Friendly Skies

That’s the view of Dassault Aviation Falcon Asia Pacific senior vice president Jean Michel Jabob, who tells Australian Aviation on a recent visit to Canberra that business jet operators get a good deal when travelling to, from or within this country.

“This is a friendly environment for business aviation,” Jacob says.

“It’s not the case in Japan for instance, or in Korea or even less in China where business aviation is not well treated.
It’s very complicated in some countries like Japan or China to land and even worse to take off afterwards or even to let an aircraft on the ground.

“In Beijing if you land in the morning you cannot take off in the afternoon for instance.
In Shanghai if you land in Hongqiao you cannot go west, if you land in Pudong you cannot go east.
They have some rules that are nightmares.

“We don’t see that in Australia.”

Essendon Airport A Standout

Essendon Airport is a major centre for corporate jet activity in Australia, given its close proximity to the Melbourne CBD and the flexibility it offers given the major carriers Jetstar, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Tigerair Australia are down the road at Tullamarine and no flight training schools are based there.

Instead, the likes of ExecuJet and Executive Airlines call Essendon home alongside Victoria’s emergency services fleet and a number of regional airlines offering regular public transport service to towns such as Griffith, Flinders Island and Merimbula.

Essendon Airport chief executive Chris Cowan says he and his team have worked hard to give its business jet operators an improved experience at the close-in city airport.

“It’s a capital city airport where bizjets and regional aviation are the rock stars,” Cowan tells delegates during the recently concluded Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) national convention in the NSW Hunter Valley.

“We’ve got 40 of the 150 bizjets in Australia located at Essendon.
We are the home of business aviation in Australia.”
Currently, the airport is upgrading its heritage-listed main passenger terminal at a cost of $20 million, with the work due to be completed in 2017 and the needs of business jet travellers taken into account.

“We are going to have a dedicated FBO, a corporate jet lounge so that corporate jet passengers don’t need to walk through the back of a hangar,” Cowan says.

“That will include a permanent presence for Border Force there.”
And Cowan is keen to tackle the issue of the curfew in place that restricts the types of aircraft that can operate at Essendon between 2300 and 0600, given new generation business jets are much quieter than previous generation aircraft.

“We think the curfew is out of date, we think the curfew is irrelevant and needs to be challenged,” Cowan says.

“We have asked the Minister to look at that.”
His stance has the support of the Australian Business Aviation Association (ABAA), the peak industry body representing business jet owners and operators in this country.

ABAA chief executive David Bell says it is very important to have a review of curfew rules at Essendon and elsewhere.

“We’ve had big successes at Sydney and Adelaide airports with the curfew for business aviation and we want to see that extend to airports such as Essendon and maybe later on to the Gold Coast,” Bell tells delegates at the RAAA convention.

“We are 100 per cent behind you there and we look forward to continuing to work with you.”

Outlook For Business Jets Subdued

The annual survey from Honeywell Aerospace showed the economic austerity measures in China, as well as sluggish economic conditions elsewhere, had affected demand for business jets.

The report said business jet deliveries in 2016 would fall somewhere between 650 and 675, representing a “low- to mid- single-digit percentage decline year over year”.
This would be the second straight year of declining deliveries and was largely due to “slower order rates for mature models and a stabilization in fractional-usage type of aircraft deliveries”.

The Honeywell forecast is for up to 8,600 new business jet deliveries between 2016 to 2026 worth US$255 billion.
The 2016 estimate is down from the 9,200 and 9,450 deliveries forecast in the 2015 and 2014 reports, respectively.

“We continue to see relatively slow economic growth projections in many mature business jet markets,” Honeywell Aerospace commercial aviation president Brian Sill said.

“While developed economies are generally faring better, commodities demand, foreign exchange and political uncertainties remain as concerns.”
The report’s outlook for Asia Pacific, which excludes China, says operators in the region expected to buy new jets equivalent to 28 per cent of their current fleet, up from 14 per cent in the prior year’s survey.

“Despite ongoing regional tensions and government austerity initiatives, operator enthusiasm seems to be improving,” the report said.

“Based on the improved level of purchase plans, Asia Pacific could garner up to a six per cent share of global new jet demand over the next five years.”

Honeywell said North America, the world’s largest business jet market, would continue to generate the bulk of the global sales, with the region tipped to have 65 per cent of all purchases, up four percentage points from the 2015 report.

The report said 57 per cent of worldwide new aircraft deliveries was expected to be in the big cabin category, with 21 per cent in the midsize and 22 per cent in the small cabin.

A BUSINESS TOOL

Jacob says the market is becoming more familiar with the concept of aircraft such as Dassault’s Falcon 8X being a business tool rather than a luxury item.

And that suits him fine.

“We don’t like to sell to people that could sell it again within the next two years because they haven’t done the right investment,” he says.

“When you buy it for business you know why you need it and you agree that the cost of it will be compensated by the profit that will result from the investment.
It makes sense and the people are the right advertisement for us.
Those people who buy it for business they keep the aircraft.
Those who buy it for fun, they are not so solid buyers.

“Hopefully there will be more people in Australia buying for this purpose.”

Long-haul The Future

Gulfstream regional vice president for Asia Pacific Jason Akovenko said Australia was a market where range was very important, noting the success of its G550 and G450 families, as well as the G650/G650ER.

“More than 15 Gulfstream aircraft are based in Australia,” Akovenko told Australian Aviation via email.

“All of them are long- and ultra-long-range aircraft, reflecting the region’s interest in business jets capable of traveling almost anywhere in the world nonstop.”
Akovenko said the G650/G650ER had outstanding performance capabilities, with the G650ER setting city-pair records for two popular trans-Pacific routes.

“The G650 and G650ER established a new standard and market segment as the only aircraft that can connect Australia to the United States nonstop,” Akovenko said.

“A G650ER set a city-pair record between Sydney and Los Angeles, flying the 6,620 miles in 12 hours and 20 minutes.
Another G650ER flew from Los Angeles to Melbourne at an average speed of Mach 0.
86, accomplishing the nonstop mission in less than 15 hours and setting a city-pair speed record in the process.

“For these reasons (and many others), we have been able to secure 100 per cent market share in Australia’s ultra-large-cabin, ultra-long-range segment.”
Dassault Aviation, meanwhile, has delivered its first Falcon 8X – to launch customer Greece-based Amjet Executive.
The Falcon 8X is an update of Dassault’s existing Falcon 7X and designed to enable non-stop flights such as Sydney-Mumbai, Hong Kong-London or Beijing-Los Angeles, or one-stop from Sydney to New York or London.

Figures from Dassault Aviation showed there were nine Falcon aircraft in Australia, as well as one in Papua New Guinea and one in New Zealand, a presence which Jacob described as “still modest”.

Dassault Falcon director of sales Didier Raynard says the fact the Falcon 8X is now flying will support efforts to land a first sale of the type in this part of the world.

“For us it is a game-changer I think for this particular market,” Raynard tells Australian Aviation.

“The geographical situation of Australia, long-range aircraft is a necessity.
We think that the 8X is a very good alternative for those who want to fly far.”
Australia is expected to get the opportunity to get up close to the 8X in February, with Dassault likely to have the aircraft on display at the 2017 Avalon Airshow.

This is a friendly environment for business aviation.JEAN MICHEL JACOB