Wanted: New (Or Used) Executive Aircraft
Florida Governor Jeb
Bush and other state executives are shopping. They want a new
corporate aircraft and they really, really want a jet. They also
want a "flushable lavatory" on board the plane. Right now, none of
the state's three airplanes has a potty.
So, armed with studies cost analyses, comparisons between a new
aircraft acquisition and continued flight of the current fleet, The
Tallahassee Democrat reports Florida leaders have zeroed in on
three jets and two turboprops. "If we do end up going with the jet,
we're going to be looking at using it for the longer haul, where
it's more efficient," DMS Secretary Bill Simon told the Tallahassee
Democrat. "Up and down from Lake City, Panama City, Pensacola - the
fuel-burn will kill you."
The paper quotes Rosalyn Bruce, the Department of Management
Services (DMS) fleet director, as saying the state averages three
to four passengers per flight. She and Simon said half of those
flights are longer than 200 miles and one-fourth are more than 300
miles (Do you get the idea they're really crunching the numbers
here?).
Simon said an "expert evaluation team" - one that includes a
senior pilot and someone with check-writing powers - will consider
five offers DMS received to the "invitation to negotiate" he sent
out earlier this summer. The team will rank two or three choices,
he said, and then DMS will brief Governor Bush and other
"priority-one fliers" on their top choice. That decision will be
officially posted on Sept. 9.
Embraer Aviation recently announced plans to locate a new plant
in the Jacksonville (FL) area. Simon, however, said its Legacy
Shuttle is probably too big for state travelers to use
economically. He told the Tallahassee paper the plane, which seats
32 passengers, would be reconfigured to 14 if the state chooses the
2002 model offered by the manufacturer - at $14.2 million to buy or
$13.7 million to lease over 15 years.
It's a pretty stout
price there, and it's more airplane than we need," said Simon. The
cheapest option is a 1999 King Air 350 offered by CSI. That's
probably not going to work either. Simon says, for less than
$200,000 more than CSI is asking, Florida could get a new King Air
from Raytheon. The other two jets under consideration in Florida -
a Lear and a Cessna - are both 2003 models.
"The evaluation team will score all five planes on a list of
criteria." said Simon. "These are all just initially proposed
prices, and we'll see who's really hungry and who's not - to
bargain for more crew training, trade-in, warranty, financing and
the lease side of it." Good point. It is, after all, a buyer's
market these days.
After trading in its oldest plane on this newest acquisition,
Florida will still have two other King Airs - a smaller 1981 model
and a 1985 version that Gov. Bush uses most often.
Florida hasn't had a jet since Gov. Lawton Chiles sold the
Sunshine State's Saberliner in 1991.
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