Minsheng Financial Leasing, the fastest-growing aircraft leasing agency in China, signed a firm order for 13 of Embraer’s Legacy 650 large-cabin business jets. The first delivery of the $30 million, 3,900-nautical-mile, 14-seat airplanes should take place by the end of 2011, Embraer said.
In addition, Minsheng officials said that two months ago they had also signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 20 more Embraer jets.
In a signing ceremony, Minsheng Financial Leasing Chairman Kong Linshan said that his three-year-old company already has 19 business jets already signed on to its fleet. “We hold full confidence in the prospects for Embraer’s Legacy 650 in the Chinese executive aviation market, which will surely attain increasing recognition from our customers here in China,” he said. The Legacy 650 can fly from Beijing to Dubai or Moscow nonstop. It is powered by two Rolls-Royce AE30072A2 engines of 9,020-lbst each, and comes with a Honeywell Primus Elite avionics suite.
Minsheng Financial Leasing’s assets total $8.15 billion, and it claims to be the main non-banking financial institution to engage in financial leasing in China. It is one of the first five financial leasing companies approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
“This is just a small step in China’s growth in business aviation,” Kong said. “In 10 years there will be 1,000 business jets in China.”
Thomas A. Horne
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