INTELLIGENCE

摘要

HONDA AIRCRAFT IS PREPARING to ramp up production of HondaJet Elites by 25%, to five aircraft per month from the current four, by next year. It is hoped the transition will begin "late this year or next year," depending on the level of automation to be incorporated in the wing assembly process, Honda Aircraft President and CEO Michimasa Fujino said in late May. An 82,000-sq.-ft. extension of the Greensboro, North Carolina, factory is due to open in July 2020 for the automated wing assembly, along with some parts storage. The space freed in the current building will be "needed in [the] future." Fujino would not say whether this would be for a second aircraft in the airframer's product line. Honda plans to deliver 50 aircraft this year. Last year's deliveries, at 37, were slower than those in 2017. Fujino said the decrease was due to the transition to the Elite model, the impact of the governmental shutdown and some fleet deliveries that slid to 2019. The order backlog is equivalent to one year of production, he says. The HondaJet Elite sells for $5.2 million.