10 Reasons For The Bizav Industry To Be Cheerful Before The Holidays
November 25, 2020
Boutsen’s Busy Half-Year Augurs Well for 2021 Sales
Despite the difficulties the pandemic and its associated travel restrictions have entailed, Monaco-based aircraft sales company Boutsen Aviation has had a busy half-year. The company sold a Piaggio Avanti II and a Bombardier Global 5000 in the third quarter, while the fourth quarter has seen sales of a Gulfstream G550 and a Bombardier Challenger 350, and sales of four Cessna Citations and an Airbus ACJ319 are pending.
On the face of it, 2020 might not have proven the optimal point for a 64-year-old company to set up its third facility. But Duncan Aviation’s new design center, which opened in Provo, Utah, earlier this year, has proved a boon to the Lincoln, Nebraska-headquartered aircraft service provider.
FlightSafety International has taken delivery of only the second HondaJet simulator and is offering initial and recurrent pilot training on the aircraft from its Farnborough Learning Center in England. The move appears to suggest the company is not just confident about the type and its expansion, and the future of business aviation in the UK, but about the prospects for flight training both post-pandemic and following the country ’s exit from the European Union at the start of 2021.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the HondaJet is driving the fortunes of startup Jet It. The private jet membership company was established by former Honda Aircraft Co. executives in 2018, and at launch could count three employees and one aircraft.
Difficult trading circumstances are nothing new for LunaJets, which was less than a year old and operating out of a container when the Great Recession hit in 2008. The Geneva-based company has doubled down during the pandemic, launching two new divisions: Luna Group Charter, to provide a group-charter service, will be based in Paris; and Luna Solutions, which will advise clients on aircraft purchase, sales and financing, and will be run from Geneva, Dubai and Paris.
Luxaviation, EASA Partner On First European Bizav AOC
Luxaviation has taken the first step on a path the company believes will streamline its operations and reduce costs. In a move hailed as “historical,” the group has placed its Portuguese division under a Europe-wide air operator’s certificate (AOC), issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Previously, each of the company’s nine European businesses operated under different national AOCs. The move was made possible under an EU directive issued in 2018, and Luxaviation is the first business-aircraft operator to take advantage of the opportunity.
PrivateFly, the Directional Aviation-owned British app-based charter broker, has responded to the increased demand it has seen during the pandemic by making a number of new appointments to its senior leadership team. Remarkably, given the dire situation the sector was facing in March and April, sales are up over last year.
Another company adding Citations is Fort Lauderdale, Florida-headquartered XO. The firm, owned by Malta-based Vista Global, has bought 15 Citation V Ultra aircraft, increasing its total dedicated fleet to 58 as the company looks to meet demand that has seen its membership base double since April.
In late October, Germany’s Federal Aviation Office approved Bamberg-based BHS Aviation to carry passengers. The company began life as the helicopter service division of automotive supplier Brose and was spun off as a separate entity in 2008. In 2016, a partnership with DC Aviation Stuttgart saw BHS offering passenger flights for the first time.
There is no getting away from the myriad difficulties businesses and individuals have faced in 2020, but there are reasons for cautious optimism as the year draws to a close. As a modest celebration in these challenging times, The Weekly of Business Aviation has collected some of the most recent news stories that showcase the sector’s resilience.
