ACJ Extreme: Airbus Reveals Few ACJ 'Prestige' Details
Airbus has a posh new offering in its corporate jet family,
but the company's not saying much more than that. Speaking on
the ACJ program status yesterday, Richard Gaona, vp Airbus Corporate
Fleet & VIP Aircraft, revealed that the new top-of-the-line
ACJ model, called the Prestige, will have 19 seats, a quieter
cabin and will be completed by Airbus in a turnkey operation.
The first two aircraft are being readied for delivery by EADS
Sogerma's newly merged cabin interiors and completion unit, which
competed for, and won, the Prestige contract from Airbus.
The Prestige is a package primarily for owners who don't have
to ask "how much" and who don't have time to sweat the
details. The price of a "green" ACJ is $43 million and
beyond that Gaona says, it's "not something we want to discus."
So far, it's been only the potential customers who have been given
a peek at the Prestige, in mockup form, at the Airbus facility
in Toulouse. Gaona describes the experience as "entering
an aircraft but not feeling like you're in an aircraft."
The cabin will make very creative use of open space and has been
likened to that of a cruise ship, rather than an aircraft. Each
ACJ Prestige will also be outfitted with a sumptuous sleeping
area. Sogerma says that the onboard systems capability-communications
and IFEs, for example -- will be ahead of anything else available
in the market today, and with enormous growth potential built
into the baseline configuration.
As for market size, Gaona says he'd like to sell 10 Prestige
models in the next three years, which amounts to about half of
the 18 to 24 ACJs in total (6 to 8 per year) the company is forecasting
in sales for the entire ACJ family. EADS Sogerma says that even
at a more conservative estimate of 10 aircraft over five years
the program will still be a most important and profitable one
for it. Sogerma stresses that its Prestige cabin configuration
will not be a one-off like so many others, but will instead be
a limited production run of common aircraft.
Two Prestige ACJs have been sold so far this year, with the
first delivery to take place next summer. Overall there are 17
ACJs in service, with the 18th soon to be delivered and nine new
aircraft on order.
