Honeywell Aerospace is predicting a return to the delivery peak of 2007 "within three or four years", when a flurry of new business aircraft programmes will enter service.

"We are very encouraged that OEMs do have products in development and on the drawing board," says Victor Valente, the US systems maker's vice-president of business and general aviation for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. "There is a close correlation between introduction of new models into market and deliveries."

Honeywell numbers Cessna, Dassault and Gulfstream among the customers of its cockpit avionics - its EASy II cockpit was recently certificated for Dassault's Falcon jets. The Bombardier Challenger 300 and Gulfstream G280 are also powered by Honeywell's HTF7000.

The increasing use of synthetic vision systems has been one of the biggest advances in business aviation, Valente says, with the technology now finding its way into the retrofit, as well as new aircraft, market as operators search for ways of extending the life and productivity of their fleets, as well as easing the workload of their pilots.

"Despite a slowdown in Europe as a result of economic context, operators are looking for things that optimise the efficiency of the plane, as well as keeping up to date with [air traffic management] mandates," says Valente. "So we are putting a very significant focus not just on new product development for new programmes, but also upgrades for existing planes."

"Pilots are becoming more comfortable with synthetic vision," he adds. "It has huge safety implications, even though it is not yet being used for lower landing minima. It's just the comfort of having that improved vision."

Cabin systems are another vital area for the Phoenix-headquartered company. "It is becoming a very important element of the decision to buy an aircraft," he says. Honeywell introduced its Ovation Select cabin solution three years ago, and it is "slowly penetrating" the market, offered as original equipment on the Embraer Legacy 400 and 500, and as a retrofit on Falcons and Boeing Business Jets.

Direct aircraft-to-ground links via satcom are also becoming "an important feature in business jets", he says. "A year and a half ago when we acquired [mobile connectivity specialist] EMS [Technologies], we realised it was going to become a big part of the business. It offers full-time connectivity in the air."

Although "reasonably optimistic" that the slowly improving fortunes of business aviation will continue, Valente cautions: "It is a leaner world today, where everyone has learned to live leaner. Our approach has had to be different too to get a better balance between original equipment and the aftermarket."

An Embraer Legacy 650 and Lineage 1000 with Ovation Select installed are on the static.

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Source: Flight Daily News

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