Honda Aircraft is ramping up its global sales drive for the HondaJet, today announcing expansion to Southeast Asia where it has partnered with Thai Aerospace Services (TAS) to sell and support the light business jet across the region.
The latest addition to its dealer network will cover Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. Expansion to Southeast Asia adds to existing dealership agreements in North America, Europe and parts of South America.
Honda Aircraft also announced at the show that it has bolstered its South America presence through an agreement with Buenos Aires-based Hangar Uno, which will provide sales, service and support to customers in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay as HondaJet Argentina.
In Europe, the company says it has received “multiple orders” for a new hybrid fractional ownership programme based in the Isle of Man. FlyHonda joins two other European HondaJet operators – Germany-based Privateairways, which began a charter service in April, and France-based European Aero Training Institute Strasbourg (EATIS), which will launch a public transport service this summer.
Speaking at a press conference at EBACE earlier today, Honda Aircraft chief executive Michimasa Fujino said sales in the USA were “as strong as in Europe”, and he is “very satisfied with activity in the US”.
The company delivered 15 HondaJets in the first quarter of 2017 and is targeting production of between 55 and 60 aircraft in the fiscal year ending next March. As of May it had produced 57 aircraft. Fujino declines to comment on the possibility of developing a family of business jets, noting: “I can’t talk about future models.”
Source: Flight Daily News
