitters have appointed luxury yacht designers to produce interiors: Peter Eidsgaard for Jet Aviation and Andrew Winch for Lufthansa Technik. Supersonics Lots of enthusiasm, but nobody is cutting aluminum, titanium, or anything else yet. Crunch time approaches rapidly for those products intended to be on the market in 2012 or thereabouts—if only as demonstrators. The Tupolev Tu-444 has nothing more to say for itself since last year, although Dassault re-emerges with some Boeing 747-8 VIP Beginning at the 2006 NBAA Convention, Boeing started marketing executive versions of its non-737 airliners via Boeing Business Jets instead of treating them as individual purchases from its Commercial Aircraft division. The process had begun, in fact, in May 2006, when an order was placed (reportedly by the government of Qatar) for one New Generation 747-8, even though the passenger-carrying -8 had yet to be formally launched. Four 747-8 VIPs are now earmarked for the BBJ treatment. Cabin length is 207.5 feet and floor area is 4,786 square feet. Stand-up height is nearly 8 feet, although some outfitters are offering to “knock through the ceiling” in the forward cabin to produce a truly palatial effect. Range is 9,500 nmi with eight passengers, but loading up a retinue of 100 diminishes this by only 240 nmi. A green 747-8 costs at least $285 million, and operating is $9,900 per hour. Verdict: Getting there Aerion SSBJ Embraer Lineage 1000 At the Geneva-based EBACE show in May 2006, Embraer announced its largest business jet, based on the Embraer 190 regional airliner—one of four members of the relatively new 170-190 family. While dubbed “extra large” by its maker because it is slightly longer than the BBJ, it is unable to equal the latter’s range, having an NBAA reach of 4,200 nmi with eight passengers. Powered by two 18,500-poundthrust GE CF3410E7 engines, the Lineage will feature a five-screen Honeywell Primus Epic integrated avionics suite. Maximum operating speed is Mach 0.82 and ceiling is 41,000 feet. Design goals have Embraer Lineage 1000 been quick turnaround, best performance in class, high utilization and low maintenance needs. Accommodating between 13 and 19 passengers in a cabin that can be split into five zones—plus galley, lavatory and crew rest area— the Lineage is due on-line in mid-2008. The first was booked into DeCrane’s outfitting shop recently for installation of an interior designed by Priestman Goode of the UK. About 10 have been ordered. Verdict: Very likely ideas that are wrapped up in a long-term European study. Boeing 787 VIP Like the 747-8, the Dreamliner is marketed via BBJ for executive use, as announced at the 2006 NBAA Convention. Then, two 787-8s and three longer 787-9s were revealed to be on order, with maiden flight of the first green aircraft due in 2010. Aerion SSBJ One of two SBJs unveiled at the 2004 NBAA Convention, the 10-passenger Aerion underwent considerable design refinement in the following 12 months, resulting in the presentation of a reshaped and improved machine. This year it has been further refined, with a reprofiled forward fuselage offering improved flight deck and windshield design with consequent aerodynamic advantages, plus a constant cabin height of 6.2 feet. Target price is $80 million at 2005 values, with a $8 per mile direct operating cost (fixed plus variable) at supersonic speed. This is the year by which Aerion hopes to achieve agreement with several risk-sharing OEMs willing to contribute a combined $2 billion, but unless a large backlog of progress is reported at this year’s NBAA Convention, the targeted 2008 first flight date and 2011 service-entry would appear beyond reach. A low-risk approach, the Aerion combines a natural laminar flow, carbon fiber wing of trapezoidal planform with two 19,600-pounds-thrust P&W JT8D-219 airliner turbofans in pods at the rear of the aluminum fuselage, fed via fixed inlets, allowing it to fly efficiently above or just below M1.0. The strategy here is that if the current rule prohibiting civil supersonic flight over land is not lifted, continued on page 66 The first -9 will go to Jet Aviation in 2011 for 15-18 months of outfitting work before delivery. The most recent tally for VIP aircraft is four -9s, the first ordered on June 28, 2006; and five -8s, beginning August 15, 2006. Floor area of the -8 is 2,404 square feet, rising to 2,762 in the -9. Range with eight passengers is about the same (10,440 and 10,250 nmi, respectively), while with 100 aboard, the -9 scores highest with 9,850 nmi of range, compared with 9,285. 64 September 25, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.