All,

I am beginning the research process for the purchase of a jet. What we are envisioning right now is taking advantage of favorable sales prices in the current environment to buy a new or lightly used super mid-size jet. For example we have identified the Challenger 300, Hawker 4000, Falcon 2000, and the G200/250 as candidates. What are a couple other examples of jets in this class?

Thanks.

 

Citation Columbus, maybe Falcon 50?

I've heard of CL30s for sale on the market under $20M, as well as a few delivery positions for the first two quarters of '09 being available.

 

What is the route structure of your flying including size of airports?

What whould be the maximum number of pax?

Do you need a cabin crew too?

 

Columbus won't be available until 2013 or 2014. Sovereigns are pretty close to that category though and a few are always available. Please give more details on range, passengers, price and runway minimums you are looking for.

 

If you are considering factory new aircraft, deals can definitely be had by going straight to the manufacturer and inquiring about aircraft positions in jeopardy due to the economy hitting current buyers. I have a client (I am not a broker / dealer, but I'm in the business) who just bought a new G200 at a the end of Dec. at a hefty discount because they were able to take over someone else's contract and keep Gulfstream from losing a ton of $$ on a brand new airplane with no buyer. Every manufacturer is dealing with people backing out of their contracts, so if you're ready to buy (esp. if you have cash) then opportunities are definitely there.

Same goes for the used market, though in some cases on the used side if the owner isn't desperate to sell then they may hold on a bit longer - they don't want to get hosed on the deal if they don't absolutely have to sell.

 

We will have anywhere from 4 to 8 passengers max (6 would be avg), do not need a cabin crew. We fly from the west coast, and we will go to the ski destinations(ASE, EGE, SUN), Central U.S. (meaning Chicago, Ohio, etc.), and west to Hawaii. We can spend, say up to 20 mil.

I can already see that G200/250 has strengths in areas we really don't need. So I'm ready to rule it out. Strong candidates are CL30, Hawker 4000, and 900XP (but small baggage volume of the XP nearly rules it out completely). I don't know too much about Falcon 50's, but I am a bit spooked by 3 engines and what that means for long term maintenance costs, and having a new/"newish" airplane is important. Falcon 2000DX/EX probably out of our league price-wise from what I've seen. The Citation Sovereign is okay, runway performance is good, but it might be a little slow in cruise. We love the idea of the speed of the Citation X, but we believe fuel costs in the long run rule it out as well.

After my first run through the data, I would say the Challenger 300 is our best fit, followed by the Hawker 4000..

Any other aircraft to look at?

 

It sounds like that Hawaii leg will drive all the other requirements. Do you really need it, or is it just something that would be sort of nice to have?

Joe

 

I'd look into it if I was you, you might be surprised. Sounds like a 50 would be a great fit for your missions. Especially with the mountain destinations.

 

Okay, I did ask for airplanes that I did not originally consider, so I will look at the data for the -50. Thank you!

 

Well no, we don't need to go to Hawaii, and yes, it would be nice to have!