|
|
 |
|
| Sky Leviathans |
Soaring Expenses
Michelle Seaton
11/01/2005
|
The airliners best suited for conversion have seen very little commercial
service. They have had just a few owners who took meticulous care of them and
can prove it with their record-keeping. For obvious reasons, these aircraft are
almost impossible to find.
Greg Raiff, president of Private Jet Services in
Hampton, N.H., thinks he has found such a plane for one of his clients, a hedge
fund manager who spends $1 million annually in chartering fees but would
rather own a jet comfortable enough to fly him home to his family in Europe
several times a year. Raiff has found a 12-year-old 737 that has seen limited
commercial service. The asking price is $5 million to $6 million, according to
Raiff, who adds that he can help his client recondition the interior for another
$5 million.
The key to saving money, Raiff says, is to recycle other interior
designs. “I can show you existing airplanes and cobble together an interior that
I will promise you will like for $5 million.” The pieces of the interior,
including the couches, bathroom fixtures and galleys will have been pulled from
other aircraft plans that have already passed FAA inspection.
An average
conversion for a VIP airliner will cost between $10 million and $25 million,
and at least half of that cost is expended on engineering: Components must be
designed and created with the weight and balance of the aircraft in mind, as
well as safety. The seats cannot block exits. Fixtures cannot block access
panels for maintenance or emergency equipment. All materials must be flame
retardant and able to resist 9 gs of force without falling apart. Designers and
engineers typically work together to create these designs. They are paid—usually
very handsomely and by the hour—to keep both aesthetics and FAA regulations in
mind.
“You can take that $10 million in engineering costs down to $500,000 if
you are smart about how you do it,” says Raiff, who admits that a bargain
interior will not include perks, such as soft touchpanels that instantly darken
windows, or entertainment screens that fold away into cabinets.
“You had
better know what you’re doing if you’re going down that road,” notes Rick
Roseman, founder and director of RWR Designs in Plano, Texas, who specializes in
designing VIP airline interiors. Roseman is currently designing interiors for a
Boeing 767 and an MD-80. “Every year, you hear about these people buying an old
airliner for just nothing, a million or less, and then trying to make an
interior on a skinny budget like that. It is possible, but you have to know all
the tricks, and you have to find a conversion center with tight margins. So many
times owners get up to the starting gate and find out they can’t really do it
for that price,” he says. Back to Main Article: Sky
Leviathans
|
|
|
|
|
