Bombardier this week became the latest aerospace company to decide that the current downturn has “hit bottom,” but considering the incentives available for those who are considering a major purchase, it’s still clearly a buyer’s market. For instance, Hawker Beechcraft recently announced a no-cost maintenance program for its Premier IA composite-fuselage light business jets. The program covers the maintenance on the first five years or 1,000 flight hours, whichever comes first. The silver lining in the downturn has been that those deferring aircraft purchases have been upgrading their current equipment. The good news for those considering that route is that the shops are just as competitive as the OEMs and are devising innovative incentives, like J.A. Air Center’s Zero Downtime deal on King Air G1000 upgrades.
Under the program, J.A. will give customers use of a glass panel King Air for direct operating costs only while theirs is getting the new panel at the company’s Aurora, Ill., facility. The three-screen panel was first installed in the C90-series King Airs and was recently approved on the 200 and 200B series. J.A. says the Aircraft Bluebook estimates the addition of the G1000 adds $350,000 to the resale value of C90s and a similar increase is expected for the 200s.
