LIFE AFTER SQ006 - Orient Aviation

s p e c i a l r e p o r tBusiness jets were once regarded as rich boys toys,expensive play things for the rich and famous, or themultinational corporation with a billion dollar travelbudget. No longer. The case for private corporatetransport is strengthening and Asia is a prime targetfor the bizjet salesmen. TOM BALLANTYNE reports.MAS markets itsking-sized BBJOn the home page of Malaysia Airlines(MAS) World Wide Web site there isa product called Mastar. Click on itand you are transported to another world, theopportunity to travel in millionaire splendouraboard your own jet.Mastar is the airline’s Boeing B737-700Business Jet, or BBJ, touted as southeast Asia’sfirst VIP private commercial jet and availablefor charter complete with luxuries akin to afive-star hotel, seats for only 16 passengersand a state room with a double bed.The Malaysian flag carrier states pointedlythat it is “fit for a king, or fit for business”. Oneof more than 70 customers who have nowordered the BBJ from the Seattle planemaker,MAS may be leading the field in a market oncebelieved to be declining, but now apparentlyon the cusp of a boom.Boeing believes other major internationalairlines may follow suit with their own fleetsof big business jets and rival Airbus is alsooffering a corporate version of its A319.According to one Boeing executive a recentstudy reveals using corporate jets for businesstravel can work out cheaper than buyingexecutives first or business class tickets onscheduled commercial flights.The message is getting through. A Swissbasedexecutive jet operator, PrivatAir, plansto base a BBJ in Asia before the end of theyear. It has not yet decided on a location,but insiders suggest it is likely to be eitherSingapore or Hong Kong.In February, Canada’s Bombardier disclosedit had clinched a US$100 million dealwith China’s Shandong Airlines for four Challenger604 widebody business jets. The firstwill be delivered in March 2002 and they willbe used for Shandong’s new global charterbusiness operations.With a range of 4,077 nautical miles,the Challenger is proving popular amongbusiness and government customers alike. ItThe Boeing Business Jetis authorised for civil operation in 40 countriesand also has military certification in Malaysia,the Philippines, China and South Korea.Ironically, while names like Lear andGulfstream have epitomised the image ofcorporate jets in the past, it is the new modelssuch as Boeing’s BBJ and Airbus’ CorporateJetliner (ACJ) which appear to have sparkeda renewed boom in VIP flying.Virtually all the world’s major planemakers,large and small, have business jetversions of their popular commercial aircrafton offer. Boeing is not confining its ambitionsto today’s BBJ. It has already launched astretched BBJ 2 and is talking about a BBJ 3,which would be based on the B757 airliner.Also on the drawing board is a corporateversion of the B717.Fairchild Dornier offers the Envoy 3 (12seats and 2000 nm range) and the Envoy 7 (16passengers and 4,150 nm, available from 2003)and potential customers can also look at thepopular 328JET as a corporate shuttle.As well as the Challenger, Bombardierhas corporate versions of its Global Expressaircraft. The Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB)ordered one in November and then opted totake a second in February. Bombardier hopesto announce up to four more business jet salesin the region in the near future.The Canada-headquartered manufacturerhas settled on Hong Kong as its Asia-Pacificheadquarters for business aircraft sales andalso has set up an office in Beijing, with a partsdistribution centre in Singapore to cover theentire region.The Asia-Pacific has never been as activein the business jet arena as North America andEurope, but the pundits are predicting this willchange rapidly over the next decade, as companieslook for ways to bring higher efficiencyto their business in a global marketplace.The 2000 National Business Aviation Associationconvention in New Orleans heard forecastsfrom avionics manufacturer Honeywellthat 6,800 business aircraft worth $90 billionwill be delivered between 2001 and 2011.For the first time, the industry believesthese aircraft are being regarded as legitimatebusiness tools rather than executive toys.Until now, most of the growth has been inthe U.S. and Europe – some 80% of corporatejets operate in these areas. A primary part ofthat business is fractional ownership whereindividuals or companiess can buy a sharein a jet. While such schemes are available44 | Orient Aviation | March 01