Business & GA

EBACE 2008: Honda Buttons up first sale to F1 star Jenson

Sales of the HondaJet in Europe began officially this morning when British racing driver Jenson Button visited EBACE en route to driving his Honda Formula 1 car in next Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix - and confirmed he will be the first customer in the region for Honda Aircraft Company’s advanced light jet.

To provide ongoing sales and service to its customers in Europe, Honda Aircraft also announced that it is to establish a new European network of three HondaJet-exclusive sales and service centres, modelled on the parent company’s automotive experience. In Northern Europe and the UK, TAG Aviation at Farnborough airport will look after local customers as well as those from Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Michimasa Fujino: New approach for European sales

Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) will be looked after by Rheinland Air Service in Frankfurt, while Southern Europe’s sales/service partner will be Aviastec in Madrid, covering the local market along with Portugal, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

With European sales of light jets now representing around 40% of the available global market it is the fastest-growing marketplace in the world and Honda Aircraft’s CEO Michimasa Fujino says that “we have a great number of customers who have contacted us over the past two years about owning a HondaJet.

“I tried to find sales and service partners with a challenging spirit who share our passion for this product and our passion to create a new and higher standard for the private jet aircraft ownership experience in Europe.”

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Flight's ACAS Business Aviation

Flight's 2008 pocket guide to business aircraft

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