COVER STORY 53
The Eclipse 500 Business Aviation in the South East
The quest for a jet-engined aircraft that could marry the economy of The south east is the busiest hub for business aviation in Europe, with
propeller aircraft with the speed of jets began in 1992 with a NASA Paris and Moscow hard behind. Access to London is naturally the key
initiative to develop technologies capable of delivering a new breed to that, with 200 business jets a day flying into the area. Road access
of small jets. The company owned by the legendary aviator Bert Rutan to London is all-important to the kind of clientele likely to use business
developed the prototype of a plane that could utilise new small jet jets, which means close-in airports like Farnborough, Northholt, Biggin
engines developed by the US company Williams International, based Hill and Luton are groaning under the weight of traffic. Just as the VLJ is
on technology they previously used to make engines for Cruise opening up new markets for business jet travel, airports a little further
missiles. The project as a whole was taken over for commercial out from London are beginning to see opportunities for boosting their
development in 1998 by a newly-formed company Eclipse Aviation, market share. Michael Ashall keeps his Eclipse 500 at Oxford airport
headed by former Microsoft executive Vern Raburn with significant which has undergone a major transformation from one of the world’s
investment from Bill Gates, which swapped the Williams engines for top aviation training centres into a business hub. A spanking new
entirely new purpose-built fan-jets from Pratt and Whitney in Canada. terminal opened this August, to augment the newly replaced runway
The first production Eclipse 500 came off the production line in 2007, and new ILS (Instrument Landing System). The airport prides itself on
while a new single-engined aircraft, the Eclipse 400, has been longer opening hours, including weekends, than those nearer London,
developed. It will go on sale in 2011. The main operator of Eclipse with a total capacity of 160,000 flights a year compared with just
500’s in the USA is Day Jets, based in the south-eastern United States, 28,000 at Farnborough. With London a little over an hour away down
which uses the planes more like buses than taxis, selling seats on short- the M40 and fast access to the Midlands, Oxford is intent on
hop popular business routes. becoming a natural first choice for business flyers.
Sources:
Ambeo
www.flyambeo.co.uk
Eclipse Aviation
www.eclipseaviation.com
Oxford Airport
www.oxfordairport.co.uk
The Ambeo team: Dr Frank Noppel, Andy Black and Simon Gall
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84