We told you months ago about the efforts of various companies 
to take advantage of a new class of business jets called "VLJs", or Very Light Jets. Now Honda has made it official that they will build their VLJ in facilities at an airport in North Carolina. The $60 million or so Honda is initially planning to spend will cover only the facilities and some equipment needed for starting construction. The company has so far received confirmed orders for over 100 of their VLJs.
Honda Aircraft Co. will begin producing small planes for delivery by 2010 and employ at least 300 people, spokesman Jeffrey Smith told reporters in Greensboro, N.C.
Honda's entry into aircraft manufacturing sets up a competition with Textron Inc.'s Cessna Aircraft unit in Wichita, Kan., the world's biggest maker of business jets.
Tokyo-based Honda last year received more than 100 orders for its $3.65-million HondaJet, which can carry as many as eight people.
The $60 million that Honda plans to spend on its aircraft factory "isn't significant. That's just capital investment," said Bob Zuskin, an analyst at Herndon, Va.-based GRA Aviation Specialists. "The real cost is getting the plane certified for sale. That can run to $1 billion with all the certification and engineering costs." (Photo - HondaJet engine).Annual production will exceed the company's initial goal of 70 planes a year, said Michimasa Fujino, chief executive of the new unit and HondaJet's designer. Fujino declined to give a new production target for the plane, which has two Honda-designed engines mounted over the wings.
Honda Aircraft will be housed in a 215,000-square-foot facility, including a 68,000-square-foot hangar at Piedmont Triad International Airport. Honda will spend $40 million for the buildings and $20 million in design and production equipment.
"We are expecting additional investment," Fujino said.
The company is readying 20 HondaJets for test flights late next year to receive Federal Aviation Administration certification, Fujino said.
The NBAA (National Business Aviation Association) defines VLJs as single-pilot jets
that weigh 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) or less. They generally have two engines, five or six passenger seats, electronic cockpits and cost half as much as the most inexpensive business jet now in service.
Six other very light jets are in the process of being certified by the FAA.
The FAA officially predicts that 4,500 VLJs will be in service 10 years from now. FAA chief Marion Blakey has called that a conservative estimate. Eclipse alone has orders for nearly 2,500 of the little jets.
And yes, they can be ordered with "heads", or bathrooms
Comments