For the first time in several years the unabashed exuberance that has prevailed at the annual NBAA Convention was replaced by concerns– if not outright fear–that business aviation’s rapid rate of climb is now nosing over into a descent that will likely be felt beginning in 2010 or 2011 and last for at least two years. Yet business jet manufacturers by and large shrugged off the sharp declines that rocked Wall Street during last month’s convention in Orlando, pointing instead to their own healthy sales backlogs as a chief reason why the next industry downturn will be easier to weather than those of the past.
As evidence that the business jet buying boom could indeed be on temporary hiatus there were no blockbuster deals announced at the show, reversing a phenomenon in high gear at every NBAA Convention for the last eight years. Hawker Beechcraft said its Brazilian dealer, Lider Systems, placed an order for 23 airplanes worth around $200 million, but conspicuously absent from this year’s convention were the bulk orders from fractional providers and large charter firms that have plumped the show news in recent years.
