Francois Gautier, Founder and CEO, Blueberry Aviation

How long have you been at your current organization?

I founded the company in 2003 after 14 years at Airbus where I met and worked closely with Jetcraft owner Jahid Fazal-Karim. Over the last 16 years my team and I have developed two distinct activities, commercial aircraft sales and lease to airlines, financiers and lessors, and civil helicopter trade to operators, corporations and private individuals.

What are your responsibilities within your organization?

I am a very hands on CEO, sharing my time between the commercial aircraft and helicopter commercial activities. I define strategies with the teams and am in the loop of most transactions, but leave the teams much autonomy including to suggest ideas and new directions. I am here if they need me. Meanwhile I focus on business development.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

There is no such thing as a typical day, especially as we have two different markets to cover. I travel a lot but when I am in the office, my door is always open and I am often seen sitting in one of the teams’ offices discussing opportunities and ongoing deals.

What do you love most about your job?

Building an exceptional team which performs well and has fun working together is the most fulfilling part of my job.

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Jayan Fazal-Karim, former Sales Engineer, Jetcraft
Location: Brooklyn, NY, US

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

As an employee, 3 and a half years, and as a supporter, 11 years. I’ve seen Jetcraft and everyone who works with us grow immensely over that time. Not to mention they have seen me grow from the time I was 15 when my father joined the company. I am proud to call Jetcraft family.

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

Sales Engineers at Jetcraft are the designated right hand man to their assigned Sales Director(s). I like to call us their swiss army knife – whether we do things such as covering them for a showing or aircraft review, conducting market research, building specs, or creating thoughtful presentations for them to use, we do all we can to support our Sales Directors in helping them complete more transactions. I am very lucky to be able to support my father as his Sales Engineer.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

As is common with the answers to this question from our team, there is no typical day or week! As cliché as that sounds it is really true. Some days you are locked in your office rifling through emails, completing aircraft valuations, and reviewing specs. Other days you are hopping from FBO to MRO conducting showings and tracking PPIs, and some days you are at events all around the world interacting with some of the most interesting people our world has to offer.

What do you love most about your job?

If I could sum it up in one word: Variety. No task is the same, no day is the same, no location is the same, no culture is the same, no person is the same, no aircraft is the same. I love exploring and appreciating the differences in our world and what better job to expose one to those differences.

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Product Overview

The Global 7500 has recently entered service making it the largest and longest range business jet on the market. It features an improved design over the Global 6000 aircraft. The length of the aircraft is 33.71m, overall height is 8.14m and wingspan is 31.79m. The aircraft features a new high-speed transonic wing, which significantly optimizes its aerodynamic efficiency. The aircraft features an onboard maintenance system (OMS), datalink, high-speed SATCOM, next generation cabin management system (CMS) and controller pilot data link communication (CPDLC).

As of March 2019 there have been 22 Global 7500 business jets built and all have received a Certificate of Airworthiness – one is in operation and 21 are at the manufacturer waiting to be completed. One Global 7500 is in production. Two Global 7500 delivery positions are for sale and both of those positions are under an exclusive broker agreement. One delivery position has been on the market for 41 days, the other for 1,603 days.

Brief History

Originally named the Global 7000, the model was renamed the Global 7500 after its extended range was announced in 2018. Type certification with Transport Canada was completed in September 2018, the FAA in November 2018, and the European Aviation Safety Agency signed off on the new model in early February 2019. The Global 7500 had 100 secured orders as it entered service on 20 December 2018. VistaJet Charter operator (30), and NetJets fractional provider (20) have a combined total of 50 orders.

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This article first appeared in AvBuyer. Their posting of the article can be viewed here.

By David Dixon, President of Jetcraft Asia

Asia has been my adopted home since the early 1980s, when business aviation was all but non-existent in places like China, Hong Kong and Japan. What little activity there was could be found in areas such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia.

At the time very few people could have predicted that, as a socialist state, China would come to adopt the ultimate capitalist business tool – the private jet. But when Deng Xiaoping opened up China to foreign investment in the 1980s, the rapid growth of the Chinese economy meant business aviation could begin to take off.

The Tiger economy effect

20 years later, Asia was on everyone’s minds. Extreme growth areas, known as Tiger economies, had sprung up across the region and OEMs were scrambling for a China strategy.

While economic growth was rapid and high, the Asian business aviation market did not progress in the same way as that in the US or Europe. The attitude amongst buyers was ‘buy now, buy new’, and the main aircraft of interest were long-range, wide-body models. As a result, the area quickly became dominated by Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express aircraft.

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Recognizing individual and team talent is something our company is incredibly proud of and, every year, we make it our aim to support emerging athletes and friends of Jetcraft around the world.

These are the athletes wearing the Jetcraft logo in 2019:

Stan Wawrinka

A Swiss professional tennis player, Wawrinka first began his career at the young age of 14. Wawrinka earned his first ATP Tour victory at the Croatian Open in 2006 and finished in the top 40. In 2008, he teamed up with Roger Federer to win gold medals in the doubles at the Beijing Olympics and was ranked 9^th in the world. Wawrinka has also won three Grand Slam single titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

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Product Overview

Dassault launched the Falcon 900 in 1987 and introduced the Falcon 900EX in 1996. In 2003 Dassault began offering the 900EX with the EASy digital cockpit calling the model the 900EX EASy. Based on the Honeywell Primus Epic system, EASy (Enhanced Avionics System) offers improved safety via information management features to improve overall crew situational awareness.

As of January 2019, 60% of the Falcon 900EX EASy aircraft were purchased pre-owned by their current owners, the other 40% new. 7.6% are for sale with the majority of those (89%) under an exclusive broker agreement. When for sale, the average time on the market is 288 days.

Brief History

The Falcon 900EX EASy received certification from the FAA and EASA in November 2003 and production ended in 2010. A total of 122 Falcon 900EX EASy business jets were built, 3 are retired.

Worldwide Appeal

There are 119 Falcon 900EX EASy business jets in operation today. Most of these are wholly owned (117) with 2 in shared ownership. 12.6% are currently leased. North America has the largest percentage of wholly owned Falcon 900EX EASy aircraft (69%), followed by Europe (20%).

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Philipp Wieser, former Jetcraft Sales Director, Central Europe
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

I joined Jetcraft in March 2018 so I have been there just about a year now.

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

I am the Sales Director for Central Europe and based in Zürich, Switzerland. I oversee Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland. My role is to assist our clients in the process of purchasing a new aircraft or selling their current one, prospecting new clients and keeping up the relationship with them as well as with colleagues and partners of the industry.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

I wake up before 07:00 am and start my day with a coffee while checking e-mails that came in through the night. I try to make time for a work out before getting ready for the day. So much to a possible routine, as really the days are always different and I have to prepare either for a day in the office or for travelling. For a day in the office I spend time catching up on e-mails, following up on current deals or leads and taking care of administrative tasks. For days of traveling, nothing compares to face-to-face meetings, so traveling is a major part in our business, whether visiting existing clients, meeting new ones or attending events and conferences.

What do you love most about your job?

As a sales person for business jets I deal with basically every little detail that comes with the transaction – where and how was the aircraft built, its technical and cosmetic details, its history if pre-owned, and finally the whole process of selling / re selling it. I started my aviation career as a pilot on corporate jets and after a while I honestly got quite bored just flying the aircraft. In Aircraft Sales I can speak to manufacturers, the pilots, the technicians / engineers, the bank, the legal counsel and last but not least to the owners. Every transaction, every person I meet is different and unique in its own way which makes my job everything but monotonous … that is what I love.

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Product Overview

The Cessna Citation XLS+ is the third aircraft in the Citation Excel series (also including the Excel and the XLS models). It is the updated version of the Citation XLS and features improved Pratt & Whitney PW545C engines and an upgraded Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite. Exterior and interior restyling is also integrated into the new model, most prominently the extended contour of the nose and expanded seat widths.

As of January 2019, 36% of Citation XLS+ aircraft were pre-owned by their current owner, the other 64% new. 4% are for sale with more than half of those (64%) under an exclusive broker agreement. When for sale the average time on the market is 123 days.

Brief History

Certification for the Citation XLS+ came in the first quarter of 2008 with the first customer delivery in the final quarter of 2008. A total of 261 Citation XLS+ aircraft were built, 1 is retired and 4 are with the manufacturer.

Worldwide Appeal

There are 256 Citation XLS+ aircraft in operation today. Most of these are wholly owned (251) with 5 in shared ownership. 10% are currently leased. North America has the largest percentage of wholly owned Citation XLS+ aircraft (61%), followed by Europe (26%), and Asia (7%).

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Jetcraft Owner and Chairman Jahid Fazal-Karim spoke with Anna Stewart on for CNN’s Passion to Portfolio segment. Below is a transcript of the interview. The full interview can be seen here.

Anna Stewart: It’s one of their latest and most prized assets – a $30 million plane that offers the very latest in luxury. This is absolutely stunning and I’m loving it’s designed by Fendi?

Jahid Fazal-Karim: That’s right, these owners tend to have their favorite brands on the plane so I guess this was custom made for that airplane when they bought it. As you can see this airplane, it’s a five year old airplane, is in pretty good shape for five years old. We sold this airplane when it was new and now we’re buying it back.

Anna Stewart: Jahid Fazal-Karim is the owner of Jetcraft, a business which buys and sells private jets. For him it’s the realization of a long held dream.

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