P.T Barnum Proved Right Again By Canadian Jet Sales

[GVFlyer]

From the Online Wall Street Journal


Business-Jet Sales Aid Bombardier

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Serif]Fourth-Quarter Profit
Shows 30% Increase;
Airline Sales Weaken[/FONT]
[FONT=times new roman,times,serif][FONT=times new roman,times,serif]By MONICA GUTSCHI
March 29, 2007; Page C12[/FONT]
[/FONT]
Bombardier Inc. may have to ramp up its production of business jets as demand for the luxury aircraft continues to grow.

The Montreal maker of planes and trains reported a 30% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter profit as a robust business-jet market offset weaker regional aircraft sales and as business picked up in its rail-equipment unit.

Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier's aerospace unit, said the company will be talking to its suppliers about increasing production of corporate jets, especially its popular Global Express where the backlog is now at 24 months.

Bombardier's Global Express business jet has a 2-year backlog. That is too long for most customers to wait, Mr. Beaudoin said, and is well above the company's target of a maximum 18 months. He said, "The demand for new airplanes is very strong. I don't see the market slowing down at this point."

Backlog for the midsize Challenger series of jets is now 14 months -- compared with a maximum target of 12, while the backlog on the smaller Lear jets is at 11 months compared with a maximum target of nine months.

Bombardier received 274 orders for business jets in fiscal 2007 which ended Jan. 31. That was 55 more than in fiscal 2006, and made up the lion's share of the total order book of 363 aircraft. It had 117 orders for business jets in the latest quarter, compared with 71 a year earlier.

The company delivered 212 business aircraft during the year, compared with 197 in fiscal 2006.

By contrast, the regional-jet market continues to sag as the company's key U.S. airline customers restructure their finances. Only a few orders have begun to trickle in, with the majority of them for the company's popular Q400 turboprop.

Bombardier received only 21 regional-jet orders in the latest quarter compared with 34 a year earlier. For the year, there were 87 regional aircraft orders, up slightly from 81 in fiscal 2006. It delivered 112 regional aircraft during the year, down from 138 a year earlier.

Chief Financial Officer Pierre Alary said the growth in business-jet revenue was almost equally offset by the drop in regional-jet revenue in the latest quarter. The growth of the high-margin business jets also helped boost profit margins at the aerospace unit.

The company's once-lackluster rail-equipment business picked up steam in recent months, racking up train contracts from national railways in France, Spain and the Netherlands.

Bombardier's net income in the quarter ended Jan. 31 increased to $112 million, or six cents a share, from $86 million, or five cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.7% to $4.39 billion from $4.04 billion a year earlier.
Bombardier's total order backlog stood at $40.7 billion as of Jan. 31, up $9.1 billion from a year ago.
Write to Monica Gutschi at [email protected]

 

[Shag McNasty]

How is Gulfstream doing? Is the narrow cabin hurting sales?

 

[GVFlyer]

How is Gulfstream doing? Is the narrow cabin hurting sales?

You know, of course that Gulfstream is bringing a 7,250 nm jet to market with a wider cabin than the Bombardier Global Express XRS and which will have none of the maintenance, reliability and support problems that have plagued the Global.

Gulfstream will build 84 large cabin aircraft this year in Savannah. The first year I was with the company we built 24.

Next possition availability for any large cabin Gulfstream is in 2010. There is an average 15% premium being paid for positions before that.

There is one pre-owned G550 currently available. It is a 2005 model with 850 hours total time. Avjet has it on the market for $59.9 million.

Gulfstream has commenced a $300 million, 7 year expansion to meet customer demand. The workforce is being increased by 25%. 18 select pilots will be added in 2007.

GV

 

[FlyFlyFly]

Here is my two cents on this debate, and by the way I fly a Challenger. When looking into which aircraft to get next, I was asked to garner pilot opinions of large cabin aircraft from the usual suspects, B, F and G. You ask a Falcon or Gulfstream pilot what they like about their aircraft, and they go on until you politely excuse yourself. You ask a Bombardier pilot what they like and they all reply (as do I) "the passengers really like the cabin", then crickets start to chirp.

Ask the same group what they don't like and the F and G guys say "the cabin is not as big as a Challenger or Global", then crickets chirp. With the second question, the Bombarider pilot goes on until you politely excuse yourself.

 

[AA717driver]

I think some companies are scared away from the G because even when arriving in a "beater" GIV, it still screams "wretched excess" to the uninformed public.

It's a lot easier to sneak into town in a 604 or F2k than in a SAV-built G-anything. TC

P.S.--GV: Do those 18 select pilots still have to start on the G100 Rescue aircraft and work their way up to the G_50 demo positon?

 

[thatpilotguy]

I use to fly for a car dealer, he described the difference in corporate aircraft is directly reflected in the car industry. The Cessna Citation is like your Ford Explorer...it will haul the family around without too much trouble but the fit and finish isn't top quality. Raytheon (at this time specifically the Hawker 800XP) is like your Lincoln line of cars. Better fit and finish but it still has it's limitations and dated technology. Bombardier (specifically the Lear Jets) is like your Corvette...really sexy, but man when it breaks it's going to take for ever to get it fixed. You really want to own one, but you hate taking it to the dealership. Gulfstream is your BMW...top quality, but it's gonna cost you.

I love seeing customer/pilot loyalty. It made me laugh when I saw the title of the article and I knew instantly who wrote it. I don't dissagree that most of the Gulfstream aircraft and truley great...but just keep one thing in mind...not everyone can afford a BMW, some need to run around in an Explorer.