Business flights down

Published: Wednesday October 8, 2008

The number of business aircraft flights is down in the US and Europe because of high fuel prices and the slowing global economy, according to a Honeywell Aerospace report released last Saturday.

In its annual business aviation outlook, Honeywell said the budgets of many corporate flight departments did not account for substantially higher fuel costs this year, and some are reducing flights, flying at slower speeds to save fuel or putting aircraft up for sale.

Honeywell said about 1,200 new business jets will be delivered worldwide in 2008, up 15 per cent from 2007, as orders remained strong in most regions. Honeywell predicted annual deliveries of 1,300 to 1,500 aircraft over the next five years, with about 17,000 new business aircraft delivered in the next decade, generating sales of about US$300 billion.

"We see continued strong business aviation growth. We do see a peak in 2009, and a small downturn in deliveries in 2010 and 2011," said TK Kallenbach, vice president marketing and program management for Honeywell Aerospace.


Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business_mag?id=161384840