The aviation world is getting ready for a new phenomenon. It is not about the gas price above $120 per barrel, but rather about a new category of aircrafts. Very light jets are truly arriving, with the first Cessna Mustangs already in Europe and other manufactures like Embraer with the Phenom 100 to follow shortly. This will no doubt stimulate a completely new group of clients. Private personnel, businessmen and corporations- with a budget able to sustain a jet with a price tag of about $3 million and operations costs of $800 per flight hour- are getting excited.

How about moving from turboprops or even business class tickets to a real jet? This is a question which immediately pops up when seeing the fancy and stylish Phenom 100 or Mustang. It looks affordable, especially if one lowers the fixed cost by flying it one’s self from time to time. There is certainly a number of prospective owners thinking in such a way. However, business aviation is not an aero-club of occasional pilots with private pilot licenses.

While there is nothing wrong with them, international standards for business and commercial aviation are set very high, especially for safety reasons, and they cannot be compromised due to low cost pressure. Even with the largest airline companies “low-cost” certainly does not mean lowering the cost in areas such as maintenance, crew training and others. This is the way the very light jets phenomenon must be understood: a new opportunity for business and leisure flights at an affordable price, but not as an instrument for flying jets regardless.

Birds in flight
The aviation world is anything but a sleeping beauty. Manufacturers, as well as training and maintenance centres are getting ready for the arrival of the new birds. Regulators, as well as air traffic controllers, airports and handling agents are preparing the landscape. Air traffic will no doubt become even busier than it is nowadays, although it is busy enough already. The main banana-shaped areas of operation are expected to develop between traditional business aviation hubs: London – Paris – Nice – Rome, nevertheless, the “very light jet infection” is expected to spread around and further boost the already booming markets more to the East.

The recent acquisition of ADAM aircraft manufacturer by Russian investors is a clear sign that the aero-taxi type of operation is moving eastwards also. ABS Jets in Prague, Czech Republic, is opening the construction of a new large hangar to accommodate Embraer Phenom 100 customers in its already well recognised maintenance centre. New operators like JetBird, Blink, etc. are about to launch new aero-taxi services.
Air travel is getting ready for a new exciting playground. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.