The 7th annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition EBACE-2007 that took place from the 22nd to the 24th of May in Switzerland, at the PALEXPO exhibition complex in Geneva, gathered a record number of guests and participants in all its history.
The community of the like-minded
Manufacturers and their clients, operators and brokers, business-class terminal managers and journalists, representatives of the largest European and American aviation companies…Planes and helicopters, engines, avionics and other equipment, all possible kinds of services – all of it was not only presented to the public, but also quite actively put up for sale and purchased.
Especially pleasant was to hear Russian spoken all the time, taking into account that there were not so many participants from Russia. We can’t but mention the Russian company RusAero who have been attending the forum since 2001. Jet 2000 airlines has been a regular participant of the fair, as well as Challenger, a business aviation company. However, Russian operators, brokers and other enterpreneurs that are in any way connected with business aviation have landed at EBACE 2007 in quite significant numbers. Because everybody knows everyone in this community, "Russian clubs" appeared here and there. People were meeting, talking and working.
On the other hand, companies from Europe and Asia are no less interested in the Russian market. That’s why there was always loads of people at the few Russian stands. Take, for instance, one of the most notable stands at the fair, Vnukovo-3.
The parade of top models
But surely, all the main events took place at the stands of aircraft manufacturers. It seems like no one had expected such sales volumes and a number of orders on business jets, as well as so many significant premieres.
And it’s true not only for aircraft, but for rotorcraft as well. For instance, Eurocopter demonstrated two first-class business aviation helicopters, EC 135 and EC 155, aimed at the fast-growing VIP, private and corporate aviation segment. The light and medium two-engine Eurocopter models rendered by the customers for participation in the exhibition, were unsurpassed examples of the most coveted models in today’s dynamically growing market.
The same can be said of the newest development by Agusta Westland – a medium gas turbine AW-139 helicopter. It has the largest cabin in its class and a flexible construction that allows custom-made configuration options and interior outfitting.
What undoubtedly made a sensation was the launch of Airbus A318 Elite by the Swiss operator Comlux. For several months specialists from Lufthansa Technik had been working on cabin equipment. This liner’s interior had been called one of the best in its class by the experts.
Another premiere was Falcon 2000LX, a replacement of Falcon 2000EX in the model line of Dassault Aviation. What makes the new model special is a wing with vertical wingtips. This novelty had significantly decreased fuel consumption and allowed to increase the maximum range up to 7400 km. This jet will take you from Moscow to New York without stopovers. The company hopes to certify the new model in the end of this year or early next year.
The new Citation Mustang was appealing to both private clients and company operators. As for Grob Aerospace, they unveiled the first Grob spn jet with a fully updated salon by Porsche Design Studio.
The American Eclipse 500 was also new to the Old World. And, according to the experts, it was a quite successful premiere. The company stand was literally besieged by guests. They say that clients are already queueing for one of the most popular Very Light Jets (VLJ) to date.
Big number favourites
The sum price for the contracts on delivery of the new aircraft announced during several days of the exhibition was over $3 billion. And surely there were leaders, as far as the number of orders and sales volumes are concerned. Almost all of them have been leading in the business aviation market for quite a while. But there were also exceptions.
For instance, it was announced during the exhibition that the Eastern European distributor company ETIRC Aviation Europe had placed an order for 180 Eclipse 500 jets, which confirms that very soon these jets will be leading in the segment of VLJs. 120 of the 180 orders are confirmed, the rest 60 are at the optional stage at the moment. The estimated contract price is around $270 million. This contract supplements the earlier order for 40 jets. A large order like that, according to the senior management of ETIRC Aviation, is caused by a great interest to Eclipse 500 in the region, especially in Russia and Turkey.
A line of business jets by Bombardier also wasn’t left unclaimed. For three days the company had closed three deals. The Bahrein airline Bexair chose Challenger 605, the Portuguese charter company Omni placed an order for the medium BJ Challenger 300 and the light Learjet 40XR, while Lebanese Echo will acquire the flagship of the Canadian business jet line, a long-haul Global Express XRS.
NetJets Europe once again placed a large order for 32 Hawker 4000 BJs - the flagship of Raytheon fleet, - at a price of $700 million. The planes are to be delivered in the next eight years. The Saudi operator National Air Services decided to buy 20 Gulfstream 450s at the same price of $700 million.
"Heavyweights" from BBJ also announced their achievements: since the beginning of 2007 the company had received 9 new orders for over half a billion dollars. BBJ’s main competitors are not far behind: a subsidiary of Airbus, ACJ, announced five new orders for the business jets in Geneva, for over $250 million.
And finally, the absolute favourite of the exhibition was the line of jets by Cessna Aircraft. The company announced that they had received an order for delivery of 25 Citation aircraft from JetAlliance, for $280 million. The Austrian JetAlliance based in Vienna is considered the third largest European business aviation company; they are also Cessna’s authorized dealer.
According to JetAlliance Executive Director Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer, the order for the new aircraft is for further promotion and expansion of the company’s activities in Eastern and Central Europe, including Russia. The following business jets comprise the order: one CJ1+, six CJ2+, five CJ3, three Citation XLS+, one Citation Sovereign, two Citation X and seven Citation Mustang. The deliveries are scheduled for 2009-2010.
As for the results of the exhibition, one can surely say that EBACE can compete with the American NBAA now as to the representation, number of new models and sales volumes. Business aviation in Europe has become essential for successful business both with large corporations and medium-sized companies. As for the general impressions, it looks like the Old World is switching to business jets…
The editors offer their gratitude to Lakeside Marketing, Switzerland, for assistance in organising the trip to EBACE 2007.
Dmitry Gnatenko
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