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New Research Predicts the Delivery of 4,124 Very Light Jets During 2007-2016, Which Added to the 30 or so Delivered in 2006, Will Put the Global VLJ Fleet at 4,154 Aircraft

Posted on: Friday, 24 November 2006, 12:00 CST

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c45821) has announced the addition of "The Very Light Jet Market 2007-2016" to their offering.

Almost the entire raison d'etre of the VLJ concept - for business travel at least -- is the minimisation of delay and disruption, In the USA, as elsewhere, passenger travel is concentrated around a few important hub airports. Around 70% of all airline passengers fly through 30 large airports - with 5,000 smaller airports available for services more-or-less on demand. It is easy to see why VLJ operators would like to trial their services in Florida. Florida, Illinois, California and Texas have the largest number of airports, on a state-by-state basis, in the USA. Business aviation is growing rapidly in North America and VLJ proponents see the opening of this market as an extension to -- rather than a replacement for -- corporate jet travel. With a VLJ a company can make bespoke jet travel available to managers, as well as board members. It will also save time by avoiding the large airport hubs.

For private owner/operators VLJs offer substantial savings over larger jet aircraft and even some single-engine turboprop types. The cost of ownership can be planned by using manufacturer support packages. For corporate fleet and air taxi operators the costs with two-flight crew and a maximum of four passengers are problematic if fares are to remain within the "schedule fare plus 20 percent" band -- where scheduled airline services exist. If air traffic growth in the US averages an annual increase of 3.5 percent until 2017, estimates are that the US air travel industry would fly 1,088.6 million passengers in 2017. The VLJ market would then represent around 0.72 percent of the US airline market. However, fears about possible ATM congestion are unfounded.

Manufacturers have provided comprehensive training and insurance support networks. For the traveller VLJs offer the ability to avoid frequent delays suffered at congested hub airports or long car journeys. Most of the business travellers will therefore be able to make their return trips on the same day to an airport which is generally speaking much closer to the end destination. The UK for example, has 200 public airfields and a further 150 private/military airfields, which could be used for VLJ flights as the runway need only be between 2,500 ft to 3,400 ft long. The speed of access onto the aircraft is also much faster than at a hub airport as the traveller does not have to wait in long queues waiting to have his luggage checked by the increasingly stringent security procedures, which are also beginning to restrict the types of hand luggage one can take on board. The aircraft are also configured to allow easy use of laptops and telephones making it easier to work whilst flying.

Apart from the engines and avionics, this new generation of aircraft is being built with a high degree of sophistication, much of it based on US models in NASA's SATS programme. SATS was funded by the US government and the private sector, was undertaken over a five-year period and completed in mid-2005. The project focused on delivering technologies to the small aircraft market to counter the reliance on existing congested ATM services and to relieve congestion on US highways. Partners in the project included the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), US aviation industry, state and local aviation officials and academic institutions.

This study predicts the delivery of 4,124 VLJs during 2007-2016 -- which added to the 30 or so delivered in 2006 will put the global VLJ fleet at 4,154 aircraft. Some industry observers critical of the manufacturer-supplied growth rate contend that only two, or at best three, manufacturers will make it to market but the authors of this report are slightly more optimistic than this. We believe, in addition to the five key programmes featured in this report (A700, Cessna Mustang, Embraer Phenom 100, Diamond D-Jet and Eclipse 500) there will be other new entrants who succeed in producing aircraft for the personal jet market, and estimates for these are listed in the HondaJet/new entrant line, with an average aircraft sales price of $2.8 million, throughout the timeframe of the study -- equivalent to the HondaJet reported retail price in 2010.

Key topics covered:

The VLJ Concept

Delivery Forecasts

VLJ s and Regulations

VLJ s and Airports

Training

VLJ s and Air Traffic Management

Insurance

Project-By-Project Analysis

Companies mentioned include:

Cessna Mustang

Embraer Phenom 100

Diamond D-Jet

Eclipse 500

HondaJet

A700

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c45821

Source: Business Wire

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