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.

FMI: http://fcn.state.fl.us/dms/motor/mp60b-4.html#003