The Honda HA-420 HondaJet is a light business jet produced by the Honda Aircraft Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
Original concepts of the aircraft started in 1997 and were completed in 1999. It took its maiden flight on December 3, 2003, received its FAA type certificate in December 2015, and was first delivered that same month. By the end of 2021, 200 jets had been delivered.
The seven- to eight-seat aircraft has a composite fuselage and an aluminum wing and is powered by two GE Honda HF120 turbofans unusually mounted on pylons above the wing. It can cruise at , and has a range.
The HondaJet has received several aeronautic design and innovation accolades.
Development
Honda began to study small-sized business jets in the late 1980s, using engines from other manufacturers. The Honda MH01 turboprop used an all-composite construction, and the Honda MH02 was fabricated and assembled at Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The MH02 was a prototype using carbon fiber/epoxy composite materials and was the first all-composite light business jet to fly. Flight testing on the MH02 continued through 1996, after which the aircraft was shipped to Japan.
Designer and company founder, Michimasa Fujino, began sketching the HondaJet in 1997, and the concept was solidified in 1999. According to Fujino, design of the HondaJet nose was inspired by Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Testing in the Boeing windtunnel indicated a valid concept in 1999.
In October 2000, Honda R&D Americas established a research facility at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina On December 3, 2003, a proof-of-concept HondaJet conducted its first successful test flight at the Greensboro facility. At this point, Honda executives remained unsure about whether or not to commercialize the HondaJet program. To better understand the commercial potential of the HondaJet, Fujino publicly displayed the HondaJet for the first time on July 28, 2005, at the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow. The debut attracted strong interest, and convinced Honda executives to commercialize the HondaJet, which Honda publicly announced at the following year's AirVenture.
In 2006, Honda announced the commercialization of the jet with a first delivery then planned for 2010. At the time, pricing was set at $3.65 million. The first FAA-conforming (built to Federal Aviation Administration rules) HondaJet achieved its first flight on 20 December 2010. The first flight of the first production HondaJet occurred on June 27, 2014, and it was displayed at that year's AirVenture on July 28. Four HondaJets had test-flown 2,500 hours .
The HondaJet was awarded a provisional type certificate by the FAA in March 2015. This enabled continued production and demonstration flights, including a HondaJet tour in Japan and Europe in 2015. The aircraft received its FAA type certificate in December 2015, and received its European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certificate in May 2016. The HondaJet was also certified in Japan in December 2018.
Estimates for Honda's investment into the Hondajet program range from one to 1.5-2 billion dollars.
Production
The production aircraft are built at Piedmont Triad International Airport. Construction of the factory began in 2007 and was completed in late 2011. In early 2015, there were 12 aircraft in final assembly and five more in earlier stages of production. Twenty aircraft were in production by May 2015. Honda estimated it would produce 40 aircraft in the first full year and up to 60 each year after that. The engine factory achieved certification in March 2015.
Honda delivered the first customer aircraft on December 23, 2015, at its world headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina. The first delivery of a HondaJet to a European aircraft dealer took place in April 2016. About 20% of the first 100 aircraft ordered were destined for European customers, according to coverage in April 2016.
Honda planned to ramp up production to 80 units per year after March 2019. Sixteen aircraft were delivered in the first three quarters of 2016, reaching a 36-per-year production rate. In 2017, 15 were produced in the first quarter, and the annual target is between 55 and 60 aircraft. After deliveries began in late 2015, the HondaJet soon became one of the top-selling aircraft in its class.
In July 2019, Honda Aircraft began construction of a new $15.5 million, 82,000-square-foot wing assembly center on its campus. The new facility, which is meant to enhance production efficiently by allowing wings to be assembled concurrently, was opened in September 2020.