By Azlin Ahmad
SINGAPORE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, designer and producer of business jet aircraft, said on Wednesday it still has a positive outlook on Asia, despite the economic crisis.
Joe Walker, Senior Vice President of International Sales, said a rising number of Asian airports, and reduced restrictions in airspace, were facilitating the demand for business jets across the region.
He said Gulfstream now holds slightly over half the Asian business jet market. "We're very bullish on Asia. We expect that with investment in sales and production that we will exceed the market share that we have today," Walker told Reuters in an interview.
Walker said Gulfstream currently holds a 54 percent share of the large cabin business jet market in the world, with its main competitors Bombardier Aerospace (Tse:BBDa) and Dassault Aviation (Paris:AVMD) holding the bulk of the remaining market.
He declined to say how much an increase in the market share Gulfstream was looking for in Asia. Walker said that in 1985, business jets in Asia were virtually non-existent. But 12 years later, he said the figure had jumped to 160 aircraft in total, mainly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan.
"Around 54 percent of that is Gulfstream aircraft," he said. "In terms of total demand for business jets from Asia in the next decade, we expect a repeat of the graph."
With globalisation, more companies had businesses across the world and were realising business jets were more a necessity than a luxury, he said. Walker said Gulfstream expected to maintain what he termed its global leadership in the business jet aircraft industry worldwide.
"Anticipating, meeting and exceeding customers' requirements, that what we are," he said. "We listen carefully, and we constantly get feedback from customers, so we are aware of improvements that are needed."
When Gulfstream built its first business jet in 1958 it was the first corporate aircraft of its type and size designed specially for business use, Walker said. Since then, Walker said the company has produced a new model aircraft almost every decade, in response from customers for faster aircrafts that could travel longer distances non-stop.
The latest is the G-V, a luxury jet with a non-stop range of 6,500 nautical miles.
"We've always been the leader. That won't change," Walker said.
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