DECEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION 51Bizjets 2017
total listings, up from pre-recession
levels of 15-20 per cent.
However, the total number of pre-
owned business jets that were less than
10 years old and listed for resale was
down 15 per cent from the prior year
and now represented less than eight per
cent of the installed fleet.
“The increase in used jet purchase
plans clearly aligns with the reduction
of used inventory for sale and could
result in favourable pricing pressure
on used jets in the medium term,” the
Honeywell Aerospace report said.
Embraer Executive Jets vice
president for sales and marketing in the
Middle East and Asia Pacific Claudio
Camelier said Australia was a big
market for used aircraft, while sales of
new aircraft have, in recent times, been
small in number.
“There hasn’t been so many
deliveries of new airplanes in Australia
in the past few years,” Camelier told
Australian Aviation via email.
“In spite of that, it is definitely a
market in which we invest and we
spend a lot of time there because
there are still a certain number
of opportunities for sales of new
airplanes,” Camelier offered.
“What we have seen over the pastfour, five years is an almost stable
market for business jets in Australia.
We haven’t seen the fleet growing very
much.”
Further, Camelier noted any
sale of a pre-flown aircraft to a new
customer had the potential to lead to a
new aircraft sale some time down the
track when the owner was looking to
upgrade.
Embraer has six business jets based
in Australia – three Phenom 100s, one
Phenom 300, one Legacy 500 and one
Legacy 600.
Amid this stable market, the ABAA
has increased its membership of
business jet operators by five to 31,
who combined operated in excess of
100 aircraft. Meanwhile, the ABAA
had 32 what it termed associate
members, such as oil companies,
aircraft manufacturers, airports and
aircraft brokers.
Bell said most of the aircraft coming
into Australia were still pre-owned
aircraft, apart from some notable
exceptions such as the new Gulfstream
G650.
Gulfstream also has a couple of new
models about to take to the skies, with
the G500 due to be certified in 2018
and sistership G600 expected to enter
service the following year.
The G500 has a range of 5,200nm
at Mach 0.85, while the G600 was
designed to fly 6,500nm at Mach 0.85.
Both aircraft featured wide cabins that
could seat up to 19 people.
Meanwhile, Bombardier’s two
long-range business jets, Global 7000
and Global 8000, were also progressing
towards eventual certification after
some delays to the program.
The Global 7000, which features
a range of 7,400nm and seated up to
17 passengers, was expected to enter
service in the second half of 2018. First
delivery of the 13-passenger, 7,900nm-
range Global 8000 is tipped to take
place in early 2019.
At Dassault Aviation, its long-range
Falcon 8X tri-jet began flying in late
2016 and was on display in Australia
for the first time at the 2017 Avalon
Airshow. The aircraft is capable
of flying Sydney-Mumbai, Hong
Kong-London or Beijing-Los Angeles
nonstop, or one-stop from Sydney to
New York or London.
The company’s in-development
Falcon 5X completed its maiden flight
in July 2017 and was scheduled to be
certified in 2020. The program suffered
a four-year delay due to some engine
development issues.There are
still a certain
number of
opportunities.
CLAUDIO CAMELIER