Airbus Expands Corporate Jetliner Business (Oct. 13)
The Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) family of aircraft continues to broaden its international market presence in corporate shuttle, VIP, heads-of-state and premium air transport operations – with a new Prestige version now available featuring a customized high-end cabin for 19 passengers.
In a briefing for reporters at this week’s National Business Aviation Association annual convention in Orlando, Florida, Airbus ACJ Vice President Richard Gaona said more than 30 commitments have booked to date for A320 Family corporate and VIP aircraft – including nine that have been allocated in the past 12 months.
The nine allocations booked since last October are: three A319 Executives for leasing companies CIT Aerospace and Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (one aircraft will be operated by Blue Moon Aviation of the U.S., while the other two are for Swiss-based PrivatAir), three A319 Long Range versions (two for PrivatAir via CIT Aerospace and one for an undisclosed customer), and two Airbus Corporate Jetliners in VIP applications (one for the Royal Thai Air Force and two outfitted with the Prestige cabin for undisclosed clients).
The Prestige aircraft’s forward and center cabin sections are configured with dining and work areas – complete with tables, a living room and bar. The aft cabin has a private office area, followed by an enclosed bedroom.
“Designed by our teams at Airbus, the Prestige cabin includes a complete range of amenities and equipment, including 64-kbit communications links, large-screen video displays and external video cameras for security and flight progress monitoring, along with additional soundproofing in the aft cabin to reduce internal noise levels even further,” Gaona said.
To date, a total of 17 ACJ Family aircraft in all configurations have been delivered, with one more delivery planned before the end of 2003. Switzerland’s PrivatAir has the largest ACJ Family fleet, with four aircraft. PrivatAir’s operations include transatlantic passenger service on behalf of Lufthansa, using two A319 Long Range aircraft configured with a 48-seat all-business class cabin. These A319 Long Range make six transatlantic roundtrips each per week from Dusseldorf, Germany to Newark, New Jersey (serving the New York market) and Chicago. Daily aircraft utilization typically is more than 13 hours per day – the highest of any A320 Family operator.
Other ACJ Family aircraft operators include Germany’s DaimlerChrysler (flying more than 800 transatlantic trips since January 2000 using its ACJ as a 44-seat corporate shuttle) Twinjet Aircraft of the U.K. (nearing four years of ACJ charter service, logging over 1,700 flight hours carrying company executives, heads-of-state and music stars) and Aero Services Executive of France (approaching its third year of ACJ charters to the Middle East, North America, Latin America and other destinations). The Royal Thai Air Force is the latest announced government customer for the ACJ, joining the Italian, French, UAE and Venezuelan Air Forces.
The newest operator is Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Blue Moon Aviation, which is to receive an A319 Executive aircraft this month. Blue Moon’s aircraft is the first privately-operated Airbus jet for charter flights in the American market, and its service will include transporting the Minnesota Timberwolves professional basketball team on its schedule of away games.
Enhanced training courses for ACJ family customers – including the first available in North America – will be offered through Airbus and CAE. The enhanced training recognizes the special needs of business jet and charter companies, which often have smaller management/flight teams and operate to smaller and more diverse airports than airlines.
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Airbus Corporate Jetliner Builds on its Worldwide Market Success
