Boeing Business Jets Off To Strong Start in 2017

After sales lagged for most of 2016, Boeing Business Jets has gotten off to a strong start this year, logging orders for at least six BBJ variants in the past several months.

The division sold seven Boeing Business Jets from late April 2016 through early April 2017, new CEO Greg Laxton reported last month. However, all but one have come since early December, and most of those in 2017. “We’ve had a good beginning to the year,” said Charles Colburn, marketing director for Boeing Business Jets.

This success is expected to continue with “very active” discussions ongoing in Europe, as well as other regions, including China, Colburn said. Europe has accounted for 18 percent of BBJs sold and 17 percent of the traditional 737-based BBJ/BBJ Max.

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The division’s business in Europe received a boost under the announced agreement with the government of Poland for two BBJ 2s and a 737-800 that will be operated as a head-of-state aircraft for the president and top government officials. Deliveries are scheduled to begin later this year and run through 2020.

"We have a great airplane, which will be very well equipped. This airplane can run the country from the air," said Polish deputy defense minister Bartosz Kownacki of the deal announced in March.

Boeing Business Jets also has sold the first of the new Max 7 BBJ variant that was announced last fall.

The Max 7 “rounds out the Max family,” Laxton said. The 7,000-nautical-mile bizliner will provide a 70-square-foot-larger cabin than the BBJ1 and more luggage room in the lower lobe. The aircraft is slated for certification in 2021.

The first of the BBJ Max family, the Max 8, will enter the region in 2018. Two are slated for delivery that year.

Boeing is nearing the end of traditional 737-based BBJ sales, Colburn said, noting that the Boeing Business Jet division will soon transition to all-Max sales. Boeing allocates six 737 production slots a year to Boeing Business Jets, although he said the bizliner division can ask for more. With that allocation in production capacity, the company has sold into 2019, when the Boeing 737 line is expected to transition over to a primarily Max line.

This leaves only the final few slots for the traditional 737-based BBJs.

Laxton, meanwhile, made his first appearance last month during China's ABACE show as vice president of Boeing Business Jets and government and military sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Laxton joined Boeing Business Jets after serving as sales director in the Northeast Asia region, responsible for the sales of commercial airplanes and related services to Air China, Air China Cargo, Shandong Airlines, and Shenzhen Airlines. He joined Boeing in 2004 as the capture team lead for the F-15K follow-on programs in Korea and Singapore. He led campaigns for the 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft and the F-15K, and later served as the Boeing Defense country director in South Korea.

His predecessor, David Longridge, announced late last year that he was leaving Boeing Business Jets to become vice president of sales for commercial aviation service. Longridge’s departure came near his two-year anniversary as president of the business jet division.