How to Buy a Business Jet

Posing as a serious customer, one man sets out to buy a Gulfstream private jet

The Meru cab was to come at 8.30 in the morning, and at 8.30 a call came to say that the car had broken down. Since the appointment was at 10, and, when your taxi betrays you, the only reliable way to reach anywhere in Mumbai is by local train, I took it. Now, 8.30 is also when the city’s peak hour starts and I therefore found myself squeezed in the compartment by a few million fellow warriors. I got off at Andheri station, saw neither an auto nor taxi available. There was a share-an-auto queue that did not seem too long. I got to the end of it, and soon realised that I had become prey to an optical illusion combined with wishful thinking. The queue did reach the auto boarding area, but then stretched 50 metres further and wound back to the same spot. It took half-an-hour before my turn came, and I just about managed to reach the five-star hotel where I was to meet three Gulfstream executives, from whom I would find out how to buy a business jet by posing as a customer. Never in the history of Gulfstream must a customer have arrived in this fashion. The irony was not lost on me.

The Gulfstream executives were expecting me. There was Jeff Miller, vice-president, corporate communications, and Roger Sperry, regional senior vice-president, international sales. The man who would have been part of the negotiations if I were an actual customer was Jason Akovenko, regional vice-president, Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore. Normally, you don’t buy a jet by dropping him an email, but you can do that too. Or there’s the local sales representative.

Since it would have sounded silly of me to say I want to buy a jet, I asked him what I should go for. He replied with a question, “How would you typically fly? Would you go long distance or would you fly shorter sectors?”

We had arrived at the first obstacle in the negotiation. I had not thought of it.

“Let’s say about 10-12,” I said.

“Passengers?” he asked.

“No, 10-12 journeys in a month. Mostly domestic and once in a while an international flight,” I said, impressively making it up on the fly.

“How many people would go with you on a typical trip?” he wanted to know.

“About 10,” I said without blinking. Had it been a sting operation, this was the point at which I would have been exposed. The average passenger load of big jets is about three or four passengers, and the average passenger load of the smallest jet is also three or four. No one buys these aircraft to ensure full occupancy, unless they intend it for commercial purposes like charter flights.

“You said domestic, so mostly it would be a day flight, not evening ones… sleeping doesn’t sound like a requirement,” he surmised.

The logic made sense, so I agreed not to sleep aboard my Gulfstream. Appreciate my presence of mind. All this wouldn’t have been difficult for someone to answer if he actually made 10-12 flights in a month. But I had said enough to be shown some options. There was the entry level G150, which can fly a maximum of eight. Since I had said 10 passengers, that wouldn’t do. Then there was the G250, which at 8–10 capacity would just about pack in all of the imaginary us. At the upper end, there was the G450, which could hold 18 passengers.

Before we zeroed in, there was one more question: when did I need the jet? Did I need it right away or would I wait—as Jason’s marketing spiel put it, “Do you have the ability to order something so that we first build it and then deliver it to your exact specifications?”

I can afford to be whimsical when my money’s not involved. I wanted it custom built to my specifications. “Then we can look at new aircraft, because there is a waiting period for all of our new aircraft. If you are talking of the G250, then it would be the beginning of 2013,” he said. That was two years away.

“If I want it immediately?”

“Then you’d have to buy a pre-owned aeroplane. The G250 is an all-new aircraft and there are no G250s out there. We can find alternative aeroplanes for you if that’s the case. We can look at the G200—that’s the predecessor to the G250. Or the G450, which has been out for a while,” he said.  

“What’s a pre-owned aircraft?”

“Pre-owned is something already taken delivery of and used by someone else,” he said.

“A second-hand aircraft?” 

“Absolutely.” 

“So does that mean if I want a new aircraft, I’d have to plan it two years ahead?”

This was not the case. The G250 would take two years because it was still in the works. For other new aircraft, 15 months was the recommended average, though if you were a pushy billionaire, it could happen faster.

I could wait since I was never going to get it anyway. We went into the fine details of the G250. Having ordered it, I would have to decide on the interior layout. For example, should there be 4, 5, 8, 9 or 10 seats? “We work from the big decision points down to the smaller ones. From the floorplan decision all the way down to the metal plating in the seat belts. You just have to tell us,” said Jason.

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