Paul Derby
Raytheon will today announce a $220 million order from fractional ownership company Executive Jet for 20 more Hawker 800XPs with 16 options.
The deal follows hot on the heels of yesterday's $240 million purchase by Executive Jet of 12 additional Dassault Falcon 2000 business jets. Both sets of aircraft will be used to boost the company's Netjets fractional ownership programmes in Europe and the US.
Deliveries of the new Hawkers will begin early in 1999 and continue over five years. Executive Jet's fleet already includes 25 Hawker 1000s, and 20 800XPs are on order from a previous deal
Service
The Dassault Aviation contract calls for 12 Falcon 2000s to be delivered for service beginning in 2000.
This marks the second order from Executive Jet in ten months. Last December, the company snapped up 24 Falcon 2000s for its US market.
Executive Jet chairman Richard Santulli confirms the company is looking to build a global business.
The Middle East and Asian markets are priorities, with announcements on new operations expected early next year.
And the future possible development of supersonic business jets will provide significant opportunities for fractional ownership, Santulli says: "The bigger the aircraft, the bigger the benefits. We could win more customers for supersonic business jets than we have now for our whole programme. It's the first real leap forward in airline travel for decades.
"More people are going to be interested in an $80 million aircraft if you can offer a part share for $2 million. It's an exciting prospect."
Source: Flight Daily News
