Honda enters small-jet fray
Honda enters small-jet fray
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...607250407/1148
Japanese carmaker to soon market HondaJet, a seven-seater to be aimed at corporate fliers.
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
For people looking for something larger than a Honda Ridgeline pickup, roomier than an Odyssey minivan and faster than an NSX sports car, the Japanese automaker is adding a jet to its lineup.
Honda Motor Co. will announce plans today to market its first plane, the HondaJet, which seats seven, including the pilot, according to people familiar with the situation.
The HondaJet will compete in the category of very light jets, also known as microjets -- small craft popular with businesses and wealthy pilot-owners.
Concerns about security after the Sept. 11 attacks have increased demand for personal planes. By the end of the decade, the Federal Aviation Administration estimates private jet sales will approach 12,000, an increase of nearly two-thirds since 2000.
The HondaJet will be 30 percent to 35 percent more fuel-efficient than other planes in its class, according to sources close to the company. It also offers nearly a third more interior room than competitors.
Developed in the United States in cooperation with Mississippi State University, the HondaJet represents the fulfillment of company founder Soichiro Honda's dream to produce airplanes.
A year ago, Honda flew an experimental HondaJet in public for the first time and the company suggested at the time that it might enter the aviation business.
"Honda has a strong reputation for innovation, reliability and quality that will serve it well in that market," said a person familiar with the plans.
The Japanese automaker, which also makes outboard motors and motorcycles, will be competing against aircraft manufacturers such as Textron Inc.'s Cessna, Eclipse Aviation Corp.
Both companies are readying similar-size microjets for use as small corporate planes and for air taxi services. Such planes typically cost $1 million to $2 million.
"Because it's Honda, a company with a reputation as a high-quality, high-volume manufacturer, this product is going to generate a lot of interest," said Bob Zuskin, an analyst who tracks the corporate jet market for Herndon, Va.-based GRA Aviation Specialists.
Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, is expected to make the announcement today at the Experimental Aviation Association's annual air show in Oshkosh, Wis. The HondaJet made its inaugural public flight at the show last July 28.
The HondaJet cruises 10 percent faster and has a range that is about 40 percent greater on 14 percent less thrust than Cessna's CJI+ model, according to Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's AOPA Pilot magazine.
The jet has aluminum wings, a fuselage made of composite plastics and two Honda HF118 turbofan jet engines mounted above its wings.
In 2004, Honda and General Electric Co., the world's largest jet engine maker, formed the GE Honda Aero Engines LLC venture to sell the HF118 engine. Honda has designed a piston engine for small propeller-driven aircraft, and discussed a separate venture with Teledyne Technologies Inc. to jointly manufacture and sell it.
The automaker began conducting research on small aircraft and jet engines in 1986 and pursued the project after founder Soichiro Honda's death in 1991.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certified the HondaJet as airworthy on Dec. 9.
It is registered as an experimental aircraft, according to the FAA's Web site. Honda has been conducting test flights since 2003 at an airfield in Greensboro, N.C., since 2003.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report. You can reach Christine
