“We’re a software and logistics company that only happens to be making money flying planes.”
– DayJet founder and CEO Ed Iacobucci as quoted in Fast Company magazine, May 2007 (emphasis added)
Maybe the ego behind that statement — not the economy’s negative effect on the capital market, not the alleged failures of the Eclipse 500 — was the real factor in DayJet’s demise. Maybe that elitist mindset, the arrogance that drives a CEO to boast that his company is “making money flying planes” months before it sells its first seat, was what really killed DayJet.
Or maybe not. Maybe Mr. Iacobucci was correct when he said that DayJet’s failure to obtain an additional $5 million in bridge financing was the reason for the September shutdown and subsequent bankruptcy filing.
Maybe his after-the-fall statement that “during the past year, we have demonstrated, beyond a reasonable doubt, that customers will sign up, purchase and become frequent users of this new service — the DayJet ‘per-seat, on-demand’ model works” was dead accurate.
Or, again, maybe not.
We say “maybe not” because Iacobucci, in a moment of apparent candor, later admitted to Jennifer Harrington of Aviation International News that DayJet had only been selling an average of 15 seats per day after almost a full year in business.
“If we had gotten 30 to 35 tickets a day, we would have been OK,” he told Ms. Harrington.
Hhhmmm. At the time, DayJet owned a fleet of 28 Eclipse 500s with a total of more than 100 passenger seats (had they all been in service at the same time, which they never were) and claimed to serve approximately 45 community airports throughout the Southeast. It also had, according to its bankruptcy petition, about $4 million in liabilities.
According to public records, DayJet raised somewhere in excess of $250,000,000 during its brief lifespan. It was, the company bragged in one press release, “among the best capitalized pre-operational passenger air carriers in U.S. aviation history and the largest in the on-demand sector.”
Could the addition of 20 more fares per day possibly have produced a survivable return on an investment of that magnitude?
Given that a significant portion of that $250,000,000, including more than $500,000 spent on political lobbying, was invested in making sure a majority of humans from Alaska to the Amazon recognized the word “DayJet” what went wrong?
Why were only 15 people a day taking advantage of the opportunity to “Fly On Demand?” Surely there was something more seriously askew than the fact that FAA regulations differentiating air taxi services from scheduled airlines prohibited DayJet from actually flying on demand. Even flying “somewhat on demand” (within a window of a couple of hours) should have produced more daily passengers than 15.
Maybe the real issue, as some observers have speculated, was a basic misunderstanding of the business-to-business nature of the air-taxi market on the part of DayJet’s marketing gurus.
Forgive us a brief digression …
Roughly ten years ago, Panasonic entered the rugged portable computer market with its first Toughbook model. Panasonic Portable Computer Company (P2C2), as it was then called, was a ground-level startup from a company with zero presence in the U.S. computer market.
In launching Toughbook, Panasonic spent somewhere between zero and virtually nothing on advertising. What they did invest in was the most obsessive-compulsive, bloodthirsty, workaholic sales force in the B2B technology jungle.
They hired people who left their homes before dawn every Monday and returned shortly before or after midnight every Saturday. While gone, they spent every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. pitching enterprise IT managers and chief financial officers and every evening from 6 p.m. til the wee hours drinking with those same executives.
If you knew what to look for you could easily spot them waiting for the airport shuttle the morning after one of those marathon sales days. They were the people with the sharpest clothes, straightest ties and shiniest shoes hanging around the hotel lobby at 6 a.m.
Five years after launch, Panasonic’s total market share was more than 50 percent, its share of the law-enforcement market was over 70 percent and its profit margin topped 30 percent in an industry where an 8 or 9 percent margin was considered excellent.
Today, competing against such well established companies as Dell and General Dynamics, Toughbooks have a high 60-something percent total market share and more than 90 percent of the law-enforcement market.
The point is, P2C2’s managers understood B2B selling. They knew that at the end of the day most corporate buying decisions aren’t about product or even about price. They’re about return on investment and productivity.
Did DayJet understand this? Did its executives realize that the only way to make their airline fly was on the wings of hundreds — and eventually thousands — of business travelers? Were they aware that the subjects of untold thousands of bad corporate jokes — the so-called “bean counters” — could have cared less about the number of $2 million aircraft DayJet had on order (about 1400) or the hoopla and political pontifications that frequently accompanied each DayPort announcement?
Did DayJet devote enough of its $250,000,000 to wooing CFOs, sales and field force supervisors, office managers at law and accountancy firms and other key players charged with decided when, where and how other executives travel?
DayJet — like the rest of the air-taxi industry — had a great B2B story to tell. Changing a two-day trip into a one-day turnaround and a full-day sales call into a half-day visit increases productivity and return on investment in almost direct relationship to the amount of time saved and substantially decreases TCOT (Total Cost of Transportation).
Those are the kind of financial realities virtually guaranteed to warm the heart of any executive faced with initialing hundreds — or even dozens — of monthly travel vouchers. The question is whether DayJet took those facts and ran with them. Ran with them into conference rooms, executive suites, corporate dining rooms, and trade show workshops?
The evidence — the shocking 15-tickets-a-day evidence — indicates that it did not.
It’s development budget was enormous, a sum measured in hundreds of billions, not millions. It was the brainchild of some of the most brilliant aircraft designers ever assembled to work on a single project. It was backed by the unlimited technological and manufacturing resources of many of the world’s largest and prestigious aviation contractors and sub-contractors.
Even with all that, it took over a decade to get it from concept to first flight. Even with all that, it never lived up to its original mission and only became successful after a new role was invented for it. Even with all that, it began “revenue service” years behind schedule and at a per-aircraft acquisition cost 400 percent higher than originally projected.
Oh, yeah, it also took three revisions over eight years (1989-1997) before production models with full capabilities were operational.
You’ve probably guessed what “it” is by now but, in case you haven’t, what we’re talking about here is the B2 Spirit (aka Stealth) Bomber, compared to which the development timeline glitches suffered by the Eclipse 500 are as insignificant as a single grain — or perhaps even half a grain — of sand in the Sahara.
It could be argued that a radar-unfriendly, 336.500-pound nuclear bomber has little in common with the world’s most compact (to date) twin-jet passenger aircraft, but it would be a faulty argument. What the two flying machines have in common is that they are both almost revolutionary restatements of conventional aircraft wisdom and, as such, amply demonstrate the teething pains that have accompanied every major sea change in manned-flight technology.
In some ways, it’s even fair to say that the Eclipse engineers had a tougher row to hoe than the scientists behind the Stealth. The Eclipse 500, for one thing, had to be designed to sell in a competitive market for about $1.5 million per aircraft. The captive market known in demographic terms as “U.S. Taxpayers” has coughed up somewhere north of $2 billion for each B2 delivered to the Air Force.
Then too, the Eclipse has had to meet FAA passenger-carrying requirements and the B2 hasn’t. It may seem silly to say that it’s harder to certify an air-taxi shuttle craft than a super bomber and in some ways it is. But bombers are not expected to safely transport tens of thousands of civilians over millions of air miles for two or three decades. The infamous U2 spy plane, as just one example, is notoriously unstable and difficult to fly and almost certainly would never have been granted FAA Part 135 certification even if someone had figured out a way to stuff a passenger seat somewhere in the fuselage.
With full “operating in known icing conditions” and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification perhaps no more than six weeks away (as of May, 2008), it might be interesting to take a look at some of the major twists and turns on the Eclipse 500 sky map and see if any of them has had a seriously negative effect on the aircraft’s present and future utility.
1. Replacement of Williams International with Pratt & Whitney as engine vendor in late 2002. True, Sam Williams and his company pioneered development of mini-turbofans, but P&W has much more experience building prime movers for high-utilization civilian aircraft. Reasons for the change were hotly debated (Williams blamed it on an overweight airframe, Eclipse on an under-thrusting engine), but the net result was part of the reason the 500 missed its official type certification target date of late 2004 by almost two years.
2. Switching production of Eclipse’s proprietary Avio NG Total Aircraft Integration System from Avidyne to Innovative Solutions & Support in Q1 of 2007. Taking place in the period between FAA type certification and production certification, it is generally believed that this change in vendors did not appreciably delay the 500 program. In announcing the change, however, Eclipse did admit that product delays and other difficulties at Avidyne had previously set their certification schedule back by about six months.
3. Lack of certification to fly into known icing conditions. This issue has definitely been a thorn in the side of early Eclipse 500 adopters in the Northeast and Midwest. Equipped with all the “right stuff” — flexible rubber boots for its control surfaces, an engine nacelle air bleed system and a heated windshield — the main reason for the delay in this certification appears to more a matter of Mother Nature than anything else. The 500 was certified for production in late April 2007, after the winter storm season, and “icing” certification requires testing under both simulated and actual conditions. Tests with man-made “shaped ice” and flight tests in known icing conditions were conducted throughout the past winter and certification was expected sometime in June.
4. Delays in 100 percent implementation and integration of the full avionics suite. This has been the most persistent “delay” issue in the 500’s development cycle and, inarguably, the most understandable given that the goal has been to provide as good — or better — an avionics environment in a $1.5 microjet as that available in a $200 million jumbo jet.
In practical terms, however, the as-yet-pending implementation of such features as GPS capability, full flight management system (FMS), electronic distance measuring (DME), automatic direction finder (ADF), and mode-F transponders didn’t seem to delay the 500’s production certification. Nor are there any reports that it’s negatively impacting current operators in any significant way.
According to Eclipse, installation of dual Garmin GPS 400W WAAS-certified moving-map GPS navigators later this year in production models and early next year as a no-cost upgrade to the existing user fleet should provide the missing FMS pieces, including coupled localized autopilot operation with vertical guidance approach. Pending software updates should shortly close most of the other avionics gaps.
If there’s a moral to this story, it’s this: Good things happen when you do the job right and don’t hesitate to make necessary changes — such as switching engine or avionics vendors — out of concern for possible negative PR fallout or fulminating feedback from industry or financial gadflies.
To this point in its young life, the Eclipse 500 is an unqualified success. The aircraft is meeting or exceeding all its promised speed, altitude, cruising range and fuel efficiency specifications, it is hugely popular with its passengers, owners, and pilots, it’s broken all production records for first-year general aviation jet aircraft and it’s filled Eclipse Aviation’s order book through Q1 2010.
Not bad for an airplane which weighs substantially less than 330,000 pounds and isn’t even invisible to radar.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM - January 08, 2008 - Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), announced it has produced and certified 104 Eclipse 500s since December 31, 2006. Reaching this milestone makes Eclipse the fastest general aviation jet aircraft manufacturer in history to produce its first 100 airplanes. The VLJ leader completed a total of 103 aircraft in 2007. Previously, the fastest ramp to 100 aircraft was achieved by Cessna, which reached 100 Cessna Citation 550 aircraft after approximately 18 months.
“We’re transforming how jets are built, and how people travel,” said Vern Raburn, Eclipse Aviation president and CEO. “It’s an audacious goal, and one that stretches us every day to go beyond what seems possible. Day-to-day setbacks are inevitable, but the reality is that we have created a new aircraft category and are bringing a new breed of jet to market at a rate never before seen in general aviation.”
HondaAero officially broke ground today on its newcorporate headquarters and state-of-the-art jet engine plant in Burlington,North Carolina, on property located adjacent to the Burlington-Alamance Countyregional airport. Honda Aero also announced that it has successfully run a proof-of-conceptversion of the advanced and efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan engine, and thatthe engine has exceeded the company’s internal development targets for boththrust performance and specific fuel consumption (SFP) on its first test run.The company is moving toward its goals of engine certification in 2009followed by the start of mass production(1) in late 2010.
“Today, we break new ground for Honda and our effort to enter the businessof aviation,” said Satoshi Toshida, senior managing director of Honda MotorCo., Ltd. “The GE Honda Aero engines built here in North Carolina will powera new class of advanced light jets.”
The all-new, 102,400-square foot Honda Aero facility will consist of36,000 square feet of office space, a 58,400-square foot production plant, andan 8,000-square foot engine test cell. Honda Aero will employ approximately70 associates when the plant reaches its initial annual capacity of 200 GEHonda engines within about one year of production startup. The company isinvesting approximately $27 million for construction of the headquarters andmanufacturing facility, including equipment.
By achieving a higher thrust-to-weight ratio and lower fuel consumption,while minimizing emissions and achieving lower noise than other engines in itsthrust class, the GE Honda HF120 has been chosen to power two of the newestand most advanced products in the “very light jet” market — SpectrumAeronautical’s Freedom, and HondaJet, which will be produced in neighboringGreensboro, North Carolina, by the Honda Aircraft Company, Inc., a separateHonda company.
The HF120 is a higher thrust successor to Honda’s original HF118 prototypeengine, which has accumulated more than 4,000 hours of testing on the groundand in-flight. Honda research on jet engine technology started in 1986, withdevelopment of the HF118 engine beginning in 1999. GE-Honda collaboration onthe HF120 began in early 2005. The first core test of the GE Honda HF120 wasconducted in early 2007, followed by full-engine testing later in the year.
GE Honda Aero Engines is a joint venture between GE Aviation and HondaAero, established in 2004 for the development, certification andcommercialization of jet engines in the 1,000 to 3,500 pounds thrust class.
About Honda
Honda Aero, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,the world’s preeminent engine maker, producing more than 26 million enginesannually for a diverse range of products including automobiles, motorcyclesand power equipment products. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda beganoperations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda MotorCo., Inc. (http://www.honda.com), Honda’s first overseas subsidiary. Hondabegan U.S. production of motorcycles in 1979 and automobiles in 1982. Hondabegan making power equipment products in Swepsonville, North Carolina in 1984,producing engines and lawnmowers. The company has invested more than$9 billion in its North American operations, with employment of more than35,000 associates, and annual purchases of more than $17.6 billion in partsand materials from suppliers in North America.
Embraer and India’s Invision Projects Pvt. Ltd. have signed a contract for 18 Phenom 100 and two Phenom 300 executive jets. The new order was announced at the 2007 Dubai Air Show, November 11-15 and the total value of the deal, at list price, is US$ 69.4 million, and deliveries will begin in August 2010. This is the largest business jet fleet order in India to date. “We are honored to participate in the start-up of Invision’s branded charter and air taxi operations,” said Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President, Executive Jets. “Invision’s revolutionary business model initiative, combined with our innovative jets, will most certainly enjoy great acceptance in India, which we consider to be one of the most promising economies in the world.”
“Our priority was to find an aircraft that safely performs under Indian weather conditions, is luxurious enough to cater to High Networth Individuals (HNI) and top corporate executives, and is designed and built to airline standards for very high utilization,” said Mr. Vinit Phatak, Managing Director of Invision. “We were also looking for a well-established manufacturer that was flexible enough to incorporate in their design the extra safety equipment required by Indian’s Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA).”
Mr. Phatak added: “We found a match in the Phenom jets for all our essential parameters. For us, Embraer proved to be not only one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, but also a company willing to take the special steps required to cater to the Indian subcontinent, an area considered to soon be one of the largest markets in the world.”
Honda Aircraft Company, Inc., has announced a series of major advancements to HondaJet design and to the HondaJet sales and service network at the annual National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention. The company showcased a completely new interior design concept for the advanced light jet, along with new exterior colour scheme studies, and an animated tour of the exclusive HondaJet sales and service facilities.
Honda Aircraft Company also announced a partnership with Flight Safety International to create a new flight simulator and pilot training programme for HondaJet.
New Interior Concept
HondaJet’s new interior concept was introduced with a special focus on human fit, ergonomic efficiency and safety for the customer. Honda has created a cabin environment befitting the company’s reputation for world-class engineering and attention to detail in the quality of materials, design and construction.
HondaJet’s new cockpit design incorporated learning from extensive study on the human factors of pilots and pays special attention to the layout. The production version of HondaJet will also incorporate an all-glass avionics package developed for HondaJet by Garmin®.
Honda also provided a glimpse into potential additional production colours, with colours on display including a brilliant HondaJet Silver Metallic; a rich HondaJet Red; as well as versions in HondaJet Green and HondaJet Yellow.
“From the beginning, it has been our goal to bring new value to the field of aviation,” said Michimasa Fujino, president & CEO, Honda Aircraft Company. “With a focus on innovation we will continue our efforts to deliver a product of outstanding performance, quality and comfort with the best sales and service operation to exceed customer expectations.”
Exclusive Dealer Network
For the first time, Honda Aircraft Company showed its proposed design specifications for standalone HondaJet sales and service dealer facilities that will be established throughout the United States over the next several years. The facilities will feature a large hangar for service operations and will be designed to provide a new level of customer sales and service support in the light jet class.
New Pilot Training Simulator
As part of its continuing commitment to safety, Honda Aircraft Company announced that it has established a partnership with Flight Safety International (FSI) to conduct a HondaJet pilot training programme, including the development of a Level-D full motion flight simulator for HondaJet. The first simulator will be installed at Honda Aircraft Company’s new headquarters facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. Additional training facilities will be established in the future as HondaJet sales grow.
Update on Type Certification
The company also provided an update on FAA type certification for HondaJet. Working closely with the FAA, Honda Aircraft Company anticipates its first test flight of a conforming model in early 2009, with the overall timetable calling for the on schedule achievement of type certification in 2010.
About HondaJet
HondaJet, Honda’s first-ever commercial aircraft, lives up to the company’s reputation for dynamic performance together with superior efficiency, delivering class-topping cruise speed and fuel efficiency, greater luggage capacity and a more spacious cabin with seating for up to eight people, compared to other products in the very light jet (VLJ) class. All major assembly and testing of the prototype HondaJet has been conducted at the company’s existing Greensboro, North Carolina facility, which opened in 2001 as an extension of Honda’s global R&D operations.
In late June, Honda broke ground for a new facility in Greensboro that will replace the company’s existing complex. Phase one of construction will be completed in spring 2008, and will consist of offices, research facilities and an airplane hangar. The HondaJet production facility is currently in the design phase, with construction planned to begin following the completion of the headquarters. The company is on target to begin deliveries of HondaJet to customers in 2010.
Honda Aircraft Company, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda’s first overseas subsidiary.
(DanBricklin.com) Dan Bricklin, inventor of the spreadsheet was recently invited to Eclipse Aviation’s manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Dan shot some incredible video of the manufacturing and assembly process for the Eclipse 500. Eclipse is building aircraft similar to the personal computer business (modular design, high volume manufacturing, lots of use of computers) and less like traditional aircraft manufacture (lots of custom assembly, intricate parts, low volume production).
Upon seeing the production facility up close and personal, Dan said “I was pretty blown away seeing their actual production facilities in operation. Dozens of planes were moving through a production line and I saw some literally about to go out the door. The company is entering the phase of moving from creating the design to optimizing the ongoing production.”
Click here to see Dan’s video or play on the video below.
Cessna did it last year, Eclipse has just done it and now Embraer is going to do it - The concept jet - Car companies have been doing it for years. Unveil a concept car at a motor show to create some excitement, grab some headlines and capture some customer feedback. Maybe something like it will make it into the showrooms. Maybe not.
To keep up the momentum behind its move into business aviation, at September’s NBAA bizav show in Atlanta, Embraer will unveil a full-scale mockup of a mid-size jet to fit between its Phenom 300 and Legacy 600. A concept jet, not a real one…yet.
At last year’s NBAA Cessna unveiled a full-scale mockup of its Large Cabin Concept Citation with the express intent of “gathering feedback…to determine if there is a favourable business case”. After outings at EBACE and Paris earlier this year, a launch at this year’s NBAA looks possible.
At July’s Airventure show in August, Eclipse went one better when it flew in the Eclipse Concept Jet, designed and built in just six months. Described as the “ultimate tool for evaluating the emerging single-engine jet marketplace”, the ECJ “is currently not available for sale”, says Eclipse.
Embarer’s plans to unveil the mid-size concept mock-up to NBAA were announced by bizjet boss Luis Carlos Affonso at Brazil’s LABACE show. The company has been studying what to do next for some time, and has made no secret of its plans to fill the gap between the Phenom and the Legacy with one, or maybe two, new jets.
But while a “more aircraft for your money” approach has helped bizjet newbie Embraer carve out a growing slice of the light-jet and large-cabin markets, the company has struggled to find a sure-fire differentiator in the mid-size market, which is defined and dominated by the value-for-money Hawker 800 series.
It will be interesting to see what Embraer thinks it can bring to the middle of the market. It may just be a concept mock-up on display, but NBAA will be no tentative toe in the water. It will be a final validation of the company’s plans.
Rick Adam, CEO of Adam Aircraft, provided an update on the A700 very light jet program status for the press corps at AirVenture this week.
“The first two A700 prototypes have accumulated over 800 hours of risk-reduction testing,” he said. The interior has been upgraded to include higher-quality leather seats, new carpet, improved fit and finish around the windows and a relocated lavatory that provides more aft space in the cabin. Discussions are under way to partner with an international training provider, Adam said, and to provide a full-motion simulator in addition to the computer-based training developed for the A500.
Once the A700 very light jet is certified and starts production, Adam expects to turn them out at a rate of 10 or more per month. The company will announce its plans for international service centers at the NBAA Convention in October.
The Embraer Phenom 100, flew on Thursday for the first time. Aircraft number 99801 was airborne at 10:55 a.m., when Capt. Antonio Braganca Silva called out ‘rotate’ and pulled back the yoke.
“This is a key milestone for Embraer and a very special and rewarding moment for the entire Embraer team. To see our new baby bird taking off is highly satisfying and I congratulate every Embraer employee for making this possible.” remarked Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer President and CEO.”When we unveiled the Phenom jets a little more than two years ago, we asserted to the business aviation community our commitment to be a long term player in the executive aviation market. The first flight of the Phenom 100 confirms this commitment and constitutes another step in Embraer’s strategy to serve our customers with a product line that spans the market.”
Upon deplaning from the Phenom 100, test pilots Capt. Antonio Bragança Silva and Capt. Eduardo Alves Menini, and flight test engineer Marcelo Toledo Basile, were satisfied with the maiden flight. “We had a successful first flight. All maneuvers and tests were performed as planned”, said Capt. Bragança. “We were very impressed with the Phenom 100 performance and flying characteristics, as well as the exceptional comfort and ergonomics of its cockpit design”. PP-XPH was flown for 1 hour and 36 minutes, and several maneuvers were performed to check the aircraft’s flight characteristics and systems operations. Members of all the engineering teams involved in the Phenom 100 program were on the ground, analyzing flight data and supporting the test crew on board the jet. The two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F engines with 1,615 pounds of thrust each powering the Phenom 100 operated flawlessly during the entire flight.
The first flight was preceded by several weeks of ground tests. The results confirmed the Phenom 100’s operations throughout ground vibration, flight control, low and high-speed taxiing, and systems functionality and integration tests. A full test program, including static and fatigue tests, will follow the maiden flight in order to obtain Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) certification, which will be followed by FAA certification, prior to entering service in mid-2008. EASA certification will be completed in the first semester of 2009.
The Phenom 100 was launched in May 2005, as a best-in-class executive jet in the very light category. The first metal cut of the Phenom 100 took place in May 2006, using a digital mock-up of the aircraft developed with CATIA V5 engineering software. Sub-assembly manufacturing of the Phenom 100 was carried out at the Company’s Botucatu
facility. Upon completion, fuselage and wings were delivered to Embraer’s main facilities in São José dos Campos. Last June 16, the jet was rolled out of the hangar, marking the conclusion of final assembly. A few days after the rollout, on June 21, the Phenom 100 was presented in brand colors for the first time.
The Phenom 100 and the Phenom 300 jets are best-in-class. Premium comfort, outstanding performance and low operating cost are key design drivers for these jets. Both aircraft will offer pilots and passengers the comfort and style previously unknown in their categories. The relaxing ambience is enhanced by the size of the generous windows and the most ample cabin in their class. Onboard conveniences include a wardrobe or refreshment center, an aft cabin private lavatory with toiletry cabinet, and optional in-flight entertainment systems. The pilot-friendly cockpit and the docile flying qualities of the two new aircraft will enable single-pilot operation. Drawing from Embraer’s design and engineering experience, the Phenom 100 and the Phenom 300 will be built for high utilization and availability. For added safety and reliability, both jets will offer a standard anti-skid brake-by-wire system.
Based on Garmin’s all-glass, fully-integrated avionics suite, the ProdigyTM flight deck offers Phenom jet operators more advantages than any other avionics suite on today’s market. The cockpit features three interchangeable 12-inch displays – two Primary Flight Displays (PFD) and one Multi-Function Display (MFD). The system integrates all primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather, engine instrumentation, and crew-alerting system data and presents the composite information in brilliant, sunlight-readable color on three high-definition displays. The Phenom 100 will comfortably accommodate four passengers in a typical club configuration. The generous 55-cubic-foot (1.56-cubic-meter) total baggage capacity is big enough to store their luggage, golf bags and even skis. The jet is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F engines with 1,615 pounds of thrust each. Its range with four occupants will be 1,160 nautical miles (1,335 miles or 2,148 km) with NBAA IFR reserves, 35 minutes, and 100 nm alternate; or 1,320 nautical miles (1,519 miles or 2,445 km) with NBAA VFR reserves, 45 minutes. The aircraft is capable of flying at 41,000 feet (12,497 meters) at a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.70 and is designed for short-field takeoffs. These characteristics will allow customers to fly nonstop from New York to Miami; Paris to Athens; Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires; and Taipei to Tokyo at a lower cost than competitive aircraft, including turboprops.
The Phenom 100 is priced at US$ 2.98 million, based on January 2005 economic conditions for FAA certification and is expected to enter service in mid-2008.
The Phenom 300 jet will be configured to accommodate up to nine occupants. Its large 76 cubic feet (2.15 cubic meters) baggage capacity will conveniently transport passengers’ luggage, golf bags and skis. The jet is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E engines with 3,200 pounds of
thrust each. Its range with six occupants will be 1,800 nautical miles (3,334 km or 2,071 miles) with NBAA IFR reserves, 35 minutes and 100 nm alternate. The aircraft is capable of flying at 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) at a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.78 and is also designed for short-field takeoffs. These capabilities will permit customers to fly nonstop from Los Angeles to Atlanta; London to Moscow; Sao Paulo to Santiago; and Bangkok to Shanghai at a lower cost than competitive aircraft.
The Phenom 300 is expected to enter service in mid-2009 and is priced at US$ 6.65 million, based on January 2005 economic conditions, for FAA certification.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM - January 08, 2008 - Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), announced it has produced and certified 104 Eclipse 500s since December 31, 2006. Reaching this milestone makes Eclipse the fastest general aviation jet aircraft manufacturer in history to produce its first 100 airplanes. The VLJ leader completed a total of 103 aircraft in 2007. Previously, the fastest ramp to 100 aircraft was achieved by Cessna, which reached 100 Cessna Citation 550 aircraft after approximately 18 months. 
HondaAero officially broke ground today on its newcorporate headquarters and state-of-the-art jet engine plant in Burlington,North Carolina, on property located adjacent to the Burlington-Alamance Countyregional airport. Honda Aero also announced that it has successfully run a proof-of-conceptversion of the advanced and efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan engine, and thatthe engine has exceeded the company’s internal development targets for boththrust performance and specific fuel consumption (SFP) on its first test run.The company is moving toward its goals of engine certification in 2009followed by the start of mass production(1) in late 2010.
Embraer and India’s Invision Projects Pvt. Ltd. have signed a contract for 18 Phenom 100 and two Phenom 300 executive jets. The new order was announced at the 2007 Dubai Air Show, November 11-15 and the total value of the deal, at list price, is US$ 69.4 million, and deliveries will begin in August 2010. This is the largest business jet fleet order in India to date. “We are honored to participate in the start-up of Invision’s branded charter and air taxi operations,” said Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President, Executive Jets. “Invision’s revolutionary business model initiative, combined with our innovative jets, will most certainly enjoy great acceptance in India, which we consider to be one of the most promising economies in the world.” 
Honda Aircraft Company, Inc., has announced a series of major advancements to HondaJet design and to the HondaJet sales and service network at the annual National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention. The company showcased a completely new interior design concept for the advanced light jet, along with new exterior colour scheme studies, and an animated tour of the exclusive HondaJet sales and service facilities.
(DanBricklin.com) Dan Bricklin, inventor of the spreadsheet was recently invited to Eclipse Aviation’s manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Dan shot some incredible video of the manufacturing and assembly process for the Eclipse 500. Eclipse is building aircraft similar to the personal computer business (modular design, high volume manufacturing, lots of use of computers) and less like traditional aircraft manufacture (lots of custom assembly, intricate parts, low volume production). 
Rick Adam, CEO of Adam Aircraft, provided an update on the A700 very light jet program status for the press corps at AirVenture this week. 
The Embraer Phenom 100, flew on Thursday for the first time. Aircraft number 99801 was airborne at 10:55 a.m., when Capt. Antonio Braganca Silva called out ‘rotate’ and pulled back the yoke.