Jet-makers to woo China’s elite
Gulfstream and Bombardier will vie for orders at this week’s business aviation expo in Shanghai amid a slowing local economy
Gulfstream Aerospace and Bombardier are trotting out their longest-range business jets at an Asian airshow this week as they compete for orders from China’s growing elite, despite the country’s slowing economy.
The Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition opens on Tuesday in Shanghai under a cloud of economic uncertainty amid slowing growth, the USChina trade dispute, and Beijing’s crackdown on debt risks, brokers said.
“The biggest factor that impacted the business-jet market was pessimism and uncertainty, which stalled purchase intentions or forced those marginal owners to reconsider keeping their business jets,” said Jeffrey Lowe, MD of Hong Kongbased Asian Sky Group.
Still, Canada’s Bombardier sees its new $73m Global 7500 business jet making inroads in Greater China against market leader Gulfstream’s $65m-plus G650 family.
The plane and train maker said on Sunday it secured firm orders for four Global 7500 planes that were converted from options taken by Hong Kong-based business-jet management company HK Bellawings in 2018.
Greater China’s number of billionaires has been growing annually by 10% over the past three years, and the Global 7500’s long range will help to “seize market share and to withstand any economic uncertainty in the region”, said Bombardier Business Aircraft president David Coleal.
Both Gulfstream’s 650ER and the Global 7500 connect cities such as New York and Tokyo, an allure for elite Asian buyers who want to fly non-stop to western hubs.
“You don’t need a G7500 to fly three or four hours. But when you do need [longer] range you can use this jet,” said Thomas Flohr, chair of Vista Global and a Global 7500 customer.
Gulfstream, a division of General Dynamics, which brought its large-cabin G500 jet into service in 2018, delivered 68 new corporate aircraft between 2015 and 2018 in the region, more than double the 32 planes delivered by its Canadian competitor, said Asian Sky.
On Monday, Gulfstream announced the sale of a G650 to Chinese manufacturing and metal distribution company Jiachen Group.
Gulfstream president Mark Burns said the US company is seeing more optimism in the region and is “starting to see more activity as trade talks appear to be progressing and becoming more specific”.
The Asia Pacific region, nevertheless, accounted for only about 8% of the 3,478 business jets delivered globally over the last five years, compared with 2,122 jets delivered to North America, according to Cirium Fleets Analyzer data.
And the number of Chineseowned secondhand business jets sold outside the country rose to 20 in 2018, compared with an annual average of 10 from 2014 to 2017, according to the Cirium data.
Jackie Wu, president of JetSolution Aviation Group, said weaker business-jet sales have prompted her Hong Kong company to launch its first charter service using the super-midsized Embraer Legacy 600.
“We are an industry that very much reflects the health of an economy, or the world economy,” said Jetcraft Asia president David Dixon, adding he nevertheless sees greater demand from other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.