Sunday, June 10, 2012

New Jersey: Teterboro Airport showcases best of private, corporate aircrafts

 
Steve Hockstein/Star-Ledger
Jim Simpson, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, makes remarks while surveying corporate aircraft at the National Business Aviation Association's annual conference and forum at Teterboro Airport on June 7.


  
Attendees survey the offerings such as the Citation C13, at the National Business Aviation Association's annual conference and forum at Teterboro Airport on June 7. 


  
Sue and Hugh Rooney of Air Bound Aviation in Fairfield get a gander at a shiny new Cirrus SR22 at the National Business Aviation Association's annual conference and forum at Teterboro Airport on June 7.

Published: Sunday, June 10, 2012, 12:50 PM 

 By Steve Strunsky/The Star-Ledger


TETERBORO — State Transportation Commissioner and jet-rated pilot Jim Simpson was like a kid in a candy store.

Simpson, who used to fly his own planes on business trips, was at a National Business Aviation Association conference at Teterboro Airport June 7, roaming the tarmac amid dozens of gleaming new corporate and personal aircraft.

"No pictures of me boarding a private jet with a woman who's not my wife," joked Simpson, who followed a high-heeled aviation executive up the stairs of a $56 million Gulfstream G550, before ducking into the plane's roomy wood and leather-trimmed cabin.

Ah, that new-jet smell.

The state Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over 44 small airports and 4,700 private aircraft in New Jersey, and Simpson was among several government and industry officials who addressed the June 7 gathering, emphasizing the key role of general aviation in the broader economy.

"It really helped me build my business," said Simpson, who learned to fly and bought a prop plane and a twin-engine jet to shuttle between United Van Lines franchises he ran before getting into government. "I gave up golf for flying, I love flying that much."

"Flying is hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of stark terror," said Simpson, who counts comedy as yet another passion. "For those of you who don't fly, it's better to be down here and wishing you were up there, than up there and wishing you were down here."

Teterboro alone supports 15,000 jobs and $1.8 billion in annual economic activity in the region, according to the NBAA. Dassault Falcon, whose $52 million 7X competes with the G550, has its Western Hemisphere headquarters at Teterboro and employs 450 sales and service workers in New Jersey, said Paul Florek, a company vice president.

Just 10 miles from Manhattan, Teterboro is a favorite landing strip for business executives, dignitaries and wealthy individuals traveling in and out of the New York region.

"It's a high concentration of wealthy individuals," Florek said.

Teterboro is one of five airports operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in addition to the agency's three major hubs, Newark Liberty, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, and a fourth commercial airport in Rockland County, Stewart Airport. Teterboro is the Port Authority's only "general aviation reliever," helping the major airports avoid the gridlock that would occur if more private jets had to use them, said the Port Authority's aviation director, Susan Baer, who also addressed the conference.

Nationwide, Baer said, each general aviation aircraft in service generates $1 million in economic activity and five jobs.

Yesterday's event drew 2,400 aviation professionals and jet shoppers, a record number of attendees for a regional NBAA conference, the group said. Copies of Business Aviation Insider, Professional Pilot and other trade publications were laid out near the registration desk inside a sprawling hangar. The conference's 130 exhibitors included PNC Aviation Finance, FlightDocs ("Exceptionally Efficient. Extra Secure."), and Winslow Liferaft Co. A large banner hung over the area where Simpson and other officials spoke read, "No plane, no gain."

Outside, 35 prototype and demonstration aircraft were on display, accompanied by test pilots and other company representatives smiling behind aviator sunglasses. Models ranged from the Cirrus SR-22T, a four-seater with its own parachute that the Duluth, Minn., company sells for about $350,000, to the big Embraer Lineage 1000, a private version of the Brazilian manufacturer's Embraer 190 regional airliner, which, like the Gulfstream and the Dassault, is also priced in the $50 million-plus range.

Mark Bennett, a regional sales rep for Eclipse Aerospace, stood by a sleek-looking Total Eclipse, an updated version of the twin-engine, five or six-seat Eclipse 500, painted in metallic silver and priced at $2.15 million. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based company markets its product as a new class of aircraft known as a VLJ, or very light jet, designed for maximum fuel efficiency. Bennett said the Total Eclipse weighs in at a mere 6,000 pounds, not quite lighter than air, but not much heavier than some SUVs.

"My Chevy Suburban's probably darn close to that," he said.

Source:   http://www.nj.com

No comments:

Post a Comment