Buying a VLJ
 

a doctor and his colleagues that i know, along with a lady who does work in business and accounting wants to buy a VLJ. well i dont know to much when it comes down to buying one. what do you have to consider when your buying one? like ramp fees, fuel, matainence, etc? i've seen some good jets like phenom 100, citation mustang, eclispe 500, and spectrum independence. and i know they will be flying back and forth from flordia to california

Spectrum has no active develop program and has never gone to productions. They had a fatal crash and while Linden Blue is still around he has the good sense not to continue until the VLJ market recovers. Several companies have slowed development for the same reason. DiamondJet, EclipseJet, AltAir and CirrusJet have slowed to a crawl waiting on the economy.

We discussed VLJ's a few months ago here:
Would You Buy this Jet

BoilerUp can suggest a decent publication to look at for shopping advice. There are a lot of factors to consider and it is more complicated than you think, more like buying a complete business.

A man's gotta know his limitations...so you (or the potential purchasers) should hire a broker or consultant who does know exactly what to look for. Without an expert who knows what they're doing, this could become a VERY expensive proposition that results in whoever flies the thing becoming unemployed VERY quickly.

A VLJ is a poor choice for Florida - California trips, especially carrying a sizable payload (passengers). You're looking at one, quite likely two fuel stops each way, especially if the cabin is full, with rather limited baggage capacity. That said, if you're only looking at one pilot and two passengers, and they don't mind tech stops, it may not be too bad.

The only VLJs currently available in the market are the Phenom 100, Mustang and Eclipse. The P100 is HUGE compared to the Eclipse, but it also costs a fair bit more (percentage basis) to operate; the Mustang falls between the two but closer to the Mustang. Prices range in the $1-3M range, depending on aircraft, age and hours. Mason Holland has turned Eclipse around and is actually supporting the aircraft these days so its viable IMO where it wasn't really 2-3 years ago, but Embraer & especially Cessna will likely have much better support.

Talk to these guys - www.jetaviva.com

Yes - Cyrus and Ben @ JetAVIVA know more about VLJs than likely anybody on the planet.

Buy a Lear 24... at least you'll have fun while you're making multiple fuel stops coast-to-coast

If they could only figure out a way to strap on a fuel truck to each wing....:p

I don't know much of anything about VLJ's, but I have flown the E-145, and Embraer makes a nice product.

I also think the Honda Jet looks pretty neat.

I would go with the above advice and contact a broker who can crunch numbers for ya.