Eclipse, the Super Light Jet manufacturer, owned partially by Bill Gates (or Microsoft, don't remember) is filing for Chapter 11 - basically they are bust...

Jet Maker Eclipse Files for Chapter 11

Eclipse Aviation Corp., a pioneer maker of small, low-cost personal jets, filed for federal bankruptcy-court protection Tuesday amid signs that current economic downdrafts are particularly hurting makers of smaller business aircraft and private propeller planes. Beset by longstanding manufacturing problems, tightening global credit markets and negative publicity from some technical glitches with its so-called very light jets, the Albuquerque, N. M., company earlier this month temporarily failed to pay its 1,100 employees. Eclipse builds six-seat aircraft aimed at private pilots, as well as what the company hoped would become a viable industry of air-taxi operators.

Wall Street Journal, 26 November 2008

I have visited the airshow recently - unlike previous years it was almost empty. You could go to any plane with no appointment (including the BBJ, let alone the Gulfstreams) and all sales people, after about 10 minutes of conversation, admitted that there where almost no sales at all. I feel sorry for all those guys, who were buying 2 or more planes, of which only one was for their personal / corporate use and the rest were for sale at a premium. Now they are really fucked.

COUP DU MILIEU

A few years ago, the coup du millieu was introduced to Paris, having been popular for a considerable time in Bordeaux and other maritime towns. It is drunk immediately after the roast meat and consists of a small glass of a bitter liqueur or spirit, often both, which aids digestion. Normally an extract of Swiss absinthe is served, or failing that, Jamaican rum, or else simply very old Cognac. There are two ways of serving the coup du milieu: either the host pours it into small crystal glasses especially designed for this purpose and passes them to each guest, starting on his right; or else a young blonde girl, aged between 15 and 19, wearing no ornament on her head and with her arms bare to above the elbow, serves each guest. She holds a glass tray in her right hand and the bottle in her left and goes around the table serving each guest in succession. They must not take any liberties with this new kind of Hebe, who should be a virgin if possible (though 19-year-old virgins are extremely rare in Paris. However the coup du milieu is served, no pretext can be used to dispense with drinking it. Whether all the guests have arrived or not, five minutes before the meal is due to start, the host will appear in the drawing room (unless he is already there). After greeting the guests collectively or individually, the coup d'avant will be served (if this a custom of the house). It consists, as is well known, of a glass of vermouth. The host will then invite his guests to follow him in to the dining room.

Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, Almanach des gourmands

I like luxist and read it regularly. Sometimes, however, those people are simply wrong. Not that they are terribly wrong, but I would not have expected such level of ignorance in the field of private aviation from them. Now, the story goes like this - Her Majesty the Queen Elisabeth II is shopping for a jet. She is not looking for a BBJ, but rather something smaller, or as luxist is saying

they are in the market for a small executive plane like a Gulfstream or Learjet.

every schoolboy knows, that the only models of Gulfstream and LearJet, that are more or less comparable by size, tech specs and range are G150 / G200 to LearJet 60 / LearJet 60NXT (which is yet to come some time in 2012). The rest of Gulfstreams is just waaaaaaay out of reach of LJ, since G350 is already in the range of Falcon 2000, let alone G450 and G500, that can be compared to Global Express or 7X, right? There is more...

The plane would be paid for by taxpayers and would include the usual private plane bells and whistles, such as catering facilities and in-flight entertainment.

every schoolgirl knows, that neither LJ of any size (that will include the new LJ 60 NXT), nor G150 and G200 has a space for catering (beside a small cabinet with a coffe machine, kettle and a small fridge + space for 12 whiskey thumblers). The crew is only 2, which includes pilot and co-pilot only. That is it. What concerns in-flight entertainment - did you mean Airshow? Or maybe those pathetic side TVs, that come on the mid-size aircraft? A word of advise to HM and anyone else buying in to mid-size and super-mid-size - do not go for those stupid TVs. First of all they are small and uncomfortable to use. Secondly they are heavy (and in jet business every kilo makes a difference), thirdly they are overpriced. Much better solution is to buy something like a MacBook for each seat and load the onboard hard drive with music and movies. As for luxist, well, it is not tragic, just sad that the luxury blog has messed up a little. Best luck to them in the future. The mess can be found here.