ACJ: "Orders for TwoTwenty driving strong year"


Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) is amassing a solid order book this year, driven by upgrades from the Global 650 aircraft to the TwoTwenty, ACJ has told Corporate Jet Investor (CJI).

Chadi Saade, vice president of Commercial, ACJ told CJI: “We’re having a strong year in terms of orders so far. We’re seeing people upgrading from the G650 to the TwoTweny which is positive news because that’s why we designed the TwoTwenty, as the ideal upgrade from the G650.

“The TwoTwenty is a very important aircraft for us. We had promised this aircraft will come into service early next year and we’re on track for that.”

Saade said ACJ is “continuing to see how strong the US market is”, adding that other sectors of the global market are beginning to recover from the pandemic. He said: “We’re seeing Asia opening up, slowly but surely, with activity starting to pick up quite importantly in the area.”

When asked by CJI if there is any sign of a slowdown in the market, Saade said: “I don’t see it personally. I’m optimistic things will continue at the same pace as today.”

His comments follow ACJ research published today, which found that the US business aviation market is continuing to enjoy strong growth.

ACJ’s research, compiled by independent research company Pureprofile, analysed Wing X data, as well as a survey of 53 senior executives of S&P 500 companies, and 47 senior executives of US-based companies with an annual turnover of $500m or more.  

It found that departures were up 12.3% in the first eight months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2018. ACJ also found that 65% of executives interviewed use private jets. Of these, nearly four out of ten (37%) said they started flying privately during the pandemic. Some 8% said they first used business jets in 2019, while 51% said they have been flying privately prior to this.

 In the next two years, the research found that 72% of senior US business executives expected their organisations to make greater use of business aviation, with one in three (34%) anticipating a “dramatic increase” in use.

The report also found that, of the senior US business executives interviewed, 60% said their businesses owned at least one private jet. Of the remaining executives that do not own one, 58% said they might buy one within the next three years.

Nine in ten (90%) of executives whose companies already own private jets said they may want to upgrade them over the next five years, due to new models launching and wanting to make greater use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

See the reasons for increased use of business aviation below.

Reasons for increased use of business aviation % of US senior business executives interviewed who selected this as one of their top two reasons for why they will increase business aviation use
Greater focus on the wellbeing of staff 53%
Greater technology on board aircraft 45%
Improving sustainability record of the private jet sector 45%
Many senior staff used private jets for the first time during Covid-19 and want to continue 36%
Difficulties in the commercial aviation sector 22%
  
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