HondaJet In for Mass Production
Honda's small business-jet HondaJet is now in for mass production. Honda obtained Type Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) - a proof of safety, December 10.
Honda began developing the aircraft 30 years ago in 1986 to challenge the forerunners US Cessna and Brazil's EMBRAER. HondaJet features speed, altitude and comfortability based an exclusive design and craftsmanship conceived on philosophy inherited from Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda.
The HondaJet plant in Greensboro, North Carolina held a ceremony to commemorate acquisition of Type Certificate. An audience of 2000 stood to welcome President Michimasa Fujino of Honda Aircraft Company, Aircraft Project Division, on the platform, the day of the commemoration ceremony.
"It's a historic milestone", told President Fujino to mark the start of a project that had taken 30 long years to materialize.
According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the world's business-jet market in 2014 was about $22 billion, up by 4.5% over 2013. Economic downturn precipitated by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 cooled off demand, but it bounced right back as US economy revived, and Honeywell International predicts the world will require fresh 9200 business jets for $270 billion by 2025.
HondaJet seating seven is classified as Very Light and currently rivaled by Cessna's Citation Mustang and Embraer's Phenom 100. All three cover 2200 kilometers between New York-Chicago and London-Rome.
HondaJet tops in price at $4.5 million but also in fuel efficiency by nearly 20% over its rivals. HondaJet tops also in maximum cruising speed and stability. As President Fujino puts it, the aircraft is highly competitive in an overall performance - tranquility and spaciousness included.
Citation Mustang sold 408 and Phenom100 318 in 2008-14. With no sales record yet, HondaJet has already won orders for 100. The first HondaJet is delivered within the year to a customer in North America.
Honda schedules to produce 50 in 2016 and at an early stage after 2017 steps up to 100 per year.