Newly Acquired Flight Options Buying Phenom 300s
Flight Options late Friday simultaneously announced its finalized acquisition by Miami-based private equity firm H.I.G. Capital and an order for nearly $1 billion worth of Embraer Phenom 300 light jets. In a deal announced in late October, H.I.G bought the fractional provider from Raytheon Co. for an undisclosed sum. According to an H.I.G. Capital spokesman, there are no management changes planned at Flight Options. The fractional provider’s Embraer firm order is for 100 Phenom 300s to be delivered over 10 years starting in late 2009, with options for 50 more of the light jets. Embraer said the deal is the largest Phenom executive jet order and is worth $746 million and could reach $1.12 billion if all options are exercised. An additional agreement for a maintenance and support program is valued at more than $200 million. A Flight Options spokeswoman told AIN that the Phenom 300s will eventually replace the Hawker 400XP in its fleet. Hawker 400XPs will be phased out of the Flight Options line-up by 2017, she said.

Jack Pelton, Cessna Chairman, President and CEO

Over the past week Cessna Aircraft has made headlines for buying bankrupt Columbia Aircraft and for a decision to manufacture its SkyCatcher light sport aircraft in China. As if that weren’t enough, the first Citation Mustang entered charter service this week, and Cessna is expected to soon announce the launch of its Large Cabin Concept business jet. AIN caught up with Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton to see what all these announcements mean for the Wichita-based manufacturer. Click here to listen.

Completions/Mx Startup To Open in Basel
AMAC Aerospace is preparing to open a new business aviation completions, refurbishment and maintenance facility in Switzerland next August. The Swiss start-up company, founded by former Jet Aviation CEO Heinz Kohli, will be based at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, near Jet Aviation’s completions center in Basel. In late October, AMAC signed a 35-year lease on a 452,000-sq-ft site at the airport. Early next year, it plans to start construction of the first of three hangars–one of which will be large enough for widebody airliners, while the other two will be suitable for Boeing Business Jets and Airbus ACJs. The largest hangar is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2009. According to Kohli, demand for aircraft completions and refurbishment is not being adequately met by existing providers. He left Jet Aviation suddenly in March over what the Swiss group said was a difference of opinion in strategic direction with its new owners, the private-equity group Permira. Kohli said he is not constrained by a non-compete clause in his severance terms.

JetBird Gets Enough Funding To Fly
JetBird, Europe’s planned new low-cost charter service, has raised €21 million ($31 million) in fresh capital through an oversubscribed private placement of equity to new and existing shareholders. The placement values the company at €101 million ($150 million) as it prepares to receive the first of 50 Embraer Phenom 100 very light jets in time to start operations in April 2009. A JetBird spokesman told AIN that the company, which initially intends to fly primarily between Europe’s main financial centers and holds options for another 50 Phenom 100s, is likely to announce its initial operating bases early next year. The company is promising ad hoc charter rates that will be as much as 50 percent less than “current branded operators.” The equity placement was arranged by Dublin, Ireland-based Claret Capital, which itself has committed to investing up to $60 million in JetBird through 2012. Meanwhile, the company announced the appointment of former Air Berlin CFO Carsten Dettmar as its head of finance starting on February 1.

Dassault Feeling the Dollar Pinch
According to Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Charles Edelstenne, the French aircraft manufacturer is planning on moving some of its activities out of Europe because of the weak dollar’s effect on its bottom line. The company’s production is based in Europe and its costs are calculated in euros, but it sells its airplanes in dollars. Since 2005, the U.S. dollar has depreciated 30 percent against the euro. Edelstenne is expected to meet with union representatives as early as tomorrow about his plans, but any changes aren’t expected to be announced publicly until next month. He told Paris daily Le Monde that assembly of Dassault Falcons and Rafale fighters, as well as other “high technology work,” would stay in France to “guarantee the quality of our planes.” Component manufacturing and some office work could be moved to “dollar or low-cost zones, as has been done by the automobile industry,” Edelstenne said, adding, “We must reduce our costs further to remain competitive.”

Frost & Sullivan Analysis Shows Healthy Bizjet Market
Frost & Sullivan’s “World Business Jets Market: Investment Analysis” released yesterday says that strong corporate profits and more orders from China, Russia, India and other fast-growing countries are driving continued demand for business jets. The report shows that the top 20 companies in the world business jet market earned $18.03 billion in revenues last year and it estimates this will reach $22.56 billion in 2009. “Previously, the increase in demand for business jets lagged one to two years behind corporate profit increases. At present, both the demand for business jets and the increase in corporate profits rise in tandem,” says Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Rani Cleetez. Notably, last year marked the first time regions outside North America generated the majority of business jet orders, a significant shift from the past where the U.S. and Canada generated about three-quarters of these sales. While the bizjet market is expected to remain healthy, Frost & Sullivan warned that “constant terrorist threats, limited infrastructure, shortage of cabin-completion capacity and the lack of quality employees pose formidable barriers to continued market expansion.”