Very light jet market thrives at Van Nuys Airport

By Mark Madler
San Fernando Valley Business Journal Staff

Three years ago the very light jet was going to change business aviation.

The four- to six-seat planes cost less to buy and operate than other private jets and were much quieter too. Media coverage contributed to an image of a time 10 years hence when a thousand small planes would zip around the country primarily as air taxis, a shared service that would drop the cost of private air travel.

Honeywell Aerospace forecast deliveries of very light jets at 1,900 by 2015 and revised the figure to exceed 3,300 aircraft by 2017.

The great expectations, however, never materialized.

Eclipse Aviation, the most well known of the VLJ manufacturers, filed for bankruptcy last year after making fewer than 300 of their Eclipse 500 jets. DayJet, one of the larger air taxi firms, ceased operations in September and has its fleet of aircraft on the market.

Despite these setbacks, the very light jet market thrives at Van Nuys Airport and other Southern California airfields serving general aviation. Divorced from the air taxi concept, the benefits of these jets focuses on the lower purchase and operating costs that give access to private aviation to those who otherwise couldn't afford it.

In that respect the expectations have been met, said Cyrus Sigari, co-owner of JetAVIVA, a very light jet brokerage and services firm in Van Nuys.

"It is still cool to own a VLJ," Sigari said. "It is not so cool to own a $20 million, $30 million jet."

JetAVIVA works exclusively with the small jets, giving assistance in the purchase, delivery and flying of the aircraft. It has put clients into the Eclipse 500 and the Cessna Citation Mustang. In March, the company takes delivery of what executives claimed is the first Embraer Phenom 100 very light jet in the U.S. to sell on behalf of a client.

Embraer is the latest player in the VLJ field - a field expected to grow in the next couple of years as other manufacturers - including Honda and Cirrus - receive certification for twin-engine and single-engine very light jets.

Not even Eclipse is totally out of the picture.

The assets of the company are expected to be bought by a new venture, EclipseJet, which includes as an investor Alfred Mann, owner of medical device and biotech firms in the Santa Clarita Valley.

By making these small, less-costly jets, the manufacturers create brand loyalty at an earlier stage. When the owners are ready to move up, these same companies will have larger planes waiting for them.