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PiperJet Development Suspended
Caldecott also indicated that after an evaluation, planned development costs for the Altaire had “risen above the point that would be recoverable under foreseeable light jet market projections.” Given that the program was “on budget”, their market projections were likely counting on significant orders from VLJ charter operations that would be an alternative to airlines, which have not materialized. Combined with the weak economy and anti-aviation policies of the Obama administration, the… (airinsight.com) 기타...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
perhaps the aircraft have been poorly marketed and should have been positioned as "sky taxis" and a business of sorts built around that concept.
Dan didn`t they tell you that a twin VLJ called the Eclipse was bought, nothing less than 150 of them by a company called DayJet which offered some kind of air taxi serice in Florida firstly and planned to go nationwicde. A seat for a flight from Miami to Gainsville, FL cost $ 440+ when a ticket on a regular airline run 150-250. And those planes did not have a potty and at each station DayJet encouraged passengers to go to the toilette before the plane left...... Well DayJet went bankrupt in a few weeks. The Eclipse had two engines whereas the ugly looking Piper thing had just one and the price was $ 3 million. Not even extremely rich people were going to buy it, lets face it, one single engine has its risks. Too bad for the fine engineers and workers at Piper but their management made a big blunder on this one. By the way the original manufacturer of the Eclipse based in New Mexico went belly up and are trying to resuscitate it by manufacturing them in Poland, of all places!!!. Can`t understand it at all.
Actually,The Eclipse jet was bought by Sikorsky and they have started taking orders for new jets and starting production soon.
Sikorsky took only a minority interest in Eclipse, not total ownership, so the plans to move manufacturing to Poland is for real however it appears that the final decision will be made only depending on the actual number of new orders.
Sikorsky made a poor investment regardless of the $s. The Eclipse is, IMHO, toast. Only opportunity I could have seen would be if an Indian, Chineese, Russian (?) company who are building new indigenous aircraft and were looking for a quick move forward may have bought the IP. Even that said, is there anywhere in the world for that matter where there exists a healthy market for a VLJ? A healthy market can absorb only so much whether it be bigger or smaller aircraft. The VLJ market really is sized for the private market (6 pax) but in order to make money, corporate customers would be required. Ain't gonna happen, even in a good economy. No American millionaires buying these days and not sure even that would have been enough to sustain their business model.
I never understood the investment made by Sikorsky as that must have rattled the hell out of the other airframe manufacturers who will think twice, thrice or more next time they have to go out to buy turbo engines for their aiframes, P&W is not now at the top their list.
I am sad to hear the news about the Piper jet but it does not surprise me. Piper has had a hard time making it the last few years. It seems like they are being bought by somebody else every couple of years. Ever since they left the multiengine market, they have had problems. The only twins they sell are the Seneca and the Seminole. No turboprops or jets like Cessna and Beech. That is the type of aircraft a corp. or rich person is going to want to travel on. The Meridian does not have a potty or food storage on it so only a few people are going to want to travel long distance on it. Even the Cessna Caravan has a potty in the very back so it is better equipt.
You raise an interesting point with Piper. I would suspect that as one progresses through their personal history of flying that a brand loyalty starts to imprint itself. With Piper not having that "stretch goal" - ie. turboprop or jet that it would not bode well for a "customer for life" business model. Clearly Cessna and Beech can provide that pathway, Piper cannot.
Same old story, too many airframe manufacturers offering too many products all chasing fewer and fewer customers. If you add up all of the jet aircraft models offered by Cessna, Embraer, Beech, Bombardier, Gulfstream you have nothing less than FIFTY (yes, five zero). How can they make any money even in good times.
Not to mention, the used jet market is way down these days, ever since the economic downturn and political pressure has forced many companies to rethink their flight departments.