Very Light Business Jets

Reasons include the likely need for jets to pick up clients "at an airport near you" at shorter notice for delivery to prospective buyers, secluded factories or wildlife lodges not too far from a useful airstrip. Whilst the discussion was raging, several test planes with a weight of less than 10,000 lbs have at least entered the first phase, but few have gone further.

Irrespective of whether the handicraft is available on the open or closed markets, the handicraft itself is genuine. Manufactured near Albuquerque, New Mexico, the twin-engine Eclipse 500 has obtained full U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval to fly. It has also taken the further steps of having Eclipse Aviation's manufacture certified so that the corporation itself, rather than the governments, can test and certify single jets as they come off the assembly line.

Last December 31, the first version of the eclipse 500 was shipped to the customer, and December 11 has been shipped so far. ECOlipse is very optimistic about the VLJ aircraft rental business and forecasts 500 aircraft per year. Headquartered near Denver, Adam Aircraft is not that far away with its twin-engine A700.

Corporate managers are more cautious about the possible future growth of the air transport industry and are happy with the delivery of around 50 aircrafts a year. As other VLJ manufacturer, both Eclipse and Adam use small, light weight thrusters initially designed to propel U.S. Air Force cruising rockets on one-way journeys to their destinations.

With a launch weight of 10,800 lbs, the Cessna Citation Mustang is technologically a bigger number than the VLJ alcove, and Cessna itself disputes being in the VLJ business. However, this attitude has not deterred purchasers like George Galanopoulos, MD of London Executive Aviation. He is also a Galanopoulos Eclipse enthusiast, although he says he does not agree with the company's view of a bulk commercial vehicle fleet for thousand of aerialxis.

An important topic from his point of views is that "the infrastructures must be improved" in order to do justice to a bulk jet aircraft supermarket. Growing aviation taxis would quickly result in a lack of pilot and service technicians, and the sector was "too loose" on these matters, he said, forecasting that crewing cost and terminal charges would be a large and restrictive element in VLJ operation.

Instead of an aerial taxicab, he said he saw the eclipse 500 as the perfect plane for the privately owned pilot rising from two turbo-props. He said he saw that the Eclipse illustrated the VLJ approach and told shoppers to "forget all the extravagant interiors options". Following Henry Ford's Model T philosophies - "buyers can have any colour they want as long as it's black" - in March, Ecolipse named Todd Fierro, an 18-year-old Ford Motor vet, head of production.

Meanwhile, another Brazilian producer, Embraer, is resolutely entering the VLJ and light beam markets. Initially a producer of aircrafts for the armed forces, Embraer developed a series of local jets as feeders for hubs around the globe. A business release, Legacy, was deduced from these, which delivered 27 units in 2006, with a similar number this year.

Embraer is now working to expand its business offer. The bigger end will be the Lineage 1000, a business edition of the recently unveiled E-190, a 110-seat medium-range civil aircraft, which will be on display at the Farnborough air show in mid-2008. Embraer offers its Phenom 100 VLJ and 300 Light Jets in smaller sizes.

Embraer's Chief Operating Officer, Luis Carlos Affonso, said the total sale of the two planes had come close to 400. "We' re having good days in business aviation," he said in an interviewer. Commenting on the order, Colin Steven, Brazil's VP of European and Middle Eastern Corporate Communications, said, "The overall order book for the two releases was $1.7 billion at the end of last year, and the size of the overall order book is much larger than expected.

In the next two years Embraer will invest about 1 billion dollars to increase manufacturing capacity, he said. At Affonso, the Phenom 100 said "is making good progress with the first plane in full field for its maiden voyage in mid-2007. "Both phenomena are conceived for the common take-offs and landings typically associated with the use of aerial taxis.

Embraer reaffirmed its dedication to the business aircraft industry by spending $100 million in 45 global call centres, Affonso said. Seven of these will be Embraer own and 38 will be authorised entities that comply with the company's standard. Embraer's business power should help the Phenom programme succeed with adequate output, said Richard Aboulafia, VP of the aerospace consultancy Teal Group, in his Business Aerospace Report released this past months.

Cessna' s Citation Mustang, with a price of $3 million, should also be profitably due to the company's prospective revenue growth, Aboulafia said. Teal commended the Eclipse 500 in operative respects, but cautioned that the independent manufacturer's need for bulk manufacturing and distribution represented a threat to its ability to meet its own financials. Very soon it will be decided who is right in the dispute over the existence of the massive economy.