Graham Warwick/Washington DC
The US National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) begins its 50th anniversary year with a revamped name intended to reflect more accurately its role in enhancing the safety, efficiency and acceptance of business aviation. The NBAA also completes its first half-century of advocacy, with many major issues facing the industry apparently resolved satisfactorily, amid signs that the economic impact of general aviation, and business aviation in particular, is finally being recognised.
The NBAA has found itself busy in recent years as business aviation has been buffeted by regulations aimed principally at the airlines - reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM), extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) and user fees principal among them. Persuading regulators that rules conceived for airlines could severely, and unnecessarily, make an impact on business aviation has challenged the Washington DC-based organisation's ability to articulate the factors which make business aviation unique and useful.
As the NBAA enters its second half century, its efforts appear to have been largely successful. Business-aircraft sales are at their highest level in recent years, and manufacturers are beginning to recoup the massive investments they made in new products during the lean years. The RVSM is now a fact of life for operators of transatlantic aircraft, while a compromise has been agreed which will limit the impact of new European ETOPS rules. User fees have receded as a concern for at least the next five years, and possibly ten, with the US Government agreeing that general aviation should continue to pay its share of airspace-system costs through the existing fuel tax.
The latter is being taken as a sign that general aviation is finally being recognised as something different to commercial air-transport. If true, this will be a major breakthrough for the NBAA and other industry associations which have fought for years to convince regulators of the different operating and economic conditions which govern general aviation.
The NBAA's lobbying efforts have been underwritten over the years by its increasingly successful annual convention, which has grown to be "-the largest purely civil-aviation exhibition in the world", it claims. This year's show will be held in Dallas, Texas, on 23-25 September and will kick off a year of 50th-anniversary celebrations which will culminate in the 51st annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 19-21 October, 1998.
The NBAA show has grown so large that only a handful of US venues can accommodate the exhibition. This year's show has attracted some 840 exhibitors to the Dallas Convention Center, and about 190 aircraft will be on display at nearby Dallas Love Field. Over 24,000 attendees are expected, says the NBAA.
There will be a strong emphasis on history at the 1997 show, looking back at the progress made over the 50 years since the NBAA was originally incorporated in September 1947, as the Corporation Aircraft Owners Association. Then it had 19 member companies - now it has nearly 4,700. Historical interests aside, the industry will gather at Dallas to sample what the NBAA show has become famous for - its recession-proof optimism about the future of business aviation.
Busy manufacturers
Over the year, the NBAA show has seen the launches of many new business aircraft, more in the lean years than the good, as manufacturers sought to stimulate the market with new products. No major launches are anticipated for this year - manufacturers are too busy building and developing their existing aircraft - but there will still be news from the exhibit hall and static park.
The "heavy-metal" end of the business-aircraft market has been transformed in recent months by the entry of first Boeing, then Airbus Industrie. The Boeing Business Jet, based on the Next Generation 737-700, and the Airbus Corporate Jet, based on the A319, represent a challenge to Bombardier and Gulfstream in the market for large-cabin, long-range business jets. Neither aircraft will be on display at the NBAA show, but announcements of new customers are expected.
Bombardier will display the fourth Global Express, the first to be outfitted with an interior. This will be an important event for the Canadian company, as Gulfstream will come to the 1997 show having already certificated and delivered its rival Gulfstream V long-range business jet. Certification of the Global Express is scheduled for May 1998, and Bombardier hopes that experiencing the aircraft's large cabin will persuade potential customers to wait.
Dassault does not have a direct rival to the ultra-long-range Global Express and GV, but is offering its extended-range Falcon 900EX as a cheaper alternative. Continuing talks on a merger with Airbus partner Aerospatiale could see the A319CJ eventually positioned at the top of Dassault's business-jet range.
Previous shows have seen much activity in the mid-size sector, but few of the new products are ready for display. Cessna will display the Citation X, and Dassault the Falcon 2000 and upgraded Falcon 50EX, all of which are now in service. Galaxy Aerospace rolled out its "super mid-size" Galaxy in Israel on the eve of the show and plans to fly the aircraft in December. Raytheon plans to fly its super mid-size Hawker Horizon in late 1999. Bombardier, meanwhile, has begun advanced design of a new mid-size business jet which could be available in 2002 to fit between its Learjet 60 and Challenger 604, and which would be in competition with the Falcon 2000, Galaxy and Horizon.
The light business-jet market has seen a thorough revamp in recent years. Cessna is close to completing an upgrade of its entire Citation line, having introduced the entry-level CitationJet and having upgraded the Citation II, to produce the Bravo, and the Citation V, to produce the Ultra. Cessna's new "widebody" light business jet, the Citation Excel, is now in flight test, with deliveries scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 1998.
Cessna reports strong order backlogs across all of its Citation product line. The question now is whether the company will continue to upgrade the family or embark on development of a completely new business-jet line. One near-term option could be to improve the CitationJet with the uprated FJ44-2 turbofans now available from Williams-Rolls.
Bombardier hopes to come to Dallas armed with US certification of its new Learjet 45 light business jet. Deliveries are expected to begin in October or November against a strong backlog. The existing Learjet 31A has also been selling well, but the larger Learjet 45 is intended to rival aircraft such as the Citation Excel and Raytheon Beechjet 400A.
Both the Excel and Learjet 45 are coming to market later than planned, because of development delays. The same is also true of Raytheon's Premier I light business jet, the first flight of which has been delayed until the second quarter of 1998 because of design changes required to ensure that the aircraft meets its performance guarantees. Raytheon, meanwhile, is not expected to launch the stretched Premier II until 1998 at the earliest, having its development plate full with both the Premier I and Hawker Horizon.
Sino Swearingen Aircraft will display its prototype SJ30-2 light business jet for the first time at the 1997 NBAA show. The company has modified its original SJ30 prototype with the stretched fuselage and uprated FJ44-2A engines planned for the production aircraft. Flight testing with the new engines began on the eve of the show, and Taiwan-backed Sino Swearingen is hoping to carve out a niche in the competitive light business-jet market by offering high performance at relatively low cost.
Single-engine activity
While little new is expected to emerge at the 1997 show in the traditional business-twinjet market, there will be considerable activity in the burgeoning single-engine sector. One reason is a growing recognition that turbine engines are far more reliable than pistons. This is underlined by the US Federal Aviation Administration's recent agreement to allow commercial instrument-flight-rules (IFR) operations with single-engined aircraft.
Several single-engine business aircraft will be making their debut at the 1997 NBAA show. In the turboprop field, Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures (AASI) will be displaying its Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-powered Jetcruzer 500, flown for the first time in late August. The aircraft is a stretched and uprated version of the already certificated Jetcruzer 450, and deliveries are planned to begin by late 1998.
New Piper Aircraft is expected to unveil a mock-up of a single-turboprop business aircraft based on its Malibu Mirage pressurised piston single. Deliveries of the Meridien, powered by a PT6A, are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2000. It will be Piper's first turboprop since the now out-of-production Cheyenne.
In the jet field, VisionAire will display its single-turbofan Vantage for the first time at an NBAA show. The all-composite proof-of-concept aircraft, designed, built and test-flown by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, will be displayed in the static park, while VisionAire will also unveil a revamped mock-up showing cabin and cockpit improvements. Deliveries of the P&WC JT15D-powered Vantage are planned to begin in the second quarter of 1999.
Century Aerospace has also entered the single-turbofan market with the FJ44-powered Century Jet. Certification is planned for late 1999 and initial deliveries will be with the proven FJ44-1, two of which power the Cessna CitationJet. Later aircraft will have the FJ44-2.
An unexpected newcomer to the NBAA show will be Canada's Alberta Aerospace, which will unveil the single-turbofan Phoenix FanJet - formerly known as the Promavia JetSqualus. Alberta plans to certificate the basic two-seat side-by-side version in early 1998, and plans a four-seater. The FanJet is powered by an FJ44.
In addition to improving prospects for these new projects, approval for single-engine IFR operations is expected to boost sales of existing single-turboprop aircraft, including the Cessna Caravan, Pilatus PC-12 and Socata TBM700.
There are also several other programmes worth watching at the 1997 NBAA show. Ayres is expected to announce the selection of major partners for its Loadmaster utility-aircraft programme, including suppliers of the wing and fuselage. The Loadmaster is powered by two LHTECCTS800 turboshafts driving and single propeller. Williams International, meanwhile, may talk about its FJX-2 small turbofan. Williams has already flown its testbed for the FJX-2, the Rutan-designed V-Jet II.
Fractional issues
As the NBAA enters its second half-century, issues lying ahead of the organisation include coping with the changes which are being brought about by the rapid growth in business-aircraft fractional ownership. In the past year, Executive Jet has placed massive new orders with Cessna for Citation Excels, VIIs and Xs, with Gulfstream for GIVs and with Raytheon for Hawker 800Xs with which to expand its successful NetJets shared-ownership scheme. Bombardier continues to grow its FlexJet programme, and will add Learjet 45s and GlobalExpresses, while Raytheon has launched its Travel Air programme, which offers shares in King Air 200 turboprops, as well as Beechjet 400A and Hawker 800XP business jets.
While fractional ownership is dramatically increasing the population of business-aircraft owners, it is posing a challenge to the traditional role of the corporate flight-department. Having seemingly succeeded in getting regulators to recognise the value of business aviation, it appears that the NBAA must now turn its attention to convincing corporations that fractional ownership is a valuable supplement to, not a replacement for, their existing business-aircraft operations.
Source: Flight International
