Private Aircraft Companies

Origin, history and details of the aircraft manufacturers of the most popular private jet charter aircraft.

Important aircraft manufacturers | Business Jet Traveler

Less than a Dozen aircraft builders make up the overwhelming bulk of today's corporate aircraft and turbo-props. These are the main facts about each of these vendors, as well as information about their parents, their 2008 corporate aircraft listings and the aircraft types they offered. Airbus followed Boeing into the prefabricated Airbus A319 in 1997 when it introduced the Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ), a then $35 million Executive Edition of its Airbus A319.

During 2006, Airbus set up a bridgehead in Miami to promote the Airbus Aircraft more aggressive in the US and added a second US-authorised execution centre to complete the aircraft's individual interior. Airbus' A319 Airbus A319 is one of four Airbus aircraft (A318, A319, Airbus20 and A321) in the Airbus family of A320s.

More than 2,600 aircraft of the Airbus A320 familiy fly around the world, mainly for airline customers. BBJ took component from two 737 model airframes, the 737-700 aircraft cell and the 737-800 aircraft wings, chassis and middle section of the body. Boeing in 2005 heralded the even bigger BBJ3 powered by the next-generation 737-900ER.

Starting as a snowshoe maker in 1942,ombardier has evolved into one of the world's leading producers of railway vehicles, corporate aircraft and local aircraft. Throughout the years, the airline has built its aircraft operations primarily through acquisition and has purchased aircraft makes such as Canadair, DeHavilland, Learjet and Shorts. The acquisition of Canadair and Learjet enabled Bombardier to enter the commercial aircraft segment.

Canadianair had purchased the production copyrights for an inventive Learjet based on William Lear. When Canadair was under pressure to bring the Challenger to commercial markets, Bombardier took over the state-owned enterprise in 1986. She used the 600 for the founding of her beloved local aircraft and developed the aircraft further over the years.

In addition, there were the bigger and longer-term Global line up. At the end of the 60s, Cessna disbursed 35 million dollars - half the value of the firm - and developed a twinset Citation. In the 1970' and 1980' the Citation devastated most of the markets for BTVs. Today the only "old" dual turbo prop still in use is the dignified Beech King Air.

Cessna built one-third of the 16,000 or so global commercial aircraft that came onto the scene almost a decade later. Cessna presented the 5,000th award two years ago. In the past year, the Zumtobel Group supplied 466 aircraft. Cessna' s eight model aircraft are accurately placed along clearly delineated service and pricing points.

As a result of this policy, the firm has been able to resell more bicycles than any of its rivals. Currently, Cessna provides the quickest 520+ knots and Mach . Perhaps not since Alfred P. Sloan ordered General Motors from 1923 to 1946, has a firm that is so skilfully at building brands, establishing markets, and driving customer satisfaction through aggressively priced product.

Diessault Industries, Dassault Industries, Dassault Defence, and a small group of private shareholders own Dassault Aviation, of which Dassault Falcon Jet is its US based sales and service affiliate. The company's factory in Southwest France manufactures its aircraft. Airplanes intended for US purchasers are equipped in Dassault's Little Rock, Ark, with interior electronics, interior and color.

The Dassault Falcon 20 Twin Jet first arrived in the USA in 1963 and quickly evolved into a robust and luxurious aircraft. Known already for its Mirage aircraft, the Falcon's former army legacy was transformed into an aircraft that was in many ways superstructured. The Falcon 50 started its evolution in 1973 using the Falcon 20 hull.

It was the first civil aircraft to be equipped with a high-efficiency hypercritical airfoil. This, together with new thrusters, gave the Falcon 50 a real, unfueled trans-atlantic reach. The 50 line ended in 2008, but the tri-jet approach is still a prerequisite for the bigger Falcon 900, first shipped in 1986, and the new long-range 7X.

With the same body cross-section as these aircraft, the Falcon 2000 range, the smaller, supermid-dimensional twin-engine Falcon 2000 range, was put into operation in 1995. Embraer, the Brasilian company, has been manufacturing aircraft for more than 30 years, but made its first success on the US aircraft scene in the seventies with its familiy of turboprop commuters.

During 1994, the Brasilian authorities divested the firm to private purchasers who started to develop a local jets, the ERJ 135/145. By 2004, the new rajs contributed to the company's 3.4 billion dollars turnover and 380 million dollars profit. Today Embraer is the 4th biggest producer of airliners worldwide.

Over a thousand 135/145s were produced, and in 1999 the cell formed the basis for the company's first commercial aircraft, the Legacy 600. It was the first step in a blueprint to create a full line of corporate aircraft that could one day make up as much as 20 per cent of a company's revenue.

During 2005, the firm heralded the development of two entry-level aircraft, the Phenom 100 and 300. Ambraer receives a total order backlog of 850 Phenoms and builds an aircraft erection and distribution centre in Melbourne, Fla. During 2006, the firm heralded the Lineage 1000, a large commercial aircraft built on the 190 model.

Embraer in 2008 announces that the continued evolution of two new mid-size aircraft, the Legacy 450 and Legacy 500, will continue. Since 1958 Gulfstream has been manufacturing corporate aircraft. 1966 saw the introduction of the GII, the first purely commercial aircraft with a large cab. Grumman was the same firm that created carrier-based marine aircraft, the F-14 "Tomcat" and the GI' s initial turbo-prop.

Having passed through three civil ownership companies, the business is now held by another defence firm, General Dynamics. Throughout the years, successive aircraft generations with different engine, electronics, wing and length configurations have been designed, but they all still use the GII-section. Gulfstream purchased Galaxy Aerospace in 2001, expanding its line to include two smaller aircraft, which it rebranded as either Galaxy 100 or G200.

These aircraft are produced by Israel Aircraft Industries, but finished at Gulfstream's U.S. facility. An upgraded variant of the original model named Golden 100, the G150, was launched in 2005. The main differences between these aircraft are the length of the cabins, their cruising ranges and their prices. In the past year, Gulfstream announces that it is designing two new aircraft: the G250, which will be an upgraded and enhanced G200, and the G650.

G650 is engineered for a Mach 0.925 operational max airspeed, which will make it the worlds quickest civilian aircraft. Walter Beech presented the Model 18 in 1937, probably the first twin-engine corporate aircraft in the cabine category. Beech launches the Queen Air in 1958, a two-engined aircraft very similar to today's King Air two-jet turbo prop.

In 1964 Beech supplied the first King Air. This was an immediate success; Beech quickly achieved an astonishing 77 per cent penetration of the global commercial brand segment for twins. A number of King Airs are still in operation today. Walther Beech passed away in 1950 and his surviving wife, Olive Ann, managed the business until it was sold to Raytheon in 1980.

In 2007 Raytheon divested the business to a firm consisting of several securities companies. Hawker Beechcraft was named after the airline to represent its two aircraft makes. Today, the airline produces both King Airs and Jet aircraft, among them the Premier 1A and Hawker family. A number of these aircraft were purchased by other companies, among them Mitsubishi and British Aerospace, before the latter was divested to Raytheon.

Mr. Beechcraft was a pioneer in the use of composite materials in corporate aircraft for several Hawker Beechcraft-developed aircraft, such as the obsolete Star Warship Turbo Prop and the latest Premier and Hawker 4000 jet. Piaggio Avanti is the only remaining member of a troupe of rapid pushers turbo-props designed in reaction to the 1970' power meltdown.

Piaggio, the Italy based aircraft manufacturer, joined forces with Learjet (then in the possession of the Gates Rubber Company) to develop a P.180 Avanti aircraft model. The Piaggio took over the aeroplane alone and the aircraft was produced in small series because the firm had various difficulties, among them insolvency in 1994.

Avanti was first shipped to a customer in 1990. The aircraft was equipped with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 system in 2005, with slightly more powerfull Pratt & Whitney turbo power and the Avanti II. The 4 million, 398 knot turbo prop has a velocity similar to that of a lightweight aircraft, the internal measurements almost match those of a mid-size Hawker aircraft and the engine power is better than a King Air 350 turbo prop, the Avanti provides the engine power promise unmatched on the aftermarket.

Pilotate Business Aircraft, Ltd. Designed to take you from rugged and brief runways - up to 2,300 ft - to 30,000 ft, the single-engine turbo -prop can cross at 269 kn and cover nearly 1,400 sea-mile with 45 minute spare flight IRs.