When old aircraft become too expensive to operate, they have historically been sent to one of several aircraft graveyards. However, Nextant Aerospace aim to minimize this through a process called remanufacturing.
Essentially recycling certain ageing aircraft, Nextant are able to deliver what is in effect a new aircraft for half the price. So it’s probably not surprising that the company has delivered nearly 200 aircraft in a decade and a half, and still has a large backlog of orders.
Background
The story of Nextant Aerospace cannot be told without first talking about Kenn Ricci, the man behind several major players in the business aviation industry, including fractional ownership Flight Options LLC and Directional Aviation Capital.
Having been in the aviation industry for almost three decades, including over two decades as an operator, Kenn had noticed that after serving a decade or two with their original operators, business jets would be sold on the secondary market as they’d become too expensive to operate.
From there, they would go on to be bought and sold half a dozen times over the space of a decade, as operators bought the jet at a large discount and sold it when it once again became too expensive to operate.
He began to notice that soon enough, perfectly good aircraft were being placed in storage, or worse, scrapped entirely solely because no one could afford to operate a 30-something year old aircraft any longer.
As the head of the world’s largest aviation investment firm, Kenn was imminently aware that demand for business aircraft (and their associated services) far outstripped supply. And people removing perfectly good aircraft from use was simply not good business.
Knowing he had the contacts within the industry – owing to his ownership of aircraft maintenance company Constant Aviation – Kenn founded Nextant Aerospace in 2007 to do something about it.
Tapping into the knowledge of Constant Aviation’s best and brightest, namely Shawn Erhardt (Head of Constant’s NDT division) and Randy Znamenak (who later became Nextant’s VP of Sales) Nextant began looking at how to make an old jet new again.
After evaluating several methods, Nextant settled on a process known as remanufacturing and began the process of getting FAA certified and picking an aircraft to serve as the basis for their remanufacturing.
Models
Nextant 400XT
The company’s first model, the Nextant 400XT was announced
used the Hawker 400A/XP as the base for remanufacturing, owing to its status as the most popular business jet ever built and a mainstay of Flight Options’ fleet.
Nextant G90XT
Nextant 604XT
What is Remanufacturing?
Having read about the company’s various models and what sets them apart from the aircraft they’re based on, you may be wondering what exactly remanufacturing is and how it differs from other ways of modernizing aircraft; namely refurbishment.
Chiefly, remanufacturing
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Featured image courtesy of Nextant Aerospace.