EBACE 2014 Live News: Day Two

cabin interior of Beechcraft King Air

Welcome to Corporate Jet Investor’s coverage of EBACE 2014 live from Geneva. Please remember to refresh the page for updates.

Wheels Up will base a number of King Air 350is at London City Airport from mid-2015.

Corporate Jet Investor’s live coverage of EBACE 2014 is sponsored by Hangar8.

If you have any news or comments, you can send an e-mail to Alex Andrews at: [email protected] or send us a Tweet: @CorpJetInvestor.

Summary

• Pilatus sells-out the PC-24 through to 2019 with 86 orders.
• The head of Honda Aircraft says the HondaJet will feature on next year’s static display.
• Bombardier displays 111ft mock-up of Global 7000 inside the exhibition centre.
• 499 companies exhibit at this year’s show.
• RECAP: EBACE 2014 Live News: Day One | EBACE 2014 Live News: Press Day

Live feed

17.55 We’re now breaking off our live coverage of EBACE 2014 after a very busy three days in Geneva, but check back for more news articles later in the week. Thanks to EBAA for a brilliantly organised show. The press facilities were excellent and there was plenty of news to follow. We’ll see you all again next year.

16.10 JETNET provided us with some data on the make-up of the European business jet fleet.

16.05 Airbus won an order for an Airbus ACJ320 from an unnamed Middle East customer. The aircraft will be managed by Aviation Link of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

15.55 Best Fly Group in Angola formed a strategic partnership with Spanish company Corjet Maintenance.

15.50 SatCom Direct has improved its Flight Tracker service to include position reports which are partly powered by Google Maps.

15.30 Some photos from inside the exhibition centre to feast your eyes upon:

Gulfstream’s array of aircraft models.

A mock-up of the HondaJet.

Hawker brought a lot of aircraft models to this year’s show.

JETEX announcing their presence at EBACE loudly.

Lufthansa Technik at EBACE 2014.

A mock-up of the Pilatus PC-24.

Orders for the Pilatus PC-24 are sold out through 2019.

Piaggio’s EBACE 2014 exhibition focuses heavily on the new Avanti EVO.

A model of the Piaggio Avanti EVO.

A close-up of the Piaggio Avanti EVO.

Stratajet showcasing charter booking software at EBACE 2014.

Bombardier’s 111 ft mock-up of the Global 7000.

Aerion’s exhibition stand.

Aerion’s model of the AS2 supersonic business jet.

Boeing’s BBJ product line.

A mock-up of the Dassault Falcon 5X.

An AgustaWestland A109SP helicopter operated by VistaJet.

Airbus’ EC135 helicopter.

15.05 Attendance numbers for this show will be announced tomorrow, but it looks like it’s an increase on last year’s figure.

12.15 Germany’s 328 Design, part of The 328 Group, has secured the world‘s first certification of a four-channel Swift Broadband upgrade aboard an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet.

12.10 Honeywell Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Germany-based MRO company, HAITEC Aircraft Maintenance, to deliver its JetWave in-flight Wi-Fi hardware for Airbus corporate jets.

12.05 NetJets Europe says that its clients are roughly split 50/50 between fractional owners and jet card holders. The majority of its customers are entrepreneurs and business owners, around a quarter are CEOs of multinational corporations and less than 8 per cent are female.

11.30 Aerion also revealed a series of images showing the proposed design for the AS2 – tentatively scheduled for 2021 certification – which all look stunning.

The Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet on the tarmac.

Aerion AS2 flying.

11.25 Aerion quietly launched the tri-engine AS2 supersonic business jet at this year’s show, which features a larger cabin and more range than its previous design. The maximum take-off weight for the aircraft is 115,000 lb.

Aerion has only provided a very rough guidance on the pricing of the aircraft, but it is believed that will break the $100 million mark. The company also claims that it has secured financing for production of the aircraft and remains bullish that it is the only company that is funding production of a supersonic business jet (remember that the likes of Spike Aerospace, Hypermach and even Gulfstream have attracted a lot of media attention in recent years).

It remains to be seen who will actually build the AS2, but Aerion says it is open to forming partnerships with multiple OEMs. Due to FAA restrictions, the AS2 will fly at sub-sonic speeds over land. The company is aiming for a 5,300 nautical mile range.

11.10 The front cover of last night’s Flight Evening News features a story on Bombardier’s unveiling of a 111 ft Global 7000 mock-up, which is on display this year.

Issue two of Flight Evening News from EBACE 2014.

10.55 GainJet, a Greek VIP operator, launched Gainjet Africa, which will start operations in Kigali, Rwanda from June 2014.

10.50 All week, London Oxford Airport is offering a 50 per cent discount on landing fees and parking, valid until the end of the year. The offer is open to all executive aircraft of MTOW four tonnes or over.

9.30 Speaking of the HondaJet, make sure you read yesterday’s e-mail editorial from Alud Davies, our senior features and analysis editor:

In the battle of the light jets, it helps if you have a gimmick.

The two new entrants into the market exhibit just this: the HondaJet has two skylights in the bathroom and the Pilatus PC-24 has a large cargo door.

Putting aside the gimmick word, it’s clear that of the above, only one of the innovations has the opportunity to make a real difference.

Conceived in Stans, Switzerland by Pilatus, the PC-24 has the rare ability to live up to it’s “game changer” moniker and will – providing it lives up to expectations – open up the business jet market to companies and individuals that would previously have purchased a turboprop.

And that’s good not only for Pilatus, whose live order board displayed proudly over their stand today showed 81 orders the last time we checked, but also for the industry, as PC-24 owners move up through the ranks and look to purchase aircraft that are larger and fly further.

9.15 (Geneva) Good morning and welcome to the second day of EBACE 2014. On our coverage from press day, we noted the absence of the HondaJet on the static display. Yesterday, we received a promise (on camera) from Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft, that the HondaJet will finally be exhibited at next year’s show, after receiving type certification in the first quarter of the year.