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| Aerial Combat |
Next in Line
Michelle Seaton
08/01/06
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While travel options, short of actually owning your own private jet, are
becoming more flexible, none are as efficient. Unfortunately, those hoping to
get their hands on the latest Gulfstream will have to wait. “You can’t buy a jet
for love or money,” says Stephen Maloney of Aviation Management Systems in
Portsmouth, N.H. According to Maloney, manufacturers are backlogged 18 to 24
months, most with standing orders from fractional and charter companies.
The
advent of the very light jet, which was supposed to alleviate some of this
demand, has been delayed several times. Industry analysts, including Morristown,
N.J.-based aerospace manufacturer Honeywell, which produces an annual report on
the private aircraft industry, predict that this high demand for new jets will
continue for at least nine years.
The used-jet market is no better. In any
one month there might be between 1,500 and 2,000 aircraft for sale, Maloney
says, but two-thirds of those are more than 20 years old. The others—jets with
young engines and modern avionics—are only on the market for days. Aggressive
brokers have been forced to scour for leased planes that might come on the
market.
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