Michelle Seaton
08/01/06
While travel options, short of actually owning your own private jet, are becoming more flexible, none are as efficient. Unfortunately, those hoping to get their hands on the latest Gulfstream will have to wait. “You can’t buy a jet for love or money,” says Stephen Maloney of Aviation Management Systems in Portsmouth, N.H. According to Maloney, manufacturers are backlogged 18 to 24 months, most with standing orders from fractional and charter companies.
The advent of the very light jet, which was supposed to alleviate some of this demand, has been delayed several times. Industry analysts, including Morristown, N.J.-based aerospace manufacturer Honeywell, which produces an annual report on the private aircraft industry, predict that this high demand for new jets will continue for at least nine years.
The used-jet market is no better. In any one month there might be between 1,500 and 2,000 aircraft for sale, Maloney says, but two-thirds of those are more than 20 years old. The others—jets with young engines and modern avionics—are only on the market for days. Aggressive brokers have been forced to scour for leased planes that might come on the market.
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