With today's long-distance, ultraluxe corporate jets, the skies have never been friendlier.
For East coast executives, last-minute business trips to Tokyo used to be about as appetising as the patty melt on United flight 863. But most execs would suffer the heartburn if they could simply get on a flight that wasn't canceled 10 minutes before takeoff. Air rage is becoming a serious occupational hazard.
So it's no wonder that the latest staple in the booming global economy is the top-gun corporate plane. Uber-jets like the Gulfstream V and Bombardier Aerospace's Global Express cost a cool US$40 million, but they bound nonstop across the Pacific and they do it with style, comfort, and so much worker-friendly convenience that passengers might forget they ever left the office.
The Gulfstream V and Global Expressââ,¬"along with Boeing's 737 business jet and Airbus's corporate A319ââ,¬"have become de rigueur for Fortune 500 companies, sports celebrities, and prominent high-tech CEOs. When Apple's board of directors rewarded Steve Jobs in January for work well done (after all, his annual salary is US$1), the bonus was a Gulfstream V. Other new-economy notables who own a GV (pronounced gee-five) include Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle; and Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's former chief technology officer. Myhrvold even appeared in an advertisement as the 100th GV buyer.
The jets have star power, but manufacturers are quick to point out that they're far more than trophies for the ultrarich. "We don't like to think of it as a perk," sniffs Gulfstream spokesman Keith Mordoff. "It's more of an essential business tool for global executives."
True enough. Of the top 100 US companies, 87 now have their own jets. The clamor for more planes comes almost entirely from large corporations. "Business aviation as an industry has grown tremendously over the last three or four years," says Bombardier spokesman Leo Knaapen. "We've never seen this type of growth before."
Neither Gulfstream, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, nor Bombardier can keep up. Bombardier's waiting list runs into 2002, and Gulfstream is working on a US$3.5 billion backlog.
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