Uncertain, that’s the key word to describe the mood at
EBACE13 (2013 European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition). In press conferences today, major airframe
manufactures kept mentioning their grand plans will be dampened by the
uncertain climate for business aviation.
Boeing only sold three Boeing Business Jets, a 737, 747, and 787, in the
past 12 months. Airbus sold more, but
didn’t give a number or distinguish between wide or narrow bodied.
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| EBACE13 Static Display |
New models are coming out.
Embraer’s Legacy 500 made its European debut. The full Gulfstream product line, including the newer G280 and G650, is also on
display. The G650 seems to have the highest demand with delivery slots over
four years out. As Airbus explained,
most customers don’t want to wait more than one or two years for delivery, so
the G650 backlog is all the more exceptional.
This short order to delivery time frame also means that Airbus has not
sold any NEO A320 series private jets, likewise Boeing has not sold any 737MAX
private jets.
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| Dassault 2000S |
The second hand market is good for buyers. Dassault kept mentioning their research on
second hand sales and expect those prices to increase before the new aircraft market
picks up again. Demand is down as well
with private departures slightly below 2012 numbers and well below 2007 figures.
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| ACJ318 |
A few observations:
- There are 52 aircraft on display, 670 exhibitors, about
7,000 attendees, and press from 70 countries.
- “Our industry faces headwinds” is the pun of the
conference. Funny the first time, but
every speaker used it today.
- Embraer made a short film with Jackie Chan to promote the
new Legacy 500. It wasn’t very good, but
looked like it cost quite a bit. The president
of Embraer Executive Jets really liked it, so that’s what matters.
- Serge Dassault, Bloomberg billionaire rank #79, was in
attendance. He loves his new Falcon 7X.
- Only Airbus printed out their slides. Everyone else just has reporters taking
pictures of every PowerPoint slide. Accordingly
the Airbus presentation felt relaxed, at least until reporters started pushing
on the ACJ318 and Prince Al-Waleed selling his A380 before interior work
started.
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| G650 - Only 17 In Customer Operations |
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