As commercial airline passengers face another summer of crowds, delays and missed connections, the owners of private jets can look forward to federal regulators’ help in making their flights more comfortable and stylish.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration proposed for the first time on July 13 new rules that would allow safety criteria for jets operated for private use to be less stringent than those for commercial airliners.
The proposal, which was pushed by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, or GAMA, comes as sales of luxury jets of all sizes have more than doubled to $16.5 billion since 1988.
“The sky is the limit,” said Jeff Bosque, president of Associated Air Center in Dallas, which designs and builds interiors for well-heeled entrepreneurs, heads of state and just plain rich owners of private aircraft made by Boeing Co., Airbus SAS and other companies. Clients often bring personal designers who worked on their residences or yachts.
They are “looking for a flying home,” Bosque said.
The current interior cabin rules were made with the safety of commercial passengers in mind, not personal aircraft, where there are fewer people and trips involved. The new rule wouldn’t apply to companies that lease or otherwise make money operating business jets.
Until now, VIP air travelers have had to seek exemptions, often a long and costly process, when they wanted to upgrade jet interiors with such amenities as large bedrooms; bathing facilities; big dining areas with LCD lighting – or spiral staircases.
Alison Duquette, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said the agency has issued 75 exemptions to its cabin-interior rules during the past decade.
Sometimes, the answer is no. The agency denied a request for a glass disco dance floor in a Boeing 777-200; it also has declined to allow chandeliers.
Though the FAA has had this idea on the back burner since 2001, the big push came from the aviation makers association. The Washington-based trade group represents 60 companies that manufacture general-aviation aircraft, including Chicago-based Boeing, Bombardier Aerospace of Montreal and Cessna Aircraft Co. of Wichita.
“Now, business jets seating six or seven have the same standards as commercial planes,” said Walter Desrosier, vice president of engineering and maintenance for GAMA.
The group sent the FAA a 46-page letter in 2003, asking for changes to rules covering such issues as flight attendants, exits, aisles, side-facing seats, placards and signs, and glass partitions and mirrors.
Realizing that the exemption process was taking too much time and resources, the agency proposed the new way to certify personal aircraft.
James Butler, chief executive of Shaircraft Solutions LLC in Bethesda, Md., which advises clients on private air travel, said most of them want smaller aircraft and worry more about Internet connectivity in the air than 10-course meals.
Still, there is a robust high-end.
Boeing Business Services, a joint venture between Boeing and General Electric Co., reports the price for its largest business jet, the BBJ3, is $67 million. That’s without a paint job or furnished interior. Because of demand, the company can’t start building yours – which is the size of a 737 airliner – until 2011.
Since Boeing started its business line in 1998, it has delivered 104 jets to customers such as Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, the South African air force, and the government of India, according to spokeswoman Vicki Ray.
About a third of the orders are from the Middle East, and 44 percent are placed by individuals.
