BJTonline: Business Jet Traveler

The congressional logjam blocking long-term FAA funding in the U.S. appears to be broken. Perhaps the FAA can finally move ahead with the much-heralded “next generation” air-traffic-control program known as NextGen.

This news makes me recall the mid-1990s, when a visionary FAA staffer named Bruce Holmes–this was back when “visionary” and “FAA” fit in the same sentence–proposed the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). It was meant to exponentially expand general aviation’s role within the U.S., opening up new options for pilots and passengers alike.

This year, Bombardier will launch one of the most ambitious flight-test programs in business aviation history. The Learjet 85 is scheduled to enter service next year and as many as five conforming aircraft could make their first flights in the coming months.

With U.S. stock indexes rising and the economy showing signs of life, business jet buyers seem to be returning to the market. Much like horses at the start of a race, they appear to be champing at the bit, waiting impatiently for the starting gate to open.

In these days of sluggish economic recovery and historically low interest rates, the biggest competition for those offering business jet financing is a four-letter word: cash. Those who still have the resources to buy aircraft often prefer to pay cash rather than finance, for the simple reason that they now have few other attractive places to put their money. The successful financier in today's market either offers staggeringly low rates or is able to structure deals where others fail–because of concerns about the credit, the asset or both.

It would not be a stretch to call this our innovation and imagination issue, but the more I think it over, the more I feel it is our tenacity issue.

These days, Buzz Aldrin zips around on a JetSuite Embraer Phenom 100 instead of a NASA spaceship. While he is helping JetSuite promote its regional light jet charter service, he also finds that VLJs offer a convenient way to travel to speaking engagements and for space research projects and vacations.

A languid, expansive quality pervades South Carolina Lowcountry marsh and it’s on display at the Golf Club at Briar’s Creek.

The 900-acre property sits in the middle of classic Intracoastal wetlands, 18 miles southwest of downtown Charleston. Massive live oaks drape the approach road, and even when you’re on the site you feel as if the land hasn’t changed in a hundred years. That’s because the Rees Jones-designed golf course exists in its own world, unencumbered by housing and with long views of nothing but fertile swamp grass, marshland and tidal estuary.

With the Arnage growing long in the tooth, Bentley unveiled its new three-ton flagship for an appreciative audience at Pebble Beach in August 2009. The Mulsanne retains a hallmark 6¾-liter V8 and the heft that make a grand Bentley, but this new car and its engine have finally shed the old Crewe carapace and undergone the transformation they needed to keep the winged B in the running against some formidable machinery, all V12-powered: the Rolls-Royce Ghost (fewer $, the most hp), Maybach 57 (more $, more hp) and Rolls-Royce Phantom (more $, fewer hp).

Boston-based Magellan Jets is offering two free hours of flight time with the purchase of a 25-hour jet card for the Hawker 800XP. The company, which does not own or operate aircraft, offers flights with 10 hours’ notice and does not bill for repositioning or assess fuel surcharges. Card membership includes standard catering and VIP ground transportation. The two-free-hours deal applies for a “limited time,” but no expiration date has been announced.

Flexjet has announced that its fractional-jet-share sales rose 92 percent in the 12-month period ended last September 30. During the same time, according to the Texas-based company, industry-wide share sales increased 16 percent and Flexjet’s market share jumped from 14 to 21 percent. The Bombardier-owned company also noted that it has already sold 33 shares in the Learjet 85 program it announced last August.