Honda Aircraft Co. is seeking to lure business travelers who want to save time with a new light jet that will be the world's first aircraft of its kind that can cross the Continental United States without having to refuel.
On June 14 Honda Motor Co.'s aircraft subsidiary, Honda Motor Co., announced that it would launch the aircraft in the United States based on the HondaJet 2600 concept, which was unveiled at a trade show in Las Vegas in 2021.
The new light jet has a range of 4,862 kilometers, which is 1.7 times greater than the previous Honda jets. For those who frequently travel between the East Coast and the West Coast, the time advantages of being able to cross nonstop are significant, said Honda Aircraft public relations staffer John MacIntosh.
The company is aiming to get type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration by 2028.
The new jet, the company's fifth model, can seat 11 passengers. It will be classified as a light jet weighing around 5.7 to 9.1 tons, one category above the previous very light jet models weighing about 5.7 tons or less.
The new light jet can achieve up to 20 percent better fuel efficiency compared to conventional light jets and more than 40 percent more than the next category of midsize jets.
The United States is the world's largest business jet market, with around 22,000 aircraft at the end of 2020. It takes a large margin over Germany in the second place with 783 and Britain in the third place with 525.
The HondaJet was developed on the idea of Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda. In 2012, the American aerospace company began mass production of jet aircraft.
From 2015, when the first model was delivered to March of this year, a total of 227 units had been delivered.
For five years, HondaJet reached the world's top position in the very light jet category for the number of deliveries for five consecutive years.
Honda's aircraft business has been operating at a loss, he said.
We want to generate a profit as quickly as possible through cost reductions and increasing service revenues, the public relations staffer said.