ALL AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS hire from the same professions. They must be great at designing, certificating, building, selling and supporting aircraft. All of them make good products. But despite these similarities, they are all completely different. Talk to anyone who has moved between two manufacturers and they will tell you how different the cultures are.

Since the start, Honda Aircraft Company has embraced its differences from others. Most obviously with where it put the engines on its wing. It has also launched the Echelon in a very different way to its competitors. Rather than surprising the market with an announcement, it spent several years discussing the concept of what is now the HondaJet Echelon and showcasing it at shows like EBACE and BACE. After launching last year, the company now has 415 signed letters of intent for the aircraft.

In this issue we speak with Amod Kelkar, Honda Aircraft Company’s senior vice president and chief commercial officer. Kelkar is also leading the change from Honda Aircraft Company’s dealership model to direct sales in some markets.

We also look at Axis Aviation, a relatively new operator in Europe. But it is very much not Niall Olver’s first business aviation rodeo. In 1993 he left IBM to join ExecuJet as MD. Back then it was a small company offering business jet maintenance at Johannesburg’s Lanseria Airport.

Olver grew it to a company with operations in 17 countries with 1,000 employees and 165 aircraft under management and then sold it to Luxaviation in 2015. Axis Aviation, his new launch, is looking to disrupt aircraft management by using technology.

Talking about technology, we are great believers in the opportunities for business aviation to lead the Fourth Aviation Revolution. But you do not have to trust us. “Business aviation will play a pivotal role in the adoption of advanced air mobility,” says Scott Cutshall, senior vice president strategy and sustainability at Clay Lacy. If you are interested in learning more, you might want to sign up to our Revolution Aero newsletter.

We also have great pieces looking at how Wulf Aviation, one of Mexico’s leading aircraft brokers, is using artificial intelligence. The three founders want to use it to become the leading broker in Latin America. However, some of the brokerages that spoke at our first CJI Latin America Conference in March will be doing everything they can to stop them.

We have had a fantastic start to the year. It was amazing to see so many people at our CJI London, SAF Investor London, CJI Latin America and CJI Dubai conferences. If you are reading this copy, you probably picked it up at EBACE – Europe’s largest business aviation meet-up. The pandemic reminded us how important shows like EBACE and BACE are to the industry and we hope to catch up with you there.