The last two months have been busy ones for Boeing Business Jets president Borge Boeskov. After two years of development, the BBJ flew for the first time in early September. Then, after many months in which the BBJ order book had remained at 26, Boeskov was able to announce six new sales at Farnborough last month.

On the heels of that came the announcement that Boeing will fit the BBJ with winglets in order to help the aircraft meet its 6,200 nm NBAA IFR profile range with eight passengers. And now, a real, honest-to-goodness BBJ will appear in public for the first time at this year's NBAA show in Las Vegas.

"Two years ago, people doubted that Boeing was serious about getting into business aircraft," said Boeskov. "Now we have a real airplane for those who are doubters."

Eight aircraft are scheduled for delivery by the end of the year, and Boeskov said 27 aircraft are scheduled for production in 1999 and another 24 in 2000.

Boeskov expects at least five of the aircraft scheduled for production next year will go to Boeing Netjets, a fractional ownership program owned by Executive Jet International, which was recently purchased by Berkshire Hathaway for $725 million.

Announced customers for the BBJ include: General Electric chairman Jack Welch, who has ordered two; golfer Greg Norman; and Florida Marlins team owner Wayne Huzienga. The sales announced at Farnborough were the BBJ's first since late 1997, when Malaysia Airline System ordered one.

For future production, BBJs will be assembled at Boeing's Long Beach, CA, facility using fuselages from Wichita, KS, and wings from Renton, WA. Risk-sharing partner General Electric, which has shared in the BBJ's development costs since the aircraft's launch in mid-1996, will provide the CFM56-7 engines through its CFM International partnership with Snecma.

FAA supplemental type certification of the winglet design is planned for mid-1999. The BBJ combines the fuselage of the 737-700 with the strengthened wings and landing gear from the larger 737-800. The green price is $33.75 million in 1998 dollars.

Boeing pegs the market for ultra-long-range business jets- which includes the BBJ, Airbus A319CJ, Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express-at 600 units. It believes it can capture 40% of that market, or 240 aircraft.

Boeskov said the BBJ has widely outperformed Boeing's initial projections for the business jet. Six to eight a year was the maximum it thought it could sell in a year for six to 10 years. Those were the figures used by Boeing chief executive Phil Condit when he announced the program two years ago.

As surprising has been the profile of the typical BBJ buyer. Boeskov expected fully half of all sales to come from large businesses with global interests. Instead, that segment has accounted for only 25% of sales, though Boeskov believes the share will eventually climb to 50% as executives begin seeing the BBJ on the tarmac-helping to overcome what he calls the perception problem. "We need to convince the big companies that (the BBJ) is a tool they need," Boeskov said.

"The concern is with perception and public image. When you see three or four people walking off a 130-seat airliner, people who don't understand would say that is bad form."

The largest segment of BBJ buyers has also been a surprise. Boeskov expected "high net worth" individuals such as athletes and Hollywood stars to account for about 30 percent of sales; instead, they have accounted for more like half the orders to date.

The third segment is the head-of-state market for smaller countries such as Poland and Romania. That market has accounted for about 20 percent of total BBJ sales-less than the 25 percent that Boeskov expected.

Regardless of the breakdown, Boeskov is extremely pleased with the success of the BBJ so far. Both the Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express have been on the market for many years longer, and yet the leader - Gulfstream - has only about four times Boeing's number of BBJ orders.

By Barry Rosenberg