By Robert Hewson

Geneva

Now a principal stakeholder in and board member of Jetcraft Corporation, Jahid Fazal-Karim knows a thing or two about selling airplanes. Nine years at Airbus were followed by his stint as Bombardier Business Aircraft’s SVP, worldwide sales. Over 17 years in the craft he reckons he’s sold more than 1,500 business aircraft.

Like many observers Fazal-Karim sees 2010 as transition year for the business aviation, with the potential for a meaningful upturn by the end of the year – but he remains profoundly worried by the potential of the failing southern European economies to seriously damage the mood of the market.

It is, says Fazal-Karim, all about mood and perception. “There are plenty of buyers who still have plenty of money, The issue is whether they feel good about spending $20 million or $50 million. It really does come down to how people feel when they get up in the morning – and Greece puts everybody in a bad mood.”

Fazal-Karim notes ...

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Jetcraft Appoints Project Phoenix LTD. and Jet Trading as International Sales Representatives (PDF format) »

Appointments represent major advancement in Jetcraft’s continued evolution as a leading international remarketer of business aircraft

RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC, March 7, 2011 – Jetcraft Corporation, a provider of business aircraft sales, acquisitions, trading and brokerage services, today announces two new sales representatives: Project Phoenix Ltd., based in Dubai, UAE, and Jet Trading Group, based in Moscow, Russia.

Its new appointments will enable Jetcraft to rapidly expand its global reach to serve existing and new customers in emerging markets, while remaining true to its corporate values of trust, will and teamwork. The new representatives will operate under Jetcraft’s leadership as an extension of the company’s sales team, and leverage regional networks and local market intelligence in order to further enhance Jetcraft’s service offerings in these regions.

Founded...

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Jahid Fazal-Karim, a stakeholder and board member of Jetcraft Corporation, has sold more than 1,500 aircraft in a 17-year career, averaging nearly 100 sales a year in transactions that circle the globe. On the eve of EBACE) he spoke from his office in Zurich with BCA Senior Editor George Larson about the state of the market.

Describing 2010 as a "pivotal year," Fazal-Karim says, "What I see mainly is a two-way market. At the higher end. Global, G550, I can see clearly that we are in recovery mode, with fewer good aircraft available on the market and prices going up, I wouldn't be surprised if asset values go up quite fast."

But the recovery so far is limited to the heavy jets, he says: "At the lower end; Lears, Cessna, Hawkers, frankly, the crisis is not over yet, and there are a lot of airplanes available." And in between? "Not great," he adds.

"On the actual market side, I can explain it. The higher end is selling because the emerging countries such as China and in Asia are ...

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Jetcraft reports its own "finest hour" — a record third quarter (PDF format) »

October 20, 2010; Atlanta, GA — Jetcraft Corporation, Inc., the aircraft acquisitions and brokerage company, has posted a company unit sales record in Q3 2010, according to company president Chad Anderson.

“Although the conventional wisdom of the moment is that the market for re-sales is currently soft and is expected to be so for the foreseeable future, Jetcraft is hitting some key company milestones in terms of deal volume,” said Anderson. “The dollar value for these 15 transactions exceeded $300 million in Q3 alone.”

This was the company’s best quarterly showing since Q4 2005 when 14 transactions closed.

“Of note is, also in keeping with conventional wisdom that any growth will be outside of the US, 13 of these transactions involved a buyer and/or seller outside of the United States,” said Anderson, “which reflects our recent concentration on the international market segment.”

...

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Jennifer Harrington-Snell

May 5, 2010

Business Aviation

The business aviation market appears to be recovering from the economic downturn, propelled by increased sales in Asia and Africa, according to Jahid Fazal-Karim, co-owner of Jetcraft Corporation, and former senior vice president of worldwide sales for Bombardier. However, signs of continued economic instability in parts of Europe could have “a serious effect” on the Western markets.

Sales of long-range business jets, in particular, have increased approximately 15 percent in Asia over the last year, Fazal-Karim told AIN, adding that the market in mainland China has been “extremely active.” Demand has also increased in Russia, where the industry was “all but dead” in 2009. “The Asian market in general is pretty good, especially for aircraft on the higher end of the market,” he added. “They need the range.”

In addition, the increase in sales within the Indian market has been in the double digits, while the Mid...

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THE JETCRAFT STORY, Setting Sights on World Bizav Market Evolution (PDF format) »

You know you must be making clients happy when most of your business is either repeat business or referrals from other satisfied clients. That has been the Jetcraft Corporation story for nearly five decades. Just one year shy of 50 years in business, Jetcraft Corporation is today one of only a few companies claiming real longevity in this industry.

For most of those years, the U.S. has been in the vanguard of the bizjet market, but as has been evident for at least the last 10 years, global competition has shaken-up the world economy, and the business jet industry has had to right itself several times to keep pace with seemingly constant market change. And the pace of that change has become a lot faster.

According to Chad Anderson, the recently named President of Jetcraft Corporation (the company’s first since the untimely passing of John Ames nearly three years ago), “Of late, across the boa...

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