The parent company of Gulfsteam jets, General Dynamics announced this week that it would be laying off 1,200 workers nationwide. The workers will be a mix of full-time employees and contractors. More workers will also be put on an unpaid leave for at least a month this summer as Gulfstream cuts plane production. With corporations selling their private jets (Starbucks just put another plane on the market this week) and canceling orders for future planes, the industry has hit hard times. The world's wealthiest people have seen their fortunes dramatically reduced within the past year and are feeling especially frugal. The private plane has rapidly become a symbol of greed and extravagance but the lavish spending habits of a few individuals have fueled entire industries which are now hurting.

Executive Jet Charters is a Fort Lauderdale based charter service that will take you anywhere in their luxury jets without all those pesky other people.

They have three planes in their fleet, viewable here, which are newly bookable up to a month in advance. Be sure to click on "more pictures" to get a look at the gorgeous interiors.

In this troubled economy, EJC is making a concerted effort to offer the best possible prices and to specialize each flight for the client to make them as comfortable as possible. With the advance bookings, they are able to streamline their process and keep prices even lower.

Their travel experts are available 24 hours a day and cater to both business and private requests. Call them at 954-449-2501 to see how much it would cost to fly to Argentina tomorrow.

For the big purchases in life sometimes it's easier to share the burden. In the escalating real estate market, many people opted to go in on houses together. Now there is a new service helping potential plane owners defray the high cost of aircraft ownership by partnering up. The Aircraft Partnership Association is a new website designed to make sharing aircraft ownership easier.

The site not only helps people find potential partners but also helps them work out the details such as financing, insurance and legal and tax issues. The Aircraft Partnership Association also has goods and services supplier members who help about the partner members. The site will also help with ooperating the partnership, providing online management services for scheduling flights and maintenance and bookkeeping.

Annual membership dues will be $29 but during the initial building phase they've chopped that down to $9.99.

[via General Aviation News]

Add another esteemed member to the list of celebrity pilots. Joining Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt is Morgan Freeman. Freeman is so interested in planes that he recently made the pilgrimage to AirVenture 2007 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to check out the planes. Freeman, who has been interested in planes since he was a teenager, had his first lesson in 2002. He now flies a Cessna 414 and a Citation 501SP. At AirVenture 2007 he took the helicopter tour and when asked said the plane he most wished he could fly is the F-86 Sabre.

One down, 2,399 to go. This week, Eclipse Aviation started production on their first Eclipse 500 jet for a customer. The first customer, pilot David Crowe, was there to start the automated welder and will receive his Eclipse 500 this summer. The FAA is expected to certify the Eclipse in late June.  Eclipse is expects to employ 1,000 people by the end of the year and hopes to have 130 planes built. By 2008, the company plans to produce 1,000 planes per year. Once the Eclipse jets start to flood the market we will finally get to see if the predictions of air taxis ruling the skies.

It's been an exciting year for aviation and 2006 looks to be a break-out year. The aviation market seems to be moving in two opposite directions. First of all there are the megaplanes, led by the behemoth doubledecker Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777. These larger planes lead to the need for increased runway size. In fact several airports have had to lengthen runways in order to accommodate the A380. And while they are making the runways larger they are also making the airports more luxurious as well, adding additional features like better restaurants, spas, luxury shopping and lounges worthy of wiling away a few hours.

On the flip side are the little planes: the Eclipse, the Mustang, the Adam A700, and the Javelin are just some of the planes we have been tracking and which should end up taking to the skies in large numbers in 2006.  Because many of these planes are geared for short distances we could see a rise in air taxi services and private ownership. There has already been an increase in private plane clubs. Fractional ownership, which we noticed was big last year, has increased even more and we have also seen the rise of fractional clubs for those who are interested in being pilots instead of passengers (a trend born out by celebrities likeAngelina Jolie taking to the skies). All this small jet activity has also led to the rise of more and more private airports, posh private hangars with amenities that resemble boutique hotels and even homes which are designed so that you can park your plane in the driveway.

What's in the future? As we've seen by the latest moves from Richard Branson and Virgin Galatic space flight is definitely on tap for the next few years. "Space tourism" is currently still pricey but it is expected that the prices will fall eventually. And with the creation of the Rocket Racing League, we may well have NASCAR in the skies. But what I am really excited about for next year is the VTOL, that is the Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicles. The most-talked about is the Moller Skycar which made the pages of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book this season but there are other vehicles such as the Bell/Augusta "impossicopter" and the Carter Copter that offer the advantages of a plane and a helicopter. And NASA is still offering that $250,000 prize for a flying car. Could this be the year of the flying car? Let me know your predictions for 2006 in the skies.

For those who love winter sports Aspen is the ultimate place to play, but is there a fly in the ointment? The Aspen Times has a piece of the difficulties of flying into Aspen. Because this is such a playground of the elite, private planes are coming in droves causing scheduling delays. Some jets have been denied landing spots and been forced to circle for a while before landing or diverted to other areas. For the busy season in Aspen the FAA uses the Special Traffic Management Program which creates times slots and gives priority to commercial planes with first come first served for private planes. Fractional companies have a little bit sway than those who own a jet themselves since they have designated people who work on reserving slots which has led to some resentment.The FAA says that is is doing all it can so the bottom line is that if you are flying into Aspen you may need to be patient about landing your private jet.