Russians love big business jets

Featured in the Jet Expo 2015 static park are some of the most popular business aircraft in Russia: large-cabin and long-range types. These categories account for over 50% of the nearly 500-strong private bizav fleet operated in the country. The Russian customers’ predilection for spacious cabins and long-range capability can be explained by the country’s large territory, the Russian business’s intergraton in the global economy, and the glitzy mentality ingrained in this category of passengers. Emperor Aviation, one of the largest bizav operators in Russia, says the most popular business jet models in this country are the long-range Bombardier Global XRS and the large-cabin Challenger 605 and Embraer Legacy 600. Moscow-based private aircraft broker ArcosJet notes that Russian customers continue to go for the Challenger 605, Falcon 2000, Global XRS/6000, and Falcon 7X. One of the most popular recent models is the Gulfstream G650, which sells in Russia better than the manufacturer’s previous flagship product. These observations coincide with the statistics provided by the world’s largest Internet-based bizav sales resource JETNET. As of August 2015, 72 business jets were registered in Russia (the other bizav aircraft flying in the country had foreign registration); of these, 45% were large-cabin and long-range types. The most popular models were the Bombardier Challenger 604/605, Challenger 850, Embraer Legacy, Falcon 900, Falcon 7X, and Gulfstream G550. The average age of 70% of the Russian-registered fleet stood at around 10 years, making it one of the youngest fleets in Europe. According to ArcosJet, the structure of the Russian business jet fleet differs from those in the US and Europe, where medium- and small-sized airplanes are more popular, and is rather comparable to the Chinese bizav market, which also prefers the spacious Gulfstream G550/650, Falcon 7X, Global XRS/5000/6000, Challenger 605, and Embraer Legacy 600/650 models. It is hard to guess at the end price of business jets selling to Russia. There are, of course, catalog prices, but the cost of extra options and customized interiors is charged separately, and may come up to half the airframe price tag.