New Business Jets
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New2015 Business Jets PW800, feature lower specific fuel con- Go big or go home sumption and emissions as well. The amount of maintenance data aircraft are The late and rotund actor and poet Vic- facility at Chicago Executive Airport where transmitting and will be able to transmit in tor Buono, whom you recall as King Tut from the virtues of that aircraft’s comparatively real time is on the rise, too, thanks to new the long-ago Batman television series, once Lilliputian cabin space were touted–once Ka-band satellite technology. The flexibil- opined, “Being thin is where it’s been, but you removed two of its six seats. Fractional ity of hourly maintenance plans available being fat is where it’s at.” When it comes to provider Flexjet stresses the comfort of its from aircraft OEMs also seems to be get- new business jets this is indeed the market- new Learjet 75s, which also subtract two ting better every day, covering more items ing mantra that OEMs pray will ring the reg- cabin seats from the standard configuration. and for longer durations as components ister. The svelte fuselages spawned from the With as much as four fifths of private jet become more reliable. Digital fly-by-wire minds of Bill Lear and Ed Swearingen are dollars forecast to be spent on large and flight control technology and cockpit sides- now the stuff of disdain, flying archeologi- super-large jets over the next decade the ticks are migrating down to midsize aircraft cal curiosities left over from the bygone era race to the top is on; the old theory that such as the Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 of the average 170-pound American male of you develop customers over time by mov- and partially in the Cessna Citation Longi- the 1960s. ing them “up the food chain” into progres- tude. Touchscreens have eliminated most What today’s bizjet customers want are sively larger and larger aircraft seems less of the switchology in new cockpit designs. wider seats adjoining ever wider aisles in a valid in today’s global economy. Increas- Cabin technology is also making strides. utopia of super-size fuselages. Gulfstream ingly a customer’s first jet is a big one. And You can now order a steam shower in the and Dassault Falcon have already set the new there is no shortage of choices. But will this Falcon 8X and Lufthansa Technik offers an standard of galloping girth with the 102-inch race to the top create an eventual glut of aftermarket galley dishwasher. The afore- cabin cross-section on the new G650ER and too many consumer options that the mar- mentioned Ka-band satellites open up a 5X twinjets, respectively, for purpose-built ket simply cannot sustain? Or to channel whole new frontier of speed and connectivity bizjets. Of course if you want wider than that Buono, the belt of today’s crop of new jets for in-flight information and entertainment there are always the bizliner variants from is definitely not svelte. But with this new with wider coverage areas. Cabin carpeting Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Sukhoi and likely offering of widebodies there is more to like can be embedded with a light show. Seats on soon from Bombardier and Mitsubishi. than just the size. the upcoming Bombardier Global Expresses Inner space is key even farther down- The trend toward attention to total life- will not only recline; they will literally rock stream, with OEMs battling keenly to show cycle costs continues to evolve, with a you all night long. Granted there is some- that even the smallest of aircraft are “space new generation of engines with either no thing incongruous about sitting in a rocking craft.” From the HondaJet to the new Cessna overhaul requirement or suggested inter- chair attached to a floor that moves at 600 Citation Latitude, OEMs are emphasizing vals that are so long as to be essentially mph–and maybe faster. Supersonic bizjets cabin comforts like never before, regardless irrelevant, just like their on-condition air- seem to be nudging ever closer to reality. of aircraft size category. Over the summer I line cousins. These engines, such as the GE So here is the current crop of new busi- visited One Aviation’s Eclipse maintenance Passport and the Pratt & Whitney Canada ness jets as the sun sets on 2015. www.ainonline.com interior will sell for $254 million. In typ- electro-chromic dimming, while the Air- Bizliners ical executive configuration with 25 pas- bus relies on old-technology electro-me- sengers, it will have an unrefueled range chanical shades. The larger windows on Airbus ACJneo of 10,050 nm–about 20 hours in the air– the 787 create the illusion of more inte- Airbus will make its re-engined “neo” allowing direct connection between most rior space. However, the smaller win- (new engine option) A319, A320 and major city pairs on the globe. Top speed dows on the A350 mean the cabin is A321 available for the Airbus Corporate is Mach 0.89. The cabin measures nearly marginally quieter. The claimed fuel-ef- Jet (ACJ) program in 2018. For power, 170 feet long, more than 18 feet wide and ficiency advantage over the 787 appears Neo customers have a choice of either eight feet tall, yielding almost 3,000 sq ft to come from Airbus’s wider use of com- the CFM Leap-X or the Pratt & Whit- of floor space. Mtow is close to 600,000 posites–53 percent versus 50 percent on ney Pure Power PW1100G. pounds. Obviously, an aircraft this big the 787. The Airbus also employs a new can’t land just anywhere: it needs 6,100 winglet design called a “sharklet,” which Airbus ACJ350 feet to stop. Takeoff distance at maxi- reduces drag and boosts top speed to Airbus began delivering the A350 mum weight is 8,770 feet. Mach 0.89 from Mach 0.85. The two air- XWB to the airlines late last year. In While the 350’s cabin is wider than craft feature the same engine technology. VIP configuration the aircraft will be the 787’s, the windows on the lat- Given the thrust these engines generate, known as the ACJ350 and without an ter are noticeably larger and feature they’re remarkably quiet. © 2015 AIN Publications. All Rights Reserved. For Reprints go to New2015 Business Jets aircraft’s already high dispatch reliability. (Boeing quotes a 99.7-percent dispatch rate for the current-generation 737.) Ultra-long-range Bombardier Global 7000/8000 Bombardier announced its new Glo- bals as a counterweight to the Gulfst- ream G650 back in 2010 but the program has been beset by delays as Bombardier strains under the weight of the CSeries regional jet program and developing fly- Boeing BBJ Max by-wire and a new wing for its next-gen- eration Globals. It now looks as if the Global 7000 will not be delivered until With so much space to work with, the To provide adequate ground clear- 2018. The order book for both is thin, but interior options on the ACJ350 are limited ance for the larger engines, the landing growing, and Bombardier is believed to only by what you care to spend. Airbus gear will be lengthened so the airplane have commitments for about 100 between has floated a few ideas, including a grand will stand a little taller on the tarmac. The the two. Major players such as fractional entryway; above-deck crew rest areas; for- Max will employ limited fly-by-wire con- ownership leader NetJets have placed ward and mid-cabin gourmet galleys; a trols, mainly to the wing spoilers. Other orders for the aircraft. forward master stateroom suite with bed- planned technology includes the addi- The first Global 7000 is being assem- room, bathroom with shower and private tion of four big 15.1-inch Rockwell Col- bled now and the engines are on, and office; a mid-cabin lounge; an oversized lins flight displays in the cockpit–the while it conceivably could fly before year- circular dining table with seating for 10; same ones that are on the larger Boeing end, Bombardier would be hard-pressed three junior staterooms with shared bath- 787 Dreamliner. to do so. Further program delays will room and shower; and an aft cabin media Maintenance on the Max will be eas- allow Gulfstream to stretch its market room/theater with a dozen reclining seats ier than on the BBJs, as fault data, once lead in the new-generation, large-cabin, and a large flat-screen monitor mounted collected by instruments in the forward long-range space even further. However, to the aft bulkhead. equipment bay, will now be available for when they do come to market, the new technicians and pilots on the cockpit Globals hold the promise of new dimen- Boeing BBJ Max display screens. The Max will also hold sions of cabin comfort and efficiency. Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) announced more maintenance data on its enhanced The $75 million Global 7000 will have in 2013 that it will build the BBJ Max, an onboard network system and network a maximum range of 7,300 nm, while executive version of the 737 Max outfit- file server, doubling the amount of main- the slightly shorter $71 million Global ted with CFM Leap 1-B engines. Deliver- tenance information available during 8000’s range will be 7,900 nm (for both ies are expected to begin in 2018, to date flight and transmitting it live to ground aircraft, those range numbers assume 10 www.ainonline.com in two variants, the Max 8 and Max 9.