Industry leaders hailed the strong turnout for the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva this week as an indicator that the market may indeed finally by turning a corner after more than two and half years of decline.
“Cautiously optimistic,” was how several top executives put it when describing their prospects for boosting aircraft sales now that the worst of the financial crisis appears to be over and corporate profits are again on the rise. Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo pointed to a backlog of nearly $18 billion and an order rate that is exceeding deliveries as hopeful signs that the market will again begin a sustained period of growth. The large-cabin Gulfstream G650, he added, could face certification delays after the April 2 crash of one of the flight test airplanes in New Mexico, but he said that there remained a good possibility that the model would still earn its FAA papers by the end of this year.
