Honda takes to the skies

Air travel has become paramount to businesses as people and goods are being flown around, in the name of commerce, on a daily basis. But, for the real high rollers and major companies in remote locations, commercial airlines won’t always cut it … Enter the HondaJet, one of the most recent additions to the private jet industry.

Honda Aircraft Company (Honda) has announced a significant milestone in the development of its light jet – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued the initial Type Inspection Authorisation (TIA) certificate for the HondaJet.

“Achieving FAA Type Inspection Authorisation is a significant step toward type certification for the HondaJet,” says Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda. “We have successfully demonstrated through ground and flight testing that the HondaJet will meet certification requirements. We are now ready to begin the final stage of certification flight testing with FAA pilot participation.”

He explains that Honda has been working closely with the FAA to finalise its certification schedule for the HondaJet, which is wonderful news for prospective customers. “Based on the recent FAA type certification of the HF120 turbofan engine and this TIA milestone achievement, we can expect aircraft type certification in the first quarter of 2015 with deliveries following immediately after that,” Fujino concludes.