Kieran Daly/LONDON
EUROPEAN fractional-jet-ownership company JetCo has dropped Raytheon Aircraft's Beechjet and KingAir from its fleet plan and is negotiating with other manufacturers.
The company may still use Raytheon Hawker 800XPs, but that aircraft is in competition with the Cessna Citation VII.
UK-based JetCo, which planned to start operations with an all-Raytheon fleet, has found little interest in turboprop aircraft. Below the Hawker/Citation VII choice, it is now looking primarily at a new-aircraft option with Cessna CitationJets or Learjet 31As, and, less enthusiastically, at a used-aircraft option of Citation IIs or Learjet 35As. The company is keen on the Citation Excel but could not secure delivery to its time scale.
Its move away from Raytheon is driven largely by aircraft preferences, but it also professes unhappiness with "...the changes that went on at Raytheon in the latter stages of last year".
JetCo managing director Mike Riegel expects to place orders very soon and indicates that the bullish customer interest which the company has previously claimed still holds good.
Source: Flight International
