Press Release

Issued by Nextant Aerospace.

November 7, 2014

Nextant Aerospace, maker of the Nextant 400XTi – the world's only remanufactured business jet – and the forthcoming Nextant G90XT turboprop, today announced that it had received supplemental type certificate validation from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The validation certificate proves that the Nextant 400XTi satisfies all the CAAC airworthiness requirements and is ready for China. This development paves the way for potential Chinese owners and operators to acquire the 400XTi.

“The rapid acceptance by both Chinese customers and regulators speaks to the global appeal of Nextant remanufacturing,” said Nextant president and ceo Sean McGeough. “The ability to quickly design, build and certify an aircraft that delivers like-new performance for half the cost allows Chinese customers to leverage the business benefits of the latest business jet technology and a 3,700 km (2,000 nm) range in a fiscally prudent manner.”

AVIC International Aero-Development Corporation (AVIC ADE) is a large state-owned company with international aviation as its core business. It manages over RMB220 billion ($37 billion) in assets. In 2014, AVIC ADE was appointed as Nextant's exclusive sales representative for the greater China region including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. AVIC ADE secured an order for the first 400XTi within six months following the appointment, which demonstrated Chinese customers' acceptance of this value proposition. The 400XTi will be delivered to China in the first quarter of 2015.

“AVIC ADE is proud to be the exclusive Nextant Aerospace representative for China,” said Wu Xiaohua, vice president of AVIC ADE. “Nextant's value proposition aligns with our company's core values of productivity, dependability, and value. We are eagerly anticipating delivery of the first 400XTi aircraft to our launch customer in China early next year.”

Nextant has pioneered the concept of remanufacturing in business aviation. The aircraft performs better than new production aircraft at half the purchase price and with superior operating economics. Nextant's serialized factory-production process captures the technological, safety, and comfort benefits of modern business aircraft without the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to develop and certify a clean-sheet design. Those savings translate into a significantly lower purchase price.

“Nextant started the CAAC certification process in the first half of 2014,” said Wei Jing, Nextant director for China business development. “The swift certification demonstrates CAAC's recognition of the remanufacturing concept and the 400XTi. The result also proves Nextant's and AVIC ADE's dedication to safeguarding their promises to customers.”

Since its debut in 2011, Nextant has achieved strong commercial success in the US and globally, delivering its 400XTi aircraft to 10 countries. By the end of this year the company will have delivered 50 aircraft and logged more than 35,000 fleet hours.