There's a huge difference. VLJs are sort of like toy jets, where the passengers have slightly more room to move than a C-182. They're not very appealing to businesses because they have "real jet" acquisition and operation costs without the cache of a "real jet." Put it this way: if there were a VLJ market, you'd already see businesses operating the Paris Jet (MS-760).
The premise above is not quite what the vendors of VLJ singles are officially making: they want to sell to owner pilots, not businesses. This is notwithstanding that most of those owners will register aircraft to corporations, for tax purposes. But the conclusions are still the same: the burden of regulation and insurance add to outright costs of these VLJ singles. Cirrus is trying to address this by creating a "jet SR22": the cabin is bigger, although not quite as big as on traditional VLJs.
I guess that's my point in a nutshell. There aren't that many pilots around, and the number of those pilots who have the enormous amount of cash needed to buy, fly, and maintain a VLJ is sort of tiny. Plus, many pilots who do have the scratch to buy the plane have already taken that money and purchased something cool, like a P-51 or a Strikemaster. So: not many candidates in the marketplace.
My point precisely. The owner/pilot doesn't want a jet that has the cockpit and passenger feel of a 182.
I went for a ride in the back of a PC-12 a few weeks ago and I would say that, as a passenger, it's indistinguishable from a King Air 200. People just need to decide if the second engine is worth the expense. It seems that many people have decided in favor of the PC-12.
I can see a TBM or a C90 being a more favorable purchase than a single-engine jet but you would have to be nuts to buy a Lear 24, or to even put it in the same ballpark as an Eclipse just because it is a jet. The operating costs would eat you alive. Besides, there are many places they can't go because of noise ordinances. Also, many are not converted to RVSM because the owners couldn't justify the cost. That means either flying low, burning lots of fuel, or climbing initially to FL430.
Dave,
Yeahbut the very rich want to be flown if they are going any distance, and they want to bring along friends, family, and most important of all, STUFF.
Yeahbut the very rich want to be flown if they are going any distance, and they want to bring along friends, family, and most important of all, STUFF.
There's even a book about it, called "Millionaire Next Door" or some such.
The "Millionaire Next Door" wouldn't dream of owning a jet or even an airplane. I thought that book was all about the super-frugal, which makes it something I'm not inclined to read.
Yeahbut the very rich want to be flown if they are going any distance, and they want to bring along friends, family, and most important of all, STUFF.
Oh, the stuff. The stuff, the stuff, the stuff. My girls are only 10 and 7, but between them and the missus (who is not a high-mx woman), I'm already loading steamer trunks on the Matrix.