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A very light jet (VLJ), entry-level jet or personal jet, previously known as a microjet, is a category of small
business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking coworker, associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more ...
s that seat four to eight people. VLJs are considered the lightest business jets and are approved for single-pilot operation.


History

The first small jet-powered civil aircraft, the 1950s Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris, has been retroactively suggested as being the first VLJ, as it seats four with a single pilot and is smaller than modern VLJs. The production of MS.760 differs from modern business jets in having a sliding canopy for cabin access rather than a door; a six-seat version with an enclosed cabin and a conventional door was canceled after a single prototype was built. Two unbuilt
Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...
aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s would have met the definition of a VLJ. The first was the 407, a four-seat civil version of the T-37
jet trainer A jet trainer is a jet aircraft for use as a Trainer (aircraft), trainer, whether for basic or advanced flight training. Jet trainers are either custom designs or modifications of existing aircraft. With the introduction of military jet-powered ai ...
proposed in 1959; however, the 407 never progressed past the
mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...
stage due to insufficient customer interest. The second was the Fanjet 500, which had an MTOW of and a single pilot as originally envisioned in 1968; however, as the aircraft evolved into the
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, the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
demanded a second pilot and various design changes, resulting in an MTOW of . Other attempts to create small jet aircraft in this class in the 1970s and 1980s were the Gulfstream Aerospace FanJet 1500 and the
CMC Leopard The CMC Leopard was a British light personal business jet developed in the 1980s. Two prototypes were built and flown, but the type was never put into production. Design and development The Leopard was a twin-jet, mid-wing monoplane of composit ...
. After a flurry of interest in the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) and
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...
markets in the early 2000s, the VLJ sector underwent significant expansion. Several new designs were produced, such as the Embraer Phenom 100, the Cessna Citation Mustang, and the Eclipse 500. However, following the late 2000s recession the air taxi market underperformed expectations, and both Eclipse Aviation and air taxi firm DayJet collapsed. In December 2010, AvWeb's Paul Bertorelli explained that the term ''very light jet'' has lost favor in the aviation industry: "Personal jet is the description du jour. You don't hear the term VLJ—very light jet—much anymore and some people in the industry tell me they think it's because that term was too tightly coupled to Eclipse, a failure that the remaining players want to, understandably, distance themselves from." Single-engine designs were popular in the mid-2000s, before the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
diminished the market appeal of the category. Most of those projects, which included the Piper Altaire, Diamond D-Jet, Eclipse 400 and VisionAire Vantage, were all shelved. As of 2016, the only maintained aircraft are the Cirrus Vision SF50, which was type certified that year and put into production, and the Stratos 714, which at the time expected certification in 2019. Single-engine VLJs are expected to compete with single
turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
aircraft. Two VLJs in history have won the Collier Trophy, known as the most prestigious aerospace engineering award in the United States — the Eclipse 500 in 2006 and the Cirrus Vision SF50 in 2018.


Target market

VLJs are intended to have lower operating costs than conventional jets, and to be able to operate from runways as short as , either for personal use or in point-to-point
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...
service. In the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the Small Aircraft Transportation System is aimed at providing air service to areas ignored by
airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...
s.
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-based air taxi provider DayJet, which on October 3, 2007 began its Eclipse 500 service, planned to operate more than 1,000 of the VLJs within five years, and had stated in mid-2007 that it planned to operate 300 Eclipse 500s serving 40 regional airports in the
Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...
by the end of 2008. DayJet ceased operations on September 19, 2008.


Production

Many models are under development or awaiting certification, while others have failed. Six have so far made deliveries to customers: * 2006–2017 : Cessna Citation Mustang * 2006–2008 : Eclipse EA500 * 2008–present : Embraer Phenom 100 * 2013–present : Cessna CitationJet/M2 * 2014–2017, 2023–2024 : Eclipse 550 * 2015–present : Honda HA-420 HondaJet * 2016–present : Cirrus Vision SF50 The Cessna Citation Mustang was the first production VLJ, first delivered in November 2006, and discontinued in May 2017, and the Cirrus Vision SF50 is the first single-engine production VLJ, beginning deliveries in December 2016. Business jet sales suffered due to the late 2000s recession. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported in November 2010 that third quarter business jet sales were down 20.3% over the same period in 2009, with light jets suffering the most.Garvey, William
HondaJet flight testing is underway
'' Aviation Week'', 30 December 2010. Accessed: 9 January 2011.
In 2020, business jet deliveries slowed again due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, with a 20% decrease over the previous year. However, the industry bounced back the following year, in 2021, with a 10% increase over 2020 and a single VLJ delivery more than in 2019.General Aviation Aircraft Shipment Report 2021 Year-End - GAMA
/ref> The Cirrus Vision SF50 is the most-delivered VLJ with 615 total from 2016 through 2024 and most-delivered per year since 2018, and the Eclipse 500 has the most deliveries in a single year with 161 in 2008.


Engines


Interior amenities

When these smaller jets were first mooted, there was much interest in the fact that they would not have a lavatory on board, with articles discussing the matter in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and items on
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. Some manufacturers argued that for short flights of and 40 to 80 minutes' duration, the lavatory issue was not a problem and air taxi service companies said that it was not a concern for most of their passengers. Despite this, the Eclipse 500 had the option of an electric flush, remove-to-service lavatory with a privacy curtain - at the expense of one passenger seat, and the proposed Adam A700 design had a seven-seat configuration with rear lavatory with a privacy curtain. The Cessna Mustang also has an emergency toilet, but it is located between the cockpit and cabin. The Embraer Phenom 100 offers a fully enclosed lavatory with a solid door. The 2015 Honda HA-420 HondaJet has a full lavatory at the rear of the aircraft with flushing toilet, full sink and closing door.


List


Notes


See also

*


References


The VLJ (Very Light Jet) Market 2006-2017


* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071201174825/http://www.atsl.cee.vt.edu/aiaa_papers.htm#Nationwide Nationwide Impacts of Very Light Jet Traffic in the Future Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) (2006)]
A Transportation Systems Analysis Model (TSAM) to study the impact of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) (2005)



External links

* ttp://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/04/25/206082/EBACE+2006+Show+preview.html EBACE 2006 Show preview (series of articles), Flight International, April/May 2006
Time for an Eclipse?, Aviation Week, April 2006
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VLJs fly in the face of critics, Aviation International News, March 2006


* ttp://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2005/05/10/197623/Dawn+of+the+VLJ.html Dawn of the VLJ, Flight International, May 2005
NBAA


- TSAM is a nationwide transportation planning model to forecast air taxi demand in the United States. Business aircraft Very light jets