Airframe manufacturers have been investing heavily through the depressed business jet market to bring at least 20 new models to market over the next six years.

When nearly all the activity is in mid-field, not many touchdowns are being scored. This year’s review sees further polarization toward the center – if that is not self-contradictory – with manufacturers hesitating to launch new products in either the large or small sectors of the jet market.

Farewell, Cirrus Vision SF50 – this review’s friend of considerable long standing, which has finally slipped the surly bonds of the FAA with the award of its Type Certificate on October 28, 2016.

Most of the positive bizav activity is in this sector, with the only question mark hanging over China’s ambitions and intentions. Sole newcomer is from Nextant, albeit a refurbishment, rather than a revelation. But is there room, by 2023, for the rumored Gulfstream G400NG and Bombardier Challenger 700?

Airliner-derived business jets have seen a falling-off of demand, although the CCAC StarLiner has shown no recent signs of action, and its countryman, the ARJ21, is scarcely more healthy.

Different rules apply to what happens in Vegas – and in the supersonic bizjet market. Otherwise, who, in today’s economic climate, would commit to a fleet of vaguely defined aircraft, with no selected engine, and produced by a new company with no track record? NASA is providing support to this sector, but its QueSST program is for a research vehicle only; and too late for the 2023 in-service target, which most appear to be aiming for. Four aircraft are grouped together for convenience, but their operating models and top speeds – and, thus, engineering challenges – show considerable variation.

The business aviation industry in the U.S. has become a quiet leader in environmental protection and sustainability.

It is the great catch-all of the Federal Aviation Regulations and the succinct string of words—authorized by the administrator—that sets in motion what is probably the most intimate contact an operator will ever have with the FAA: the dreaded, so-called tabletop examination.