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01 Cover
02 ACASS Advert
03 Contents
04 Air BP Advert
05 Picture this
06 CTT Systems Advert
07 SAF - Neste Refinery
08 AIC Global Solutions Advert
09 AIC Title Service Advert
10 Sustainability - Aviation Finance
11 DC Aviation Advert
12 Cover Story - Cirrus Aircraft
13 Citadel Completions Advert
14 Cover Story - Verijet
15 Jaffa & Co Advert
16 Elevate Aviation - Profile
17 Jetcraft Advert
18 Metaverse - Digital Sales
19 Semaphore Intelligence Advert
20 Aircraft Family - Guardian Jet
21 CJI Miami Conference - Report
22 CJI Miami Nice - Report
23 CJI Dubai 2022 Conference - Report
24 Jet Data
25 Day in the life
26 Boeing Business Jets Advert
27 Contact Us
28 Pilatus Advert

CJI Miami 2022

Keeping up with soaring demand for aircraft, parts and people were key themes at last year’s CJI Miami 2022 conference. Words: Mike Stones

Pool party: Delegates network after a long day of in-depth presentations.

OUTSIDE THE Fontainebleau Miami Beach, the Florida heat beat down on nearly 600 delegates as they arrived at our CJI Miami 2022 conference. Inside, there was heat too (despite the ferocious air conditioning), but this was confined to descriptions of the high-demand market for private jets. Other key themes running through the 28 sessions were the prospect of recession, supply chain challenges, talent shortages and sustainability.

While many expected the US economy to worsen, almost all delegates were confident there will be no big fall in the next 12 months at least. Showing their faith in the future of business aviation, 33% of attendees said they were very optimistic and 66% reported being fairly optimistic.

Bankers shared the cautious optimism, with business expected to stay strong over the next year. “Senior executives do anticipate some level of recession, but the number one takeaway is that the banks are still open for business,” said Keith Hayes, senior vice president of PNC Aviation Finance. “We’re not in fear of recession, we’re lending very prudently and we’re still doing business,” he added.

Global Jet Capital’s CEO Vivek Kaushal agreed: “We’re doing probably 50% more volume this year than we did last year, so we’re still very much in business.”

Full order books partly reflected new buyers investing in private jet aviation for the first time, according to Maria Della Posta, president, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “We’ve seen a lot of new buyers,” said Della Posta. “Traditionally 10% were concept buyers but that has now grown to 30 – 35% depending on which vehicle [they are investing in].” Della Posta noted a generational trend, with new entrants coming from non-aviation segments. “Some folks have been on the fence a long time,” she said. “Many are very mature buyers who had never previously considered private travel. But today, they realise the value in doing so.” Della Posta added the “incredible spike in demand” is creating a new sense of urgency for the industry to create new products and services.

Another reason for optimism was OEMs’ strict supply chain management – aided by supply chain disruptions. But keeping up with the demand remained a worry for many. Maintenance was a particular concern. Speaking about backlogs in the sector, Christopher Jordan, Operations director, Global Engine Service Sales, Honeywell said: “Have you ever played Whac-A-Mole? That’s what it’s like right now. It’s triage.”

More than 500 delegates attended our CJI Miami conference.

Seeking sustainable solutions: Ève Laurier, from Bombardier said the industry’s willingness to engage with environmental topics could help it recruit a new generation of talent.

Demonstrating the scale of demand for new aircraft, fractional operator NetJets revealed it plans to accept delivery of 100 new aircraft in 2023 (about 12% of all projected deliveries) and hire 700 more pilots. Last year alone the company was due to take delivery of 75 new aircraft – with more than 40 delivered by early November. Its US fleet totals about 500 aircraft, with 100 in Europe, while Executive Jet Management manages more than 250 aircraft.

Despite being the world’s largest business jet operator, Pat Gallagher, NetJet’s president, Sales, Marketing and Service said record demand had forced the business to reduce sales. “For now, we are limiting jet card sales strictly to renewals from existing members,” he told delegates at our November conference.

“You have seen a lot of consolidation, people buying other operators to buy lift,” said Gallagher. “We made the very conscious decision to not do that, so it forced us to wait longer than we would have liked, because we had to wait for the deliveries and go out and hire pilots,” said Gallagher. “Consolidating certificates is difficult, consolidating cultures is even harder.”

Kenn Ricci, principal, Directional Aviation explained the number of private aircraft available for non-scheduled commercial operations has increased by 25% since 2016 – yet, at the same time, the number of operators has fallen. The average fleet size has grown from 11.4 to 15.7 aircraft in that period, while the number of operators with more than 80 aircraft has climbed from two in 2017 to seven. The biggest five operators (NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet, Wheels Up and Jet Linx) now control more than a third of the private jet fleet, said Ricci.

“We are limiting jet card sales strictly to renewals from existing members.”

Pat Gallagher, NetJets

“We are limiting jet card sales strictly to renewals from existing members.”

Pat Gallagher, NetJets

Vivek Kaushal, Global Jet Capital, reported business volume up 50% last year compared with 2021.

Shooting the breeze on a blowy evening at the

Cocktail Reception sponsored by AIC Title Service.

Father and son, Kenn and Kennedy Ricci, from Directional Aviation and 4Air respectively, both addressed the conference.

Toni Drummond, from Titan Aviation, joined the panel on Aircraft Management.

This growth has largely been driven by more investment in the industry, which means larger operators can now compete with airlines to attract and retain pilots. As bigger companies, they can also offer stability to employees and certainty to customers, offering a more anonymous option for high-profile individuals wary of being “flight-shamed”.

Many of the pilots recruited by the large business jet operators come from commuter airlines. “That trickles down and creates a challenge for the smaller operators as to where they get their pilots from. It exacerbates the problem because the larger operators continue to grow their fleet,” said Ricci. And the economies of scale enjoyed by large operators will continue to put pressure on smaller operators.

He also offered an insight into the nature of some of the new money entering the industry. More than 90 private aviation aircraft operating companies are now backed by private equity, he claimed. Ricci highlighted the scale of some of these investments with six private equity transactions worth more than $400m. “We’re at a whole different level with the amount of capital that’s been infused into the industry,” he said. “When capital starts looking for an opportunity, suddenly, we start having different products. We invent new products and products expand. And, of course, to fulfil the product expansion, we then have fleet expansion.”

Hiring (and keeping) the right people was a recurrent theme. Many attributed this to the industry’s image and commercial airlines’ polished recruitment campaigns. “Let’s be honest, we’re getting our tails kicked by the airlines,” said Andy Priester, chairman and CEO, Priester Aviation. “That’s where [the students’] mentality is. As an industry, we need to figure out how to engage and recruit people to get them involved in our organisations at the high school and university levels. If we do it together, we’re going to be able to make a difference, if we all do it separately it’s going to be really hard to fix.”

René Banglesdorf, founder of The Aviation Collective, chats to industry

colleagues at the Friends in Aviation Dinner, hosted by Titan Aviation.

FAA staff shortages were also said to be delaying some jet sales. Chris Rocheleau, chief operating officer, National Business Aviation Association said the challenge was business aviation companies “trying to move at the speed of Silicon Valley versus moving at the speed of government”. He added: “There’s always a little bit more work to do than there is the time and resources to do it, and the FAA faces the same challenges.

“As you have a lot of people rotating in the senior positions, it’s challenging for the agency to pick a path, there’s a lot of competing interests. Permanent leadership in a direction that’s important to the industry is going to make a difference.”

Sustainability offered both a challenge and an opportunity, according to speakers. While it remained the focus of industry criticism, Ève Laurier, vice president of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, Bombardier said it could be key to recruiting more talent. The same young people who are critical of aviation could be attracted by the promise of opportunities to make it more sustainable. “They can test the solutions [to sustainability] with us. They can't test them with commercial aviation”, she said.

For Wheels Up, growth remains important, but profit has become a bigger priority since its public listing in July 2021, according to Kenny Dichter, the company’s founder and CEO. Dichter described the challenges experienced since the company listed raising $650m by merging with a special purpose acquisition company Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle.

“The pitches come in a lot faster now,” he said. “Public investors are very focused on [shorter term] performance compared with being a private company. Profitability is probably more important now; public investors tell you what they want and we have to deliver that. It is more difficult but if you get it right, the rewards are great.”

Michael Amalfitano, Embraer Executive Jets delivered a keynote presentation on the new market for business aviation.

Andrew Collins, Sentient Jet, probed the impact of evolving technology on the future of private jet aviation.

FAA staff shortages were also said to be delaying some jet sales. Chris Rocheleau, chief operating officer, National Business Aviation Association said the challenge was business aviation companies “trying to move at the speed of Silicon Valley versus moving at the speed of government”. He added: “There’s always a little bit more work to do than there is the time and resources to do it, and the FAA faces the same challenges.

“As you have a lot of people rotating in the senior positions, it’s challenging for the agency to pick a path, there’s a lot of competing interests. Permanent leadership in a direction that’s important to the industry is going to make a difference.”

Sustainability offered both a challenge and an opportunity, according to speakers. While it remained the focus of industry criticism, Ève Laurier, vice president of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, Bombardier said it could be key to recruiting more talent. The same young people who are critical of aviation could be attracted by the promise of opportunities to make it more sustainable. “They can test the solutions [to sustainability] with us. They can't test them with commercial aviation”, she said.

For Wheels Up, growth remains important, but profit has become a bigger priority since its public listing in July 2021, according to Kenny Dichter, the company’s founder and CEO. Dichter described the challenges experienced since the company listed raising $650m by merging with a special purpose acquisition company Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle.

“The pitches come in a lot faster now,” he said. “Public investors are very focused on [shorter term] performance compared with being a private company. Profitability is probably more important now; public investors tell you what they want and we have to deliver that. It is more difficult but if you get it right, the rewards are great.”

“Profitability is probably more important now”

Kenny Dichter, Wheels Up

Audience Votes:

CJI Sponsors

Event partners

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Aviation

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VistaJet | XO

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AE Industrial Partners

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Aviation

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Pratt & Whitney

Priester Aviation

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Wheels Up

Sponsors

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Sustainability partner

4AIR

Association partners

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Foundation

ASA

International Aircraft Dealers Association

National Aircraft Finance Association

Charity partner

Corporate Angel Network

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Mike Stones, Group editor, Corporate Jet Investor

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