gutshotdraw
ZERT Wilson CQB User
- Joined
- May 6, 2005
- Posts
- 3,226
Some random musings from NBAA 2013 in no particular order.
Seems as if the OEM's are rolling out the red carpet again with LOT's of staff and the full court press on potential buyers. Displays are opulent, professional, and well attended even if the SWAG seems to be harder to come by than in years past.
The Convention Center floor was busy and both Halls were sold out.
Mandarin was practically the second language of the show. I saw LOTS of Asian attendees and several China-based companies with exhibitor booths including Deer Jet (among others). Chinese interests have bought up numerous US aviation companies of late and it is clear they will be a major aviation player moving forward.
The Garmin display was very busy and their varied and scaled avionics offerings were VERY impressive. Honeywell, not so much.
The Citation Latitude was a major surprise. Cabin is WAY bigger than I expected and west coast to Hawaii range. Potentially great airplane if they hit the numbers.
Lots of buzz at Falcon Jet over the announcement of the 5X and it will be a tremendous airplane if they hit the performance targets, which I expect they will.
Eclipse delivered their first 550 but I still have my doubts that they can compete with the Phenom 100 or the Mustang or CJ3 even with the new infusion of capital. The airplane is small. I mean REALLY small.
Kenny Dichter is spending pantloads of cash to promote Wheels Up including t-shirts and hats to the dozens of AIN kids hawking copies of ShowNews, and major SWAG at their booths.
EJM had a small booth as did NJASAP, the NetJets pilot union. NJA elected to ignore the main convention floor but had a large sales force presence at the static display at HND.
Speaking of the static displays, Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Embraer had their full production lines available although Gulfstream had their clipboard army guarding the velvet ropes to keep the riff raff out. Forget about seeing the 650 without an invitation and a credit check.
Maybe it's the Canadian thing but Bombardier is MUCH friendlier and open about showing off their airplanes. I happen to think they are quickly closing the gap with Gulfstream on customer service, AOG support, and product reliability. The day is rapidly approaching when Gulfstream will pay for their arrogance toward large portions of the marketplace and I say that as a DIEHARD Gulfstream driver who initially poo-poo'd the Global purchase at Netjets. Yea, it flies like a dump truck (a quote from a friend now flying it) but the owners seem to like it and reliability and AOG support have been better than expected.
Everything you have heard about the Challenger 300/350 is true. And then some. Great numbers, sexy ramp appeal, super comfortable cockpit, and a clean, stylish cabin. A potential home-run airplane.
Everything you have heard about the Phenom 300 cockpit is true. And then some. TINY cockpit. Seat all the way back and down and rudder pedals full forward and I STILL couldn't come close to full control deflection with the rams horn yoke. Kind of tough to land in a crosswind when the control yoke hits your knees.
Boeing had a BBJ on-site with the new Aviation Partners Scimitar Winglet. Really funky looking but super efficient according to flight tests.
For the NetJets folks in the audience, I lost count of the sales reps with NetJets nametags. We didn't buy a booth at the Convention Center but the sales action is at the static display and they were out in force. Sales are WAY ahead of expectations especially for the Global and the Challenger 350. Phenom sales are also ahead of projections. Vista Jet is seen as a worthy challenger in the market backed by a billionaire European playboy and bears watching. Wheels Up is seen as marketing wizardry by a talented self-promoter but the business model will have issues creating the cash flow necessary to be successful. $4000 an hour for a King Air? Really?
Nostalgia was popular with Bombardier displaying a Lear 23 to celebrate 50 years of Learjets. The hot blonde in 60's period costume was not even half as old as the airplane she was standing next to. Beechcraft had a classic Staggerwing in front of their display although I didn't see a hot blonde next to it.
Speaking of which, airplanes aren't the only eye-candy at NBAA. The static display is a non-stop parade of hot demo flight attendants, ridiculously beautiful convention models, attractive marketing and sales reps, and the bought-and-paid-for chippies-du-jour of the freakishly rich sales prospects browsing the dozens of new and used airplanes on the showroom floor.
As usual for October in Vegas, the weather was Chamber of Commerce perfect.
This year's convention showed me that despite all the economic and regulatory headwinds, business aviation is on the road to a pretty solid recovery.
Seems as if the OEM's are rolling out the red carpet again with LOT's of staff and the full court press on potential buyers. Displays are opulent, professional, and well attended even if the SWAG seems to be harder to come by than in years past.
The Convention Center floor was busy and both Halls were sold out.
Mandarin was practically the second language of the show. I saw LOTS of Asian attendees and several China-based companies with exhibitor booths including Deer Jet (among others). Chinese interests have bought up numerous US aviation companies of late and it is clear they will be a major aviation player moving forward.
The Garmin display was very busy and their varied and scaled avionics offerings were VERY impressive. Honeywell, not so much.
The Citation Latitude was a major surprise. Cabin is WAY bigger than I expected and west coast to Hawaii range. Potentially great airplane if they hit the numbers.
Lots of buzz at Falcon Jet over the announcement of the 5X and it will be a tremendous airplane if they hit the performance targets, which I expect they will.
Eclipse delivered their first 550 but I still have my doubts that they can compete with the Phenom 100 or the Mustang or CJ3 even with the new infusion of capital. The airplane is small. I mean REALLY small.
Kenny Dichter is spending pantloads of cash to promote Wheels Up including t-shirts and hats to the dozens of AIN kids hawking copies of ShowNews, and major SWAG at their booths.
EJM had a small booth as did NJASAP, the NetJets pilot union. NJA elected to ignore the main convention floor but had a large sales force presence at the static display at HND.
Speaking of the static displays, Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Embraer had their full production lines available although Gulfstream had their clipboard army guarding the velvet ropes to keep the riff raff out. Forget about seeing the 650 without an invitation and a credit check.
Maybe it's the Canadian thing but Bombardier is MUCH friendlier and open about showing off their airplanes. I happen to think they are quickly closing the gap with Gulfstream on customer service, AOG support, and product reliability. The day is rapidly approaching when Gulfstream will pay for their arrogance toward large portions of the marketplace and I say that as a DIEHARD Gulfstream driver who initially poo-poo'd the Global purchase at Netjets. Yea, it flies like a dump truck (a quote from a friend now flying it) but the owners seem to like it and reliability and AOG support have been better than expected.
Everything you have heard about the Challenger 300/350 is true. And then some. Great numbers, sexy ramp appeal, super comfortable cockpit, and a clean, stylish cabin. A potential home-run airplane.
Everything you have heard about the Phenom 300 cockpit is true. And then some. TINY cockpit. Seat all the way back and down and rudder pedals full forward and I STILL couldn't come close to full control deflection with the rams horn yoke. Kind of tough to land in a crosswind when the control yoke hits your knees.
Boeing had a BBJ on-site with the new Aviation Partners Scimitar Winglet. Really funky looking but super efficient according to flight tests.
For the NetJets folks in the audience, I lost count of the sales reps with NetJets nametags. We didn't buy a booth at the Convention Center but the sales action is at the static display and they were out in force. Sales are WAY ahead of expectations especially for the Global and the Challenger 350. Phenom sales are also ahead of projections. Vista Jet is seen as a worthy challenger in the market backed by a billionaire European playboy and bears watching. Wheels Up is seen as marketing wizardry by a talented self-promoter but the business model will have issues creating the cash flow necessary to be successful. $4000 an hour for a King Air? Really?
Nostalgia was popular with Bombardier displaying a Lear 23 to celebrate 50 years of Learjets. The hot blonde in 60's period costume was not even half as old as the airplane she was standing next to. Beechcraft had a classic Staggerwing in front of their display although I didn't see a hot blonde next to it.
Speaking of which, airplanes aren't the only eye-candy at NBAA. The static display is a non-stop parade of hot demo flight attendants, ridiculously beautiful convention models, attractive marketing and sales reps, and the bought-and-paid-for chippies-du-jour of the freakishly rich sales prospects browsing the dozens of new and used airplanes on the showroom floor.
As usual for October in Vegas, the weather was Chamber of Commerce perfect.
This year's convention showed me that despite all the economic and regulatory headwinds, business aviation is on the road to a pretty solid recovery.