With its Pearl engine family, it managed to keep everyone happy. It has never said if the engine is named after the Chinese Pearl River or the one that flows through Mississippi and Louisiana. Canada, Costa Rica and New York state also have Pearl Rivers or Rio Perlas so it could be theirs.

This week Rolls-Royce started flight-testing the Pearl 10X which will power Dassault’s flagship Falcon 10X. The Pearl 10X is the most powerful business aircraft engine the manufacturer has ever made. 

A Pearl 10X test engine has been fitted to Rolls-Royce’s Boeing 747 flying test bed. Plane spotters wanting to see the five-engine aircraft need to go to Tucson, Arizona. The testing includes engine performance and handling checks at various speeds and altitudes, in-flight relights, tests of the nacelle’s anti-icing system and fan vibration tests at various altitudes. It has already been tested for more than 2,300 hours on the ground and can use 100% sustainable aviation fuel.

Rolls-Royce and Dassault got very close to working together in the past. But this will be the first Rolls-Royce engine to power a Dassault aircraft.

“The market success of the Pearl engine family has been outstanding,” said Dr Rob Watson, president civil aerospace, Rolls-Royce at the company’s capital markets day last year. It has been key to its business aviation division. Before the launch of the engine in 2018 there was talk of Rolls-Royce losing market share.

Textron had selected Snecma’s Silvercrest for its Hemisphere and in 2013 Dassault chose it for its planned Falcon 5X. Neither aircraft happened, but in 2014 Gulfstream chose Pratt & Whitney engines for the G500 and G600. This was a blow as the company had powered every large-cabin Gulfstream since the G1 in 1958.

Rolls-Royce announced the Pearl family when the engine was picked for Bombardier’s Global 5500 and Global 6500 aircraft. It then went on to win hard-fought campaigns for Gulfstream’s newly certificated G700, the upcoming G800 and Dassault’s Falcon 10X. Rolls-Royce says it had 70% market share in the large business jet market in 2022 and 85% in the ultra-long-range market. 

Large commercial engines that power widebody airliners dominate Rolls-Royce’s commercial aviation division – making up 72% of its 2023 aerospace sales. But business aviation is the next biggest part with 21% of sales. Tufan Erginbilgic, who became Rolls-Royce’s CEO in January 2023, has stressed the importance of business aircraft to the company. 

Rolls-Royce is ramping up production. It delivered 165 business aviation engines in 2022, 223 in 2023 and it is aiming for close to 300 in 2024. As new aircraft with its engines are delivered it will, of course, see flight hours rise and aim to enrol new customers in its Corporate Care programme.

The newly certificated Gulfstream G700 will drive a lot of this as the Savannah manufacturer ramps up delivery. Gulfstream is planning to deliver 50 G700s in 2024.

At its investor day last year, the company forecast 8-9% annual delivery growth for its business aviation engines. This is compared with 3% for the large aircraft market.

The Falcon 10X still has a way to go before it is certificated, but Rolls-Royce should still celebrate the start of flight testing. If anyone is looking for a venue, there are hundreds of Pearl River Chinese restaurants to choose from.

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The aircraft was due a 120 month check including a full landing gear overhaul.

“A few years ago, clients in the Middle East would send these projects – a very heavy maintenance check coupled with a major cabin refurbishment – to MRO companies in Europe, but these projects are now coming here to Dubai,” says Nick Weber, Regional VP Middle East at ExecuJet MRO Services. “Clients recognize that we have the capacity – including available slots – allowing us to be flexible in meeting client needs. And we have the manpower and expertise to deliver to the highest quality.”

ExecuJet MRO Services says that the aircraft’s inboard flaps were subject to a service bulletin and needed upper skin removal and rib replacement. It has performed 38 flap repairs like this. The company has 20 Global B1 rated engineers and five Global rated B2 engineers in Dubai.

ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East  recently opened a new 15,344m² (165,160ft²) facility at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport.

F/List Dubai worked with ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East on the Global’s 6000 interior. It included new leather upholstery for the cockpit and cabin seats, new carpet and new dado panel material.

ExecuJet also installed Satcom Direct’s new Plane Simple high-speed Ku system. “Refurbished interior and new satcom system are savvy investments and the aircraft’s value will increase now,” says Weber.

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Our feature Wheels on Fire probes the business restructuring of Wheels Up. No aviation business has attracted as much attention as Wheels Up this year. This cover story feature probes how and why the restructuring happened. Plus how the company is preparing for a profit-focused future.

Star players in the feature include: (of course) Kenny Dichter, founder, former CEO and chair. George Mattson, new CEO of Wheels Up and, the man who appointed him to the role, Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Air Lines among many others.

Here’s a selection of quotes from our cover story feature. This from Dichter after his departure from the company: “I am very enthusiastic about the future of Wheels Up. The entire Wheels Up community has my unwavering support on the journey ahead.”

And here’s Bastion on Dichter’s contribution to the business. “I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Kenny Dichter for building the Wheels Up brand into a powerhouse in private aviation,” he said after closing the big financing deal. “We have grate appreciation for his steadfast devotion to the members, customers and employees and his role in elevating the private aviation experience, which will undoubtedly guide the industry’s path forward.”  Read the full story here.

When Dassault Aviation’s executive vice president Civil Aviation, Carlos Brana spoke to CJIQ, he stressed the technical qualifications of the manufacturer’s staff. “Most of us are engineers – we are a company of engineers,” he told us. It’s a discipline and an approach to business planning that infuses all of Dassault Aviation, he said.

Brana is responsible for defining and implementing global strategy for Falcon Aircraft sales and customer service. His to-do list includes defining the guidelines for the modernisation of Dassault’s product line. So Brana and the team had something to celebrate last month when the manufacturer confirmed its long-awaited Falcon 6X had finally entered service after the jet won type certification from both EASA and FAA on August 22nd.

During our interview, Brana looked ahead to the commercial launch of the 6X and its next development project – the Falcon 10X, due to enter service at the end of 2025.

Another leading business jet to feature in the current edition of CJIQ was the ACJ TwoTwenty in our popular First Look feature. Launch customer luxury resort company FIVE Hotels is so pleased with its new jet it’s reluctant to release the aircraft to exhibit at events. Chadi Saade, acting president, Airbus Corporate Jets told us: “FIVE Hotels seems delighted with its ACJ TwoTwenty and aircraft schedule is so busy – to the point we can’t get hold of the aircraft  as much as we would like or shows.” But he added: “It’s a nice problem to have.”

Aloki Batra, CEO FIVE Hospitality told us: “A dare-to-be-different jet, the ACJ TwoTwenty cabin is one of the most innovative and technologically-advanced aircraft cabins ever designed. One that boasts all the conveniences of luxury living, but in the sky.”  

No stranger to fast jets was the late Hamish Harding, the late chairman of Action Aviation, who tragically died on June 18th, 2023, when his submersible imploded during a dive to view the wreck of RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic. Our feature recalls happier times, as we documented his many adventures in the air, in space and below the sea.

The first adventure we featured was his world-record breaking circumnavigation of the Earth via the North and South Poles at the controls of a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER together with a specialist team. Last year Harding blasted into space aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard 4 space rocket.

The feature, Jules Verne planted the idea, recalled another record-breaking achievement, his dive aboard the Triton submersible DSV Limiting Factor to the deepest part of the world’s oceans. Accompanied by submarine explorer Victor Vescovo, Harding crossed the Challenger Deep in March 2021. Read the full feature – including his many other accomplishments – via the link.

Meanwhile, you can read the digital version of CJIQ here. And, if you like what you read, why not sign up for the free print version of the magazine?  Also, we are always searching for new stories from the fast-moving world of private jet aviation. So, if you have an idea, please let us know.

The post CJIQ323 features Wheels Up, Dassault, Airbus and the late Hamish Harding appeared first on Corporate Jet Investor.

The deal, announced at this week’s Paris Air Show, will see forward fit and aftermarket retrofit applications of Aspire 350 on Dassault Falcons, including the F900, F2000, F7X, F8X, F6X and F10X.

Steve Hadden, vice president and general manager, Services and Connectivity, Honeywell Aerospace, said: “Staying connected is critical to flight safety and efficiency, and we are proud that Dassault has selected the Aspire 350 for its fleet of best-in-class business aircraft. Honeywell and Dassault’s relationship has now reached its 50th year, and we continue to strengthen this relationship. We are confident that the users of the business aircraft will appreciate the seamless connectivity the Aspire 350 will provide. The experience will be like using your broadband at home.”

Aspire 350 allows pilots to maintain up-to-date information throughout their flight path, whilst giving operators global, high-speed connectivity. Simple to install, according to Honeywell, the 350 is an integrated cockpit and cabin connectivity service for pilots and passengers.

It offers more reliability and is cheaper than previous products because it uses the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation, said Honeywell. The NEXT constellation is formed of 66 active satellites in six orbital planes, moving in circular orbits 780km above the earth’s surface. The Iridium network enables cockpit safety services for operations, while also providing up to 700Kbps cabin internet connectivity.

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SD worked directly with Dassault Aircraft Services in Little Rock, to obtain the STC, releasing the corresponding Plane Simple Ku Service Bulletin for the Falcon type in April 2023. The Ku-band antenna variant can now be installed through the Dassault factory MRO and Dassault Aircraft Services network.

Jim Jensen, SD founder and CEO, said: “We are proud that Dassault recognises the advantages delivered by the Plane Simple system and how it can enhance connectivity on the Falcon airframes. The STC makes the full Satcom Direct ecosystem of hardware, software, ground infrastructure, cybersecurity, and award-winning customer support immediately available to this set of Falcon owners.

“We are raising the connectivity bar with this whole new class of antenna hardware that has been purpose-built for the business aviation sector. More importantly, it gives customers greater flexibility, cost-effective connectivity options, and a single resource to fulfil every connectivity need,” said Jensen.

The antenna installation requires fitting two-line replaceable units, the tail-mounted antenna and the SD modem unit. The latest certification comes in the wake the existing Dassault Falcon 2000LX/LXS/S approvals and 900EXy/LX obtained earlier this year.

Geoff Chick, senior vice president, Dassault’s worldwide service network, said: “Falcon aircraft are known for being technologically advanced, and the SD Plane Simple antenna system is the perfect complement to our aircraft. The system has already demonstrated its capabilities by performing flawlessly on our Dassault Falcon 2000LX/LXS/S aircraft, and we’re pleased to add the new STC to our customer offering. We’re confident our operators are going to be delighted with the reliability, performance, and the added value of SD customer service.”

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The OEM addressed concerns about sustainability in its results for the full year 2022 in a section headlined “aviation bashing”.  It said business jets have been targeted “since mid-2022 in Europe and especially in France” and compared the emissions of private aircraft with other industries that it claims emit more carbon.

The company said: “One year of global 2,100 Falcon fleet utilisation is equivalent to 24 hours of global video streaming, five hours of worldwide truck traffic or 2.5 days of the German thermic power plants.”

It added that all Falcon aircraft are certified to fly with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mixes up to 50%.

In the conference call to investors, Éric Trappier, CEO, Dassault Aviation said: “We’re going to increase this capacity and we’re going to make sure that there are developments of new alternative fuels, especially E-fuels.”

The company also takes part in research programmes in France and across Europe to reduce fuel consumption through optimised aircraft design, it said.

In the results last week, Dassault said orders for its Falcon business jets increased by 25% in 2022 while its backlog rose to €4.7bn.

The Paris-headquartered OEM made the comments after France threatened a ban on the private jet industry in August last year.

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The tail-mount terminal is powered by the Intelsat FlexExec network, an airtime service dedicated specifically to business aviation. SD said it will allow customers greater flexibility and connectivity options that will be in line with expected operational costs, providing “reliable, global, customized connectivity solutions”.

SD has received FAA Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) for Bombardier’s Global 5000, 6000 and Express XRS aircraft, Dassault’s F200LX/LXS, and Gulfstream’s GIV, GIV-X, G450, GV, GV-SP and G550 type aircraft. Elsewhere, the European Aviation Safety Agency has confirmed STCs for the above Bombardier and Dassault models.

“Prior to the Plane Simple offering, high-speed connectivity options were limited by capacity, restrictive pricing plans, invasive installation, and were incompatible with changing satellite markets,” said Jim Jensen, CEO and founder, SD. “The Plane Simple antenna series resolves these needs, and we’re proud to make this advanced, innovative antenna technology available to new and existing customers.”

The company completed flight trials and said all those who participated in them have now become customers. SD told Corporate Jet Investor that it now has 21 undisclosed parties who have become customers as a result of the trials, with aircraft that are now STC-approved. 

One company that took part was Executive Jet Management, a sister company of NetJets, testing the terminal on its Global 5000. David Utley, maintenance manager, Executive Jet Management said the ability to integrate third-party tools helped the company operate more efficiently. He added: “Combined with SD’s advice and recommendations on which tools to use and how to optimise them and troubleshoot in flight […] means I always know what is going on. This is important for a busy aircraft frequently flying around the globe.”

A different version of the antenna which uses a different wavelength, the KA-band, was tested using a prototype on SD’s Gulfstream G550 at the beginning of January.  

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The company, a division of Dassault Aviation, made the announcement at the MEBAA Business Aviation show held in the DWC airport. Currently, the firm operates from a base at Dubai International Airport (DXB), but operations will move to the new MRO early next year.

The new 15,000sq m (161,500sq ft) base will be able to hold 18-24 business jets at once, with the capability to house large jets such as the Falcon 6X and Flacon 10X. As well as the hangar, it will include adjacent workshops and offices and will become the company’s new regional headquarters in Dubai. The DXB base will still retain AOG capability.

“We have been preparing for entry into service of the Falcon 6X, with tooling and spare parts already identified and on their way,” said Nick Weber, regional vice president, Middle East, ExecuJet MRO Services. He said that initially four engineers will be sent to Dassault Aviation to train for the maintenance of the Falcon 6X, which is expected to be in service mid-2023.

He added: “Our MRO facility will be an important centre outside of Europe and North America for support of the Falcon 6X and 10X.”

The MRO will also provide line and base maintenance for Bombardier, Embraer and nearly all types of Hawker business jets.

In September, ExecuJet expanded its capabilities at its Malaysia facility at Subang Airport including zinc-nickel and cadmium electroplating technology.

Meanwhile, MEBAA is ongoing between December 6-8th in Dubai. Registration is open here.

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The new 250,000sqft (about 23,225sqm) facility is full of business jets undergoing maintenance and upgrades. (The new hangar is equipped with 22 service bays capable of accommodating up to 14 Global 7500 aircraft simultaneously). London Biggin Hill Airport aircraft will throng the bays.

Growing its aftermarket service – jauntily encapsulated under the tagline ‘Bring Your Jets Home’ – has become a key 10-year strategy for the manufacturer since 2016. Demonstrating its success in achieving this goal, Bombardier is projecting its aftermarket services sales will reach the value of $2bn a year by 2025. In the third quarter of this year, the aftermarket accounted for 26% ($380m) of Bombardier’s total $1.46bn revenue.

“Bring Your Jets Home was the best way to proceed with this growth because it also answered our customers’ expectation,” Jean-Christophe Gallagher, executive vice president, Services and Support and Corporate Strategy, Bombardier told CJI during the inauguration event. “They appreciate the OEM level of expertise, service, quality, safety and our customers were asking for more of the OEM around the world. That’s why you see that a brand new facility is already full.” The Biggin Hill investment follows similar upgrades at Bombardier’s Singapore facility, Opa-Locka in Florida and Melbourne in Australia.

Water dispensers in the vast new hangar are refreshing engineers and technicians tasked with more than conducting scheduled (and unscheduled) maintenance. About 18 months ago the company launched its Bombardier Certified Pre-owned aircraft programme, like car manufacturers’ schemes. It’s now looking for pre-owned aircraft worldwide to retrofit these aircraft with what Gallagher calls “the latest and greatest technologies”.

About 10 years ago, the latest technology was available only on aircraft fresh off the the production line. “Today, most of the technologies we have on our production lines are available as retrofits on Bombardier’s platforms,” said Gallagher. That includes upgrades to interiors, cabin management system, avionics and connectivity. “We are able to provide a plane that looks perfectly new, with a brand new interior, new coat of paint and the latest connectivity and avionics capabilities.”

The aftermarket is becoming a major source of income for all OEMs. This now accounts for between 26% and a third of sales for some companies, including Gulfstream (including Jet Aviation) and Textron Aviation, as revealed by CJI research last month. 

But it’s not solely about diversifying revenue streams – at least for Bombardier. “Obviously, a service facility will sell airplanes for us,” says Gallagher. “Our employees are not just technicians and engineers; they are brand ambassadors – every one of them.”

So, what future for maintenance, repair and overall (MRO) competitors? Rapid consolidation in the sector, as the OEMs have expanded their aftermarket offer, has become increasingly evident. Not least Dassault acquiring TAG and Execujet and Jet Aviation’s acquisition of Hawker Pacific.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Bombardier’s independent authorised service centres have fallen from a high of about 70 to fewer than 15.

But independent MROs will retain a place, says Gallagher. “We have been very clear for the Bombardier fleet, we are looking at a 50% share of a $4bn market. There is plenty of room for everyone else.” To prove the point, he singles out US partner Duncan Aviation as one of the manufacturer’s “specular MROs” around the world. “We will continue, as an OEM, to support these facilities that are able to provide a level of service to our customers that exceeds everybody’s expectations.”

Meanwhile, if Bombardier does hit its target of achieving a target of $2bn a year for its aftermarket services by 2025, the whole team may want to toast their success with something a little stronger than Scottish Pure water.

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Above: Bombardier’s Jean-Christophe Gallagher addresses guests at the service centre inauguration.

Top: The new hangar during the inauguration  ceremony of Bombardier’s new Biggin Hill Service Centre.

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Business jet manufacturers did significantly better.

Textron Aviation achieved a book-to-bill of 1.55x (it booked 1.55 aircraft orders for every aircraft it delivered); Bombardier 1.8x; Gulfstream 1.96x and Embraer 2.5x.

These ratios mean that backlogs continue to rise. Gulfstream’s hit $18.786bn (up $5.3bn in 12 months), Bombardier $14.7bn (up $1.2bn), Textron’s hit $5.8bn (up $2.7bn).

These are fantastic results showing two things: first, increasing production is still hard and second, demand is still strong.

It is hard to see OEMs speeding up production significantly. “We do face, what I would call a crosswind on supply chain,” said Éric Martel, chief executive, Bombardier on his analyst call.

Jefferies says that Bombardier, Textron Aviation, Gulfstream, Embraer and Dassault Aviation delivered 126 jets in the second quarter. This is up from 117 jets last year. But this is still down 14% compared to the 147 jets they delivered in the second quarter of 2019.

“We are seeing all the OEMs practicing commendable restraint on supply, and even if they did try to make more aircraft than currently planned, we doubt if the supply chain could accommodate anything before 2024,” said Robert Stallard, partner, Vertical Research Partners.

Whether demand stays is the biggest question. The number of pre-owned aircraft for sale is slowly rising (see dashboard below), but there are still few recently delivered jets available.

“There’s a lot of talk out in the market about interest rates, inflation, the stock market recession potential and so on,” said Jason Aiken, CFO of General Dynamics (and former CFO of Gulfstream) during an earning call.  “But to be completely frank, we have not yet seen any impact of that in terms of our order pipeline and the resulting order activity that we’ve seen. There continues to be a very strong customer demand.”

Scott Donnelly, CEO, Textron, had a similar view on the Textron analyst call. “The market feels about the same. Demand is strong and there continues to be a strong business jet market in North America. In the quarter we saw a significant pickup in international activity, particularly in our turboprop business. We see some more of the corporates, coming back in as corporate flight activity picks up, but still seeing a lot of new entrants into the market as well. The beginning of Q3 is indicative of really strong demand across the entire portfolio of products.”

Bears may say that OEMs were saying the same thing in 2008. But the market was very different. In the second quarter of 2008, OEMs delivered 270 jets – more than twice this quarter’s 126 aircraft. In 2008 Cessna alone delivered an astonishing 117 business jets. Hawker Beechcraft built 38.

With a global downturn now expected, it would be no surprise to see some drop in orders. OEMs, however, stress that backlogs are much stronger now than they were in 2008. Some of this is true as manufacturers have worked hard to stop speculators. But you only discover how strong backlogs are after a downturn.

Gates, a keen business jet user and a major investor in Signature Aviation, is also warning of a global slowdown. Last week in an interview with CNN (to publicise his book) he said: “You can only be optimistic in the long term if you are pessimistic enough to survive in the short term.”

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