FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1921.PDF
NBAA: corporate aircraft census the increasingly competitive large-cabin and long-range sectors. At the large-cabin end, the G400 will be replaced by the G450 by the end of this year, and the G300 by the G350 early next year. The long- range G500 is set to join the family by year-end, and in 2006 may be followed by the mid-size G150, a replacement for the G100. In August, Gulfstream celebrated the roll-out of the 100th G200 at Israel Aircraft Industries in Tel Aviv. The aircraft will join Netjets' fractional fleet later this year as Gulfstream begins work on a larger derivative of the super mid-size aircraft, formerly the Galaxy business jet. Dassault saw a 3% rise in its fleet to 1,461 aircraft. The French airframer has indicated robust sales activity in the USA and positive signs of a strengthening European market. The manufacturer tar gets deliveries of about 60 aircraft this year - 20% more than in 2003. And Dassault can expect to gain an even larger share of the large-cabin and long-range fleets over the next three years as its new market entrants - the Falcon 900DX, a defuelled 900EX powered by three Honeywell TFE731-60S, and the all-new Falcon 7X - enter service. Historic brands Raytheon has seen jet turbine fleet num bers rise from 6,380 to 6,797 aircraft over the last 12 months, with the turboprop inventory climbing 7% to 5,084 aircraft. The reinstatement of the Hawker and Beechcraft brands had a degree of success in reigniting interest in these historic lines, with sales and inventories of the Hawker 800XP and 400XP - a revamped Beechjet 400A light jet - continuing to rise. A $300 million order from Netjets for 20 400XPs and 20 800XPs will help boost fleet num bers in the USA and Europe over the next two years as deliveries to the largest frac tional provider begin. Meanwhile, the con fidence in these established brands has not hastened the service entry of the much- delayed super mid-sized Hawker Horizon, now scheduled for early next year. The widebody market has been worst hit by the soft global economies of the past two years. The retreat by cost-conscious customers to smaller cabins has left Airbus and Boeing Business Jets reeling as their in- service fleet numbers for the A319 Corporate Jetliner and BBJ creep forward by only three and eight aircraft, respec tively. To compensate, both manufacturers have sought, with a degree of success, to exploit the growing market for long-range business-class airliner shuttles. Turboprop recovery is slow but steady. Raytheon dominates this sector of the mar ket with about 57% of the in-service fleet and the Beechcraft King Air alone accounts BUSINESS JET GROWTH BY MANUFACTURERS OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS FLIGHT BUSINESS JET DISTRIBUTION BY GEOGRAPHIC REGION 1995-2004 12,000 -i 10,000 8,000 6,000 - 4,000- 2,000 o- | Europe including CIS | Africa | Pacific Rim | North America • Middle East [~] South America | Asia g c p 0 i Source: AvSoft " 1 3 n 1 1 l«l 1 3 1 73 7 .19 5 ' 19 2 21 16 2 > . - !- Ifes s % Iss s 1 h-is™, FLIGHT 1 » CO 1 L IM i 1 for the lion's share of the manufacturer's total fleet, with 4,682 aircraft. Outside North America, this twin turboprop has found overwhelming success in the South American market. Demand for an aircraft that can access the region's rugged terrain and short, remote airstrips has resulted in King Air numbers rising by 7% to 543 air craft in the past 12 months. In that period, Raytheon has completed its programme of scrapping most of the 53 Starship twin- pusher turboprops in a move designed to drive down support costs. Since produc tion was halted in 1995, the manufacturer says spares costs for the unique design have become prohibitive and AvSoft says only six Starships remain in service. Piaggio's P180 Avanti twin-turboprop fleet has expanded in the past 12 months, climbing by 31 units to 80 in-service air craft. The Avanti has found notable success in North America, particularly as a frac tional-ownership aircraft, where more than 24 units are on order for New York-based Avantair. For single-engined aircraft, the market is mixed, although all the manufacturers have made fleet gains in the past 12 2002 months as acceptance of commercial sin gle-engine instrument flight rules opera tions gathers pace outside Europe. Switzer land's Pilatus made significant gains, with its in-service PC-12 fleet climbing from 373 to 400 aircraft. New Piper has seen its inventory climb from 1,040 to 1,146 air craft, thanks largely to the boost in turbo prop conversions for the PA-46 Malibu pis ton and steady growth in Malibu Meridian sales - the census shows a fleet of 171 com pared with 139 aircraft last year. Competitive market With an increase of only nine TMB700s to 247 in-service aircraft, EADS Socata has recorded the smallest rise in the single- engine sector in the past 12 months. The French manufacturer is struggling to com pete for sales of its six-seat, high-speed tur boprop in the increasingly competitive marketplace and is pinning its hopes on securing certification in Europe of the low- stall-speed TBM700C. The aircraft was introduced two years ago for the North American market, where the census records an in-service fleet of 47 aircraft of this type. CONTINUED ON P42 38 5-11 OCTOBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
