Waiting for delivery of private jets and helicopters reaches 15 months

Waiting time in line to buy new jets and helicopters has doubled in the pandemic. The deadlines for the delivery of aircraft were already long, between six and eight months, but now they can reach up to 15 months of waiting for delivery to buyers.

The explanation for the increase in demand lies in the quest to improve mobility. Buyers are customers who had no money and could not take ordinary trips on behalf of Covid-19.

For this year alone, Embraer expects to deliver up to 95 executive aircraft to its customers. In 2020, 86 models were made available. In the latest balance, released this month, the Brazilian company headquartered in São José dos Campos, in the interior of São Paulo, had already delivered 44 jets.

Some companies point out that the waiting time is due to the combination of high demand for vehicles with limited production capacity. According to Rubens Cortellazzo, commercial director of the Italian company Leonardo Helicopters, there was an increase of at least 35% in demand in the first half of 2021.

“A production line that has been designed to produce a certain number of machines per year, you can’t just increase production. We have a limitation. Demand grows and you can’t meet it. This is reflected in prices as well,” says Cortellazzo.

For those who do not want to wait for the delivery period to have a private aircraft, the used car market has been an option. Gualter Pizzi’s company acts as an intermediary between those who want to buy a model and those who want to sell it.

The company noticed an increase of at least 30% in the demand for the models, whose values ​​can vary from US$ 500 thousand to US$ 15 million (R$ 2.78 million and R$ 83.4 million). Prices vary by model, capacity and flight range.

“I’ve been working in the market for 35 years and I’ve never seen a movement like this. Before, the customer wanted a model and we had 10, 12 to evaluate, now we have about 2 or 3 models”, said Pizzi.