Ritz Pacific, a Hong Kong-registered company specialising in the purchase and sale of refurbished business jets, has ordered the first Bombardier CRJ200 that Dubai-based Project Phoenix will convert into a 15-seat corporate jet.
The aircraft, which was delivered in 1997 and has logged 20,000h with US carrier Independence Air, will be managed by Macau-based Jet Asia and be available for charter through Bangkok-based Orient Skies. Ritz Pacific could also sell the refurbished aircraft to individuals who want to buy business jets but are put off by long lead times.
Project Phoenix announced in November that it would give ageing Bombardier CRJ200s a new lease of life as short-haul, large-cabin business jets in a conversion programme. When the 10-month work on the Ritz Pacific aircraft is completed, its interior will have been fully refurbished, new avionics and instruments fitted, and long-range fuel tanks added to give it a maximum range of more than 5,550km (3,000nm).
"What you get is a [Bombardier] Global Express look-alike," says Leslie Merszei, managing director of Ritz Pacific and Orient Skies. "The aircraft share the same fuselage, but everything else is new. The inside will be as good, if not better. And this aircraft is available at half the price of a new Global Express, which is not available until 2012 anyway."
Merszei says Asia's growing demand for business aviation means Ritz Pacific is likely to order more regional aircraft that can be converted into business jets. "This VIP conversion programme, based on the industry's best-selling regional jet, represented a terrific proposition for us in this buoyant sector and just too good an opportunity to pass up. We will not stop at one aircraft - there will be many more to follow."
Rapidly growing Jet Asia, owned by Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, currently manages a fleet of Bombardier aircraft. It has also ordered two Hawker 900XPs and four Hawker 750s for delivery by mid-2008, a Bombardier Challenger 605 for delivery in August 2009, and a Bombardier Global 500 for September 2010.
"The Phoenix fits into our fleet perfectly by providing an economically sound regional solution with a large VIP cabin," says Jet Asia chief executive Chuck Woods. "The Project Phoenix team comprises many people with whom we have had previous experience in project managing our aircraft completions and we are totally confident in their ability to deliver."
None of the parties involved disclosed the price of the converted aircraft, but Project Phoenix president Mike Cappuccitti said in November that the benchmark for one with 20,000 flying hours was $17.9 million. A new Global Express would cost $45-50 million.
Source: Flight International
