Boeing

The Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) continues to meet market demand for an airplane that can fly passengers more than 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 kilometers) in a comfortable, spacious cabin. Fifty Boeing Business Jets now are fully completed and in-service, including the first BBJ in Latin America. The fleet has generated more than 31,400 flight hours to date and 13,800 flights, with 99.9 percent reliability and no major technical issues reported.

"We continue to see a wide range of applications for the BBJ," said Lee Monson, president of Boeing Business Jets, at the second annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. "The versatility of the airplane allows owners to create a unique environment tailored to their specific needs and seating requirements, whether it's for eight or 100 passengers; for private use, corporate, charter or even government transport."

The BBJ platform is flexible enough that customers can have a passenger seating area as well as an executive lounge, a private suite and a bedroom, if required. The spacious interior makes it possible for passengers to be fully productive during travel. When people spend as many as 14 hours on one leg of a flight and are expected to be ready to work on arrival, it is important that onboard facilities allow them to be productive en route, and refreshed and ready to work when they arrive.

The following are examples that highlight the many applications for the BBJ:

• A BBJ designed for medical evacuations and charter operations recently flew the farthest distance yet for a BBJ: 6,854 nautical miles (12,694 kilometers).
• An all-business class 48-seat PrivatAir BBJ will soon begin operating as a scheduled Lufthansa flight from Duesseldorf, Germany, to Newark, N.J., in the United States.
• An intercontinental VIP transport BBJ will begin to be used by South African Air Force starting later this year.
• A BBJ 2 soon will be available for charter operations through Multiflight Ltd. in the United Kingdom, the first BBJ 2 to be based in Europe.

Two Boeing Business Jets are on static display at EBACE May 28 through 30 outside Palexpo, the exhibition and conference center located on the perimeter of Geneva International Airport. Boeing Business Jets also has an indoor booth at the show. There are 214 exhibitors and 36 airplanes on display at EBACE.