The right jet for our needs?
 

Our organization has reached a point where we'd like to move up to a jet aircraft. Our missions will consist primarily of transporting 4-6 pax between our company's properties in Napa, Telluride, North Bend (OR), Kalispell, Key West, NYC, and Maui. Three or four times per year we travel to London, Edinburgh, Paris, Nice, Geneva, Barcelona, and Naples, but can make other arrangements for crossing the pond if needs be (that is, to save a few million). Home base will be NYC area. One more thing to make things complicated: one frequent pax is 6'5" and about 300 lbs. Reliability, and low operating costs are high considerations. What aircraft do you experts recommend that might meet our needs?

Check private Messages!

Learjet 60, Hawker 850, Citation Excel... all are 6-8 pax configuration, range 5-6 hours. Low costs is impossible on jets

A 6'5" 300lbs gentleman on a Lear 60? I dont think so.

Hawker 900 or challenger 300 in my opinion, you have some long flights there. But I agree with a previous post........no cheap way to own a jet.

Hawker 4000
 

I would look into the Hawker 4000. A new aircraft comes with a great maintenance package for 5 years and can do your European missions also. Since they came to the game so late with aircraft do to delays in certification, there are some great deals for this super mid size aircraft.:ok:

Falcon 2000?

Maybe a 2000......but your in a whole new game as far as costs......even though a falcon as reliable as an old boot.

If your only doing longer haul a bit.....not worth making the step to 2000 or above....My opinion of course;)

With today's depressed used aircraft prices you can still find some really good bargains. I'm an admitted Falcon fan, so I'd recommend a used Falcon 900B. Nice large cabin and easy non-stop from the New York area to London.

What ever you do decide to buy, have fun looking. :ok:

Yes!

Buy a (new or used )Falcon, get the Conclin reports on operating costs.....

If the "big guy" is one of the "deciders", get him into a 900?? and the cake is eaten...

Save yourself a lot of money..... go hire some professionals to assess your requirements!

Mutt

Well said Mutt

And also get a PROPER PPI done. i often get called in to to assist owners who bought wrong and ended up with an aircraft with issues that were not uncovered in the Pre Purchase Inspection, or tried to save a few bucks by having a buddy / employee do it.

if you want some leads on where to go / who to use, PM me.

Thanks, everyone, for the posted, and personal responses. We're just at the beginning stages of aircraft acquisition, with many things still to consider in moving up from a turbo prop to jet. We'll definitely consult with the professionals before signing the dotted line, but hearing advice from those of you who actually fly the things and are familiar with the peculiarities of corporate aviation (and corporate passengers) is certainly a good start.

Seems there are trade-off with every option and it's just a matter of determining our priorities. An aircraft that can efficiently and reliably meet our mission requirements, while providing reasonable comfort for those of us in the back, sounds easy enough, no?

Mutt, the one that´s been sitting in Jeddah for six months or more that now needs a thorough corrosion inspection before it can fly again?

That's a rather tall list of mission requirements for a company looking for their first jet...especially without knowing anything about the acquisition budget.

At a minimum, I'd say the Falcon 50EX, especially given the mountainous airports & runway lengths you'd be working with. You could do Europe & Hawaii with it with a good amount of comfort, though you'd likely be looking at tech stops for many of your Atlantic crossings.

Other options would be the Falcon 2000, Challenger 300 (as others have said), or 900B. Options that could work but might require close examination of runway/climb performance are the Gulfstream 200 and Challenger 604.

Brilliant statement! So you did not hire some professionals to assess your requirements, eh?

LOL.......................:D:D:D:D:D The professionals ended up getting the -8i.... Guaranteed to do the mission, 100% of the time, with 100% of the payload, and it looks COOOOLLLLLLLLLLL.

But as you might guess, the budget wasn't a deciding factor.

Mutt

I agree with all of the above, but again, double check prices, there is a chance that one can purchase a used 900B for about the same price as a newer used 50EX. The operating cost of a 900B and a 50EX are about the same, but you get a much larger cabin and a lot more range.

However, that being said, I did take a 50EX around the world from the US, west to east against the winds on the central pacific route. No problems, had a dry footprint all the way.

And yes, I should have pointed this out on my first post. Have a very through pre-purchase inspection done by a shop you decide on.

Its not about when you screw up, its about when you learn and pass on the info. MUTT was clear with the truth.