Boeing is Really Flying Now
The Boeing Company's stock performance is that of a maximum takeoff on a VSTOL Fighter jet to say the least. Stoneifer the most recent former CEO of the Boeing Company, who I have only met on one occasion since he was previously in the car wash industry, had an extra martial affair and was ousted from the firm. The Boeing Company has the expertise to help bring back monies to our country for all those goods we buy from places like India and China. From their commercial aircraft division to their Space Program Boeing is on a roll. The Boeing Company has completely blown past projections for aircraft sales this month.
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A380 Bathrooms
Both Airbus and Boeing have seen record orders for their latest model jets. Boeing is also planning as a standard feature on its 787 airliners to have a window in the laboratories. Ready to get out of the driver seat yet and into a futuristic amenity rich modern jet airliner? The major commercial jet manufacturers and airlines are betting that you will. The Boeing 787 will have humidified air, so no more dry eyes during flights and because of its stronger composite cabin, it will leave the cabin pressure at 6,000 feet instead of 8,000 or 10,000 feet, meaning it is safer on the bio-system with more oxygen. Will this get more air travelers out of their SUVs and into airliners for those 350 plus mile journeys? Some industry analysts think it just might be the ticket the market sector needs.
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Point to Point VS Spoke and Hub? Air Taxi
Now Air Taxi business is coming into play as an extension of the fractional jet market. Boeing it is said took a big gamble in predicting the future of air travel. The economists in the commercial aviation business were watching the trends and they agreed. It worked and sales are really going strong for Boeing. After 9-11 we saw a big boost in chartered aircraft for top executives as the lines and hassles created by the TSA were unnerving to say the least.
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Airbus A-380 is Pretty Big
Aircraft taking off behind it will need to wait 5 minutes instead of 3-minute separation due to amount of air it will move from the wing tip vortices, enough to flip a little business get right over in flight. As a matter of fact it has more water on board for the toilets than the fuel in a Boeing 737. The aircraft holds more fuel than a Boeing 727 weighs. Think on it, the aviation community is as the world waits for an additional six month delay now. The massive aircraft also takes a lot of room to turn around, a lot of runway is needed for safety and can you imagine the congestion out front the terminal when that many folks deplane? Anyway, just because you build a huge aircraft does not mean it is the best choice.
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Moving Troops and Evacuation Strategies
One concept of interest is the Boeing Pelican model using the aircushion or ground effect. Well, this idea might be better used to move massive amounts of people out of a region in an airlift or air rescue mission. If you had to evacuate 1 million people from let's say a coming Cat 5 Hurricane, you have everyone go to an airport and then lay them down, put them to sleep and ship them out to a safe haven and wake them up as you have resources for ground transportation once there. After all it takes some 2 hours to load up a 747 and another 2-hours to unload it and many aircraft all arriving at that same time or near the same time anywhere would over load the airports and over stress terminals and ground transportation. Perhaps we can learn better evacuation techniques from this Hurricane Katrina dilemma? Think on this.
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India Air Traffic Issues to Come
Some industry analysts believe the number of new jets ordered of 490 is less than a third of what will be needed. India is also well located for the international traveler as a hub city to the Middle East, Europe and Asia as it sits along most direct routes and perfect for the World's traveling business crowds. Thirty Billion in new airline aircraft have already been ordered from Boeing and Airbus and more are expected in the next two-years. This of course is great news for Boeing and Airbus. Think about how big this really is for a country growing this fast.
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Airbus to Build $600 Million Aircraft Manufacturing Plant in US
The Boeing Company has some heavy competition with Airbus in the commercial aviation sector and the future of commercial aviation both in passenger aircraft and cargo or freighters looks bright. Alabama is quite good at attracting manufacturing facilities such as Mercedes, Nissan and other automobile manufacturers and is known for their tax incentives and pro-business stance. Think on the global competitiveness of the commercial aviation sector. Mobile Alabama is growing nice and has been moving forward with new housing tracts, retail centers, tourist destination locations and a growing and vibrant middle class. With most of the other major cities in Alabama having large manufacturing plants such as the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa and the large auto manufacturing plants in Montgomery and Birmingham it does make sense that Mobile would be next on the list to get some economical development juice from the state.
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General Aviation Manufacturing is in the Tank; Hang On It is Going to Get Worse
Wichita is working hard to keep what they got, while Boeing is selling buildings and Bombardier is contemplating competing in the smaller jet airliner business. Even so we are seeing the small business jet opening market as a long term positive in the private jet market, but a short-term problem for the small single engine turbo prop and piston markets of Beechcraft, Cessna and others. We will also see problems in this market as insurance carriers increase prices as less experienced pilots and single pilot mini-business jets experience a higher percentage of will occur. In fact such accidents are already causing friction in the corporate jet insurance costs, showing that certain companies are separating out the categories to keep the mini-business jets in their own realm and pricing points. One new market the mini-Business Jet, seems to be a potential as many companies are building these under 1 million dollar jets.
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Leading Private Jet Charter Operators
A third option is to approach one of the private jet aircraft brokers who will arrange the trip for you. Matt Keegan writes for business aviation and manages two very busy aviation related communities. No, you don't get a wing only, rather -- much like a timeshare -- you get to use a private jet operated by one of the providers. There are also several operations that will allow you to purchase a portion of a jet. Flying with the airlines can be a time consuming as well as risky proposition for businessmen as well as for people of wealth.
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New Airbus A-380 Beats Out 747
The A-380 has beat out the Boeing 747 as a target by International Terrorists. The A-380 will become the largest passenger jet in the world holding the largest number of passengers. Many airports cannot even take an airliner so large, as the distance to turn it around are significant and the wing tips are wider than that of the runway, meaning the wing tip vortices will dig up the grass on the sides of the runways making ditches on both sides. This of course is unlikely because most handheld missiles are heat seeking and therefore will generally go to where the heat is instead, thus taking out one of four engines. Luckily bringing down such a large aircraft will not be easy, nor will it be able to be blown out of the sky with a handheld anti-aircraft missile unless it is lucky enough to hit a fuel tank.
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Private Jets: 4 Leaders in Fractional Flying
Indeed, aircraft much cheaper than a 40 million dollar jet can also be shared starting with the Hawker 400 XP and working up to a BBJ [Boeing Business Jet. Not to be left out in the cold, Canadian aircraft maker, Bombardier, jumped into the fray with AMR Combs [parent company of American Airlines] and started Business JetSolutions. Matt Keegan writes on aviation issues and manages two important business aviation sites. The concept has grown from selling shares in a few jets to selling shares in sixteen different models. If convenience, luxury, safety/security, and price are important to you than a share in a jet is an option worth exploring.
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A Look at Fractional Jet Ownership
The final frontier in fractional ownership is the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ. NetJets claims that your plane will be waiting on the tarmac within 6-12 hours notice. Other fractional carriers also have prepaid jet cards, so this is a [somewhat] affordable solution for those who don't want to deal with the monthly or upfront costs of ownership. The big three, NetJets, CitationShares, and Flexjet, offer excellence in each, but some newer fractional start-ups may not be up to snuff. According to NetJets's website, purchasing a 1/8 share in a Raytheon Hawker 400XP would set you back $793,750 plus a $10,582 monthly maintenance fee, and an hourly charge of $1,501.
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Entering Business Aviation, Part III: Training Options
There are quite a number of programs out there that train or claim to train business flight attendants. Alteon Training, LLC is a Boeing training company that started cabin attendant training in 2003 while Beyond and Above Corporate Flight Attendant Training got started in 2002. Matt runs the widely popular Corporate Flight Attendant Community website at http. As mentioned previously, training is not a legal requirement therefore program curriculum can vary widely. When talking with training operators, be prepared to ask a lot of questions, read their website, obtain their literature, and shop wisely.
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Aluminum Cleaner for Aircraft Detailing by Alcoa
Whether it is a beer can, aluminum rail car, Boeing 747 or Apollo Space Craft, you can bet it is made with Alcoa products. Many might argue that Mother's Polish is the best for motorcycles and we have to agree Mother's is an excellent product, but when using large amounts to do large surfaces, there is a certain profit motivation with our team. Mother's Polishes of course are great also. We thank Alcoa for licensing it's polish from it's state of the art, high tech Research and Development Group, to worthy distributors such as CLB Enterprises so it is available to our team and aviation enthusiasts at a low and fair price. Yet one of the best products we have ever found is Alcoa's Aluminum Polishes.
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FAA Intervention in Privatized Space Flight is Ridiculous
Luckily the fractional jet market has taken off, but only after the FAA ditched some of their onerous regulations. The FAA needs to get their heads out of their rears and their fingers out of ours and I am not the only one who knows this. The fact is folks, everything the government touches gets ruined. Although those who study free markets, free enterprise and capitalism were hardly surprised, we all expected it and it makes sense someone like Rutan and Company would be the ones to do it too. There is only one problem with this picture.
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