Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) has been around for some time as the luxurious corporate jets division of Airbus. There are now some 200 ACJs flying around the world, but Airbus wants to build its presence in a buoyant market – despite or even thanks to the pandemic. AirInsight caught up with Head of Marketing, Stan Shparberg, during a media event at the Monaco Yacht Show on September 23 to discuss the current market and plans. In conversation with Airbus ACJ's Stan Shparberg. ACJ used the event to launch a new and disruptive interior design made by graffiti artist Cyril Kongo, which brings vibrant colors to the corporate jet world. While the Monaco Yacht Show is all about the most luxurious and impressive yachts and boats, Airbus had the top roof of the Monaco Yacht Club to itself to invite potential customers. It has been the first physical event since the outbreak of the pandemic. ACJ's Head of Marketing Stan Shparberg with the ACJ TwoTwenty by Cyril Kongo, who is in the background. (Richard Schuurman) “It’s not even possible to describe the importance of being face-to-face. We really have missed the ability to interact directly. Yes, digitalization is helping us a lot, we have different means to connect but there is nothing that replaces a face-to-face discussion, whether it is with the customers, whether it is with the ecosystem”, says Shparberg. “I have been more lucky maybe than maybe most. We at ACJ started traveling to customers in Miami and Dubai that were a little bit more open during the pandemic at the end of last year and early this year, but I am really looking to things getting back to normal.” Yet, don’t expect that corporate jets are immediately being sold at events like the Monaco Yacht Show: “Certainly, the sales process for an aircraft of this type takes some time. I have seen examples where we went from meeting someone in February and closing a deal in April. You have customers that know what they want but in most cases, it is a long process. We are reconnecting with people, talking about different options. Certainly, with the bigger ACJ, we also have the choice of a designer, the layout. With the TwoTwenty, we are seeing people that are coming from the business jet world that are more used to saying: ‘Give me an offer, I know I have a few options in the cabin, and let’s move forward.” The first ACJ320neo was delivered in January 2019 to Acropolis Aviation. (Airbus) In its history, Airbus has done a corporate jet for almost all of its commercial aircraft. It even offered an ACJ380 based on the A380, but it never sold. After the re-engining of the A320-family, ACJ followed suit and now offers the ACJ319neo and ACJ320neo. Also available are the ACJ330neo and the ACJ350, with the one based on the A350-1000 now the top range of the product line. When Airbus bought the Bombardier CSeries and integrated it into its portfolio as the A220 in 2018, it opened new possibilities to offer a smaller aircraft. That’s exactly what happened in October 2020, when Airbus launched the ACJ TwoTwenty as an extra-large business jet. “Overall, there are 200 ACJs that are flying around. Less than fifty percent of those are in the governmental fleets and they do quite a lot of head of states and ministerial planes. The other fifty percent are business jets and charters”, says Shparberg. “The ACJ320 clearly is the most popular one, but there is quite a lot of interest with the wide-bodies now as well. Especially the ACJ350, with people that want the latest and greatest when it comes to technology. We have passengers that say they want the latest and greatest, they don’t want the technology from the seventies or eighties and that is why the 350 and 320 are differentiating.” Shparberg confirms that no ACJ350-1000 has been sold yet. Impression of how the interior of an ACJ350 could look like. (Airbus) While the A319neo hasn’t sold so well with airlines, the ACJ319neo has racked up some six sales so far. “We are counting on more. With the neo, one of the key criteria people are looking for is range. The neo gives so much more range to the plane.” The A319neo has a range of up to 12.500 kilometers with eight passengers and Maximum Take-Off weight of 72.8 tons. This compares to 10.460 km for the ACJ TwoTwenty, which has an MTOW of 63 tons. The ACJ320neo, which has won ten orders, can do 11.100 kilometers and has an MTOW of 79 tons. “Also the noise level is much better. One of the things that I get asked by customers when we travel on demo flights is ‘will it be different from a noise perspective?’ Some of them are used to the biz-jet. It is amazing to see that we are able to achieve under 50 decibels and down to 47 in the bedroom area, so it is really comfortable and wide. You could be sitting on the flight and talking to someone without having to raise your voice.” Business jet market is booming Worldwide, the business jet market has been booming in the last year. Especially during the pandemic, travelers who were fortunate to do so opted for private flights on business jets to avoid crampy airliners and busy airports. All business jet makers have benefitted from increased demand and it’s no different at ACJ, says Shparberg: “The overall momentum in business aviation is quite incredible. We always have to stay humble because we are part of Airbus, but things are starting to pick up everywhere. Certainly, we weathered the storm much better than the rest of the company. We have one of our strongest years with close to thirteen orders for the 220 and a 330 as well.” Two factors are driving the market: “When we just had the pandemic, there was the interest of governments to help the industry a bit. For example, we were very lucky to secure an order from the German government for additional 321s. On the other hand, you have also seen the world coming from 1.800 billionaires in 2019 to over 3.000 today. The world has only become wealthier during the pandemic. It’s quite surprising how the numbers have increased. If you look at our customer base, our biggest asset is our customers. We probably have the most exclusive customer base in the world and they have all done pretty well as well.” Shparberg is not willing to go into the ACJ market outlook for the next few years, but Airbus is working hard on growing its market. “What we have done is helping us by entering a new market. With the 220, we are going from the market for the business liners, which is roughly 400 planes, to a market that is roughly 2.200 aircraft. So the size of the market has increase five-fold with the addition of the ACJ TwoTwenty. Price positioning, positioning of the product, the standard cabin, allows us to compete with Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault. That certainly gives me a cautious and ambitious sort of outlook for the future of ACJ.” Airbus also sees the TwoTwenty as a replacement for the Boeing BBJ 1. Model of the ACJ TwoTwenty with Cyril Kongo features. (Richard Schuurman) The Head of Marketing thinks Airbus has a good opportunity to go after the ultra-long-range, long-range, and heavy jet segments with the 220. But then there is another factor that he has to include in his sales plans: can he deliver them? “The other question is the number of production slots you can secure. This is a very, very popular plane with airlines as well. We are lucky to have a number of slots allocated to us, although I can’t disclose the number to you.” Young customers want something different We talked to Stan Shparberg after the launch of the ACJ TwoTwenty with the new interior design by Cyril Kongo. Airbus really wanted to do something else: “A lot of people, especially in the business jet market, do want something exclusive and different. Exclusivity is something that drives people. They are prepared to wait longer and pay more. There is also a younger generation, there is a lot of new wealth. We are seeing it in Silicon Valley and in China. Those guys don’t want to be in the same trend as what people have had in the past. So we see a lot of customers that are interested in disruptive opportunities. Will it be the most popular cabin we will sell? I don’t think so but I think it will definitely generate interest.” (AirInsight talked to Spharberg together with fellow-journalist Kurt Hoffmann)
