What Bizjet Manufacturers Have in Store for You

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A look at the newly designed models set to enter service during the next few years.

New-jet programs come in two flavors: clean-sheet-of-paper designs and updates of existing models. This article deals strictly with the former. The category is well populated, but mostly with midsize and super-midsize jets—a reflection of continuing softness in the entry-level sector, but also of growing strength in the large-jet and bizliner field. Bombardier, Cessna and Embraer all have models under development in what can be called the greater middle market, the most attractive category for fractional programs and other fleet customers. The large-jet business is also seeing renewed action: projects are underway at Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream. 

The new midsize aircraft all evidence a focus on passenger comfort, with improved seating, larger windows and flat-floor cabins. In addition, all ­categories are moving toward touchscreen avionics in the cockpit and more fuel-efficient engines, which translate into better range and time-to-climb numbers. Winglet design is being revised with more swooping shapes.

Manufacturers also are changing the way they sell aircraft, with greater focus on simplified maintenance and life-cycle costs and hourly maintenance programs that are wrapped into the purchase price. This should increase reliability across the board and inch dispatch rates up to near 100 percent. Development and certification schedules on select programs continue to fall behind, the victims of financial challenges at some companies; technical ­difficulties integrating new technologies into airframe, avionics and flight controls; and certification slowdowns attributable to budgetary and other constraints at both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

All that said, nearly all aircraft now under development have one thing in common: a near-perfect balance of versatility, performance, comfort and costs. The big differentiator will be customer service and support.

LIGHT SINGLE ENGINE

Cirrus Vision SF50: Cirrus anticipates late 2015 certification for its long-delayed SF50 single-engine jet. It flew the first conforming prototype in March of 2014 and added two more to the flight-test program last November and December. The conforming test aircraft differ just a little from the non-conformal, proof-of-concept prototype the company has flown since 2008: they feature a slightly longer nose and higher fuselage loft than the model currently flying. The five-plus-two seating layout is retained but Cirrus has added options such as weather radar, a “relief station” and upgraded leathers. 

The company already is beginning to gear up for production by adding factory robotics and a fuselage lay-up mold for the all-composite aircraft. The first production Vision is planned to take flight in the second half of this year. Cirrus has received deposits for more than 500 of the $1.96 million jets, which feature the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System for emergency recovery of the entire aircraft. 

Flaris LAR 01: Poland-based aviation newcomer Flaris unveiled its five-seat, single-engine light jet at the Paris Air Show in 2013. The eye-catching model features rear-hinged main cabin doors reminiscent of 1960s Lincoln Continental cars, detachable wings and stabilizers, a fuselage fuel tank, electric deicing and an in-the-nose whole-aircraft ballistic parachute for emergency recovery. 

LIGHT TWIN ENGINE

HondaJet: Honda Aircraft expects certification of its unique light twin in the first quarter of this year. Honda claims the jet has 15 to 20 percent greater fuel efficiency and higher speed than competing models. The five- to six-passenger model will be certified for single-pilot operation. The HondaJet mates a carbon-fiber composite fuselage to metal wings, and the positioning of the engines on over-the-wing pylons means larger cabin volume and generous passenger legroom as well as an enclosed and externally serviced lavatory. Top cruise speed is 778 km (420 knots) and range with four occupants is 2,185 km (1,180 nautical miles).

More than 1,000 employees are working at Honda’s massive 83-acre Greensboro, North Carolina campus, which has 55,742 square meters (600,000 square feet) under roof and should be able to turn out 70 to 100 aircraft per year when production is fully ramped up. The first two years of production are already sold out.

LIGHT MIDSIZE

Cessna Citation Latitude: Announced in 2011, the light midsize Citation Latitude first flew last February and is slated to enter service in the second quarter of this year. The Latitude is the first Citation with a flat floor (no dropped aisle), and the cabin is 8.38 m (27.5 feet) long, 1.83 m (6 feet) tall and about 1.98 m (6.5 feet) wide. The standard seating arrangement accommodates passengers with a forward, dual-seat, side-facing divan, a club-four grouping of single seats with extra legroom and two more single seats aft of that. 

The Latitude features Garmin G5000 avionics and Cessna’s wireless fiber-optic Clairity cabin-management system. The G5000 has three 14-inch LCD primary and multifunction displays and four touchscreen control panels. It offers all the latest safety equipment, including synthetic vision, electronic charts and Garmin’s Safe Taxi airport charts. The Clairity system allows completely wireless control of cabin functions, and it is compatible with personal devices. During the flight-test program, Cessna was able to increase the Latitude’s range, from 4,630 to 5,000 km (2,500 to 2,700 nautical miles), and lower landing distance from 1,228 to 1,118 m (4,030 to 3,668 feet).

Embraer’s Legacy 450: The Legacy 450 medium light twinjet made its first flight last December; certification is expected late next year. The shorter sibling of the Legacy 500 midsize, the 450 shares many of its systems and characteristics, including engines, avionics, fuselage diameter and fly-by-wire flight controls. The aircraft pressurization system keeps cabin altitude at 1,829 m (6,000 feet) at the 450’s maximum cruising altitude of 13,716 m (45,000 feet). 

More Info

Embraer Executive Jets Legacy 450

Specifications

Type: Jet

Cabin Size: 705 cu ft

Range: 2,498 nm

Price (New): $17M

More Info

The 19.2-cubic-meter (678-cubic-foot) cabin offers seating for seven to nine passengers. Cabin management and in-flight entertainment are courtesy of Honeywell’s HD Ovation Select system, which allows for control of entertainment, communications, lights, temperature, window shades and more via drink-rail-mounted units, wireless handheld devices or a galley touchscreen. The system can interface with high-speed satellite communications and a variety of consumer electronics.

The cockpit offers Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics. The four large active-matrix LCDs in the panel connect the pilots with synthetic and enhanced vision including an optional head-up display; electronic charts, maps, graphical weather depiction from an intuitive MultiScan weather radar system that “sees” up to 515 km (320 statute miles) out; and an airport surface-management system that minimizes the chances of ground mishaps. 

Pilatus PC-24: Pilatus’s PC-24 combines light-jet operating economics with super-midsize-jet capabilities and comfort and is aimed at more conventional offerings from Cessna and Embraer. Like the company’s iconic PC-12 single-engine turboprop, the PC-24 retains an aft cargo door and the capability to operate from short, unpaved and unimproved fields. The new Williams engines have unique features, including automatic thrust reverse, passive thrust vectoring nozzles, quiet power mode in place of an auxiliary power unit to provide ground power, integral pre-cooler to condition bleed air and reduce drag losses and an anti-ice and noise-suppressing engine inlet.

Up front, the customized avionics suite dubbed Pace—Pilatus Advanced Cockpit Environment—is based on the Honeywell Primus Apex and Epic systems and features all the latest advances. The voluminous passenger cabin provides more overall space than either the Cessna Citation XLS+ or the Embraer Phenom 300 and has a flat floor, which means less headroom in the aisle. The aircraft will come with seven layout alternatives that include executive, commuter, combi and quick-change configurations as well as options for an externally serviced lavatory, either forward or aft, and galleys. Pilatus expects certification of the PC-24 in 2017.

MIDSIZE

Bombardier Challenger 650: Bombardier unveiled the Challenger 650 last October. The Montreal-headquartered airframer is refreshing its classic, 10-passenger 600-series Challenger with a redesigned cockpit and cabin and improved GE CF34-3B MTO turbofans that will provide more takeoff thrust to facilitate use of shorter runways, greater payloads and more range from challenging airports during high/hot operations. Planned maximum range of the new model is 7,408 km (4,000 nautical miles) with six passengers.

Deliveries of the $33.35 million Challenger 650 are targeted for this year’s second quarter. Fractional-ownership provider NetJets is the launch customer with a firm order for 25 (and options on 50 more) to be completed to the Signature Series standard specified by NetJets.

Cessna Citation Longitude: The biggest Citation yet is a stretched and longer-legged variant of the Citation Latitude. Scheduled to enter service in 2017, it shares the Latitude’s avionics, cabin-management system, seats, windows and fuselage cross-section but is 2.7 m (9 feet) longer and relies on Snecma’s new Silvercrest engines for power. Cessna has selected the Garmin G5000 for the Longitude, employing the same three-screen “touch control” avionics architecture that the company is using on the Latitude. The cabin-management system will build on Cessna’s Clairity equipment. 

The aircraft seats eight passengers in a cabin featuring a large forward galley and an aft lavatory with vacuum-flushing toilet. The forward cabin may include a crew lavatory as well as a third crew/flight-attendant seat. Like the Latitude’s interior cross-section, the Longitude’s is 183 cm (72 inches) tall and 196 cm (77 inches) wide. The forward club-four configuration is capacious and the single executive seats are full-berthing. There is room for another club-four in the aft cabin or a three-place divan, certified for takeoff and landing, opposite an entertainment center with a large flat-screen monitor.

The Longitude has limited, computerized fly-by-wire capabilities for controlling the rudder, spoilers and brakes (“brake-by-wire”). Its 30-degree swept wing incorporates leading-edge slats, winglets, centrifugal ailerons and five speed-brake/spoiler panels per side. All this combines to give the aircraft good short-field capabilities under most load conditions.

LARGE

Dassault Falcon 5X: Dassault launched its long-anticipated large twinjet in 2013 and expects it to enter service in 2017. The 5X features an expanded fuselage diameter of nearly 2.7 m (8.9 feet)—the widest ever for a Falcon—plus fly-by-wire controls, new Snecma Silvercrest engines and advanced flight-control surfaces on the wings. It has a range of 9,630 km (5,200 nautical miles) with eight passengers. Dassault claims that it is 50 percent more fuel efficient than current, comparable aircraft on a 2,778 km (1,500-nautical-mile) mission.

Dassault Falcon 8X: Dassault Aviation unveiled its Falcon 8X trijet last May, a significant step up from the popular 7X. A longer cabin offers more layout possibilities, including the option to install a large aft lavatory with a shower and a crew rest area in the front section and still have a comfortable three-lounge cabin in between. The 8X also offers greater range—11,945 km (6,450 nautical miles). From Los Angeles, Beijing is within reach. From New York, the 8X can travel nonstop to Dubai. The first flight is planned for early this year, with deliveries set to begin in the second half of 2016. The model will reportedly sell for about 10 percent more than the 7X, which would put the price in the neighborhood of $58 million. Direct operating costs are estimated at $4,075 per hour.

Gulfstream G500/G600: Gulfstream Aerospace unveiled its G500 and G600 last October. The jets are expected to enter service in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Both models have a wider cabin cross-section than the G450 and G550, but not quite as wide as that of the G650. The new jets—nestled between the G450, G550 and G650—will  have more composite content than existing Gulfstreams.

At a normal cruise speed of Mach 0.90, the G500 and G600 will fly 7,038 and 8,890 km (3,800 and 4,800 nautical miles), respectively; at Mach 0.85, they will have a range of 9,260 and 11,482 km (5,000 and 6,200 nautical miles), respectively.

Each of the new large-cabin jets will be powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW800 turbofans—the 6,869-kg- (15,144-pound)-thrust PW814GA for the G500 and the 7,112-kg- (15,680-pound)-thrust PW815GA for the G600. The aircraft feature fly-by-wire flight control and will be the first Gulfstreams equipped with active sidestick controls. The G500/G600 flight deck, branded as Gulfstream Symmetry, is based on Honeywell’s Primus Epic suite.

The first flight-test aircraft are under construction, and the G500 is slated to fly this year; certification is set for 2017 and service entry for 2018. The G600 will fly 12 to 18 months after the G500 and enter service in 2019. Pricing for the first 50 serial numbers has been set at $43.5 million for the G500 and $54.5 million for the G600.  

What Bizjet Manufacturers Have in Store for You (566K)