To purchase a large business jet, an individual or enterprise first needs to apply to the Regional Civil Aviation Administration.
The regional civil aviation administration needs to conduct an review based on the applicant's support capabilities, general aviation market development needs, operational capabilities, etc.
After the regional Civil Aviation Administration of China completes the preliminary review, the application materials will be submitted to the Civil Aviation Administration. After the latter approves the application, the applicant can purchase the aircraft.
The process is a bit complicated, and Zhang Yida entrusted professionals to help with it.
After receiving the approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, well-known international manufacturers such as Gulfstream, Dassault, Airbus, Boeing, and Bombardier began to contact Zhang Yida's personal secretary Song Caiwei to prepare door-to-door sales of their products.
For those who sell high-end products, each one has a better nose than the other.
Zhang Yida is ranked fifth on the Forbes China Rich List and second on the Hurun China Rich List. It is difficult not to attract attention.
As one of the top richest men in China, with two listed companies in his hands, he can still afford a private jet.
The employees of several aircraft manufacturers in China work every day to find customers and analyze their financial resources, so they naturally set their sights on Zhang Yida.
What's more, Zhang Yida's career has also gone abroad, and there will definitely be demand for global long-distance navigation.
Under such circumstances, would it be worth getting on a private jet or business jet to be worthy of such wealth and wealth?
Zhang Yida, who had financial resources and needs, naturally became the target of major manufacturers, who all wanted to win this business.
Shop around!
Zhang Yida was self-sufficient and agreed to requests from staff from several aircraft manufacturers to come to introduce their products.
In a Chinese-style courtyard home called "Li Palace", Zhang Yida and Zhao Erya listened to the introduction of the aircraft manufacturer's staff.
"Mr. Zhang, Ms. Zhao, the model I recommend to you today is the Gulfstream G650ER."
The Gulfstream employee's name is Fan Shaoguang. He is in his thirties, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, and has good posture and etiquette. It can be seen that he has received professional training.
To sell these top-notch luxury goods, you have to deal with various celebrities and rich people. If your temperament and conversation are poor, then business will probably be difficult to do.
Fan Shaoguang took out a painting scroll from the bag he carried with him, placed it on the table in the living room, and gently opened the scroll. An eagle soaring in the sky was displayed in front of Zhang Yida and Zhao Erya.
With a smile on his face, he introduced: "This is the Gulfstream G650ER, a picture made at a ratio of 30:1, highly simulated."
"Wow, so beautiful!"
Zhang Yida glanced sideways at Zhao Erya, hehe, woman, how can a toy worth hundreds of millions not be beautiful?
Fan Shaoguang quietly observed the expressions of the two of them. Zhao Erya looked very satisfied, while Zhang Yida looked very calm.
Fan Shaoguang guessed that Zhao Erya was the "Zhang Yida's college girlfriend" rumored on the Internet and had an extraordinary family background.
But the person who paid the money was Zhang Yida, and he guessed that Zhang Yida would have to make the final decision.
But the next moment, his heart was in his throat.
Zhang Yida looked at Zhao Erya and said, "Do you like it? If you like it, then it's a deal!"
Happiness came too suddenly! Fan Shaoguang has never encountered such a cheerful customer in his aircraft sales career.
I haven't had time to introduce the performance of the aircraft, but I just took out the painting. The deal is about to be completed so soon?
Could it be that his sales skills are so good that he can defeat others without fighting?
With trepidation, Fan Shaoguang turned his attention to Zhao Erya.
Auntie! You agree quickly! I haven’t sold an airplane in almost a year, and the last order was last year.
It’s almost impossible to open the pot in this house!
Zhao Erya shook her head like a rattle and whispered: "Let's take a look! There are several manufacturers behind you! You have to choose, it's not like buying Chinese cabbage!"
Fan Shaoguang was a little disappointed, but he quickly comforted himself: It's normal! It's not normal for something worth hundreds of millions to be sold in just a few seconds!
Moreover, he also obtained an important piece of information: feelings and other colleagues were also targeting Zhang Yida.
This made him feel even more in danger.
But he was not discouraged. How could he not face competition in sales?
If airplanes are so easy to sell, why does the company have so many sales people?
Gulfstream has approximately 75 employees in Greater China and has sales centers in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Their sales center in Beijing alone has thirty people, plus the sales centers opened by other aircraft manufacturers in China.
There are only 100 people selling airplanes in China, even if there are not even 200 of them.
With so many people, China can only sell dozens of airplanes a year.
Airspace capacity restrictions and the shortage of private jet airports are important reasons restricting the development of the domestic private jet market.
The number of business jets purchased by Chinese companies reached a peak of 55 in 2011. Since then, sales have decreased year by year. Last year, only 35 were sold nationwide.
It takes several sales to get a share of the performance. Typically, there are more wolves and less meat.
At their Gulfstream Beijing Sales Center, some people also paid attention to Zhang Yida, a newly wealthy man.
But no one got in touch with Zhang Yida. He was lucky enough to contact Song Caiwei through roundabout ways.
At the same time, Zhang Yida happened to want to buy a private jet recently, so he had the opportunity to go to Zhang Yida's home to sell products in person.
Fan Shaoguang put away his thoughts and said with a smile: "Yes, buying an airplane is a big deal. You really shouldn't be in a hurry. You have to read more and compare."
Zhang Yida always felt that this sentence was a bit awkward, similar to the tone of real estate sales.
"Mr. Fan, please continue to introduce to us the performance of Gulfstream's G650ER!"
Seeing Zhang Yida speaking, Fan Shaoguang quickly continued to introduce: "This G650ER has a fuselage length of 30.22 meters, a wingspan of 30.17 meters, and a height of 7.82 meters;
The interior width and height of the cabin are 16.32 meters, 2.58 meters, and 1.94 meters respectively..."
Zhang Yida calculated it in his mind and found that the cabin area is only 42 square meters in length by width, which is a bit narrow and cannot be used in many postures.
Then I heard Fan Shaoguang continue to introduce: "This is the only commercial aircraft in the world with a range of 7,500 miles, or 13,890 kilometers.
It’s easy to fly directly from Beijing to New York and from Los Angeles to Shanghai, without any stops or fuel refueling.
It can adapt to difficult airports such as short runways and high altitudes, and can fly continuously for more than 12 hours. It is one of the representative models of the world's top long-range business jets.
Its maximum speed can reach Mach 0.925, which is close to the speed of sound."
Seeing Zhang Yida's disapproval, he explained with a smile: "In fact, it is not difficult for Gulfstream to build a supersonic commercial aircraft.
It just means sacrificing range and flight economy.
In addition, the noise and pollution caused by supersonic aircraft engines may be difficult for customers to accept, which will reduce the comfort of the flight journey."
Seeing that Zhang Yida was listening carefully, Fan Shaoguang struck while the iron was hot and said: "In terms of cabin layout and interior design, Gulfstream has always emphasized modern simplicity and focused on cabin comfort.
Mr. Zhang, you can not only arrange the layout of the cabin according to your own ideas, but also have dozens of beautiful reference plans to choose from.
Private VIP cabins, spacious meeting spaces, personal work areas... etc. can all be arranged properly.
Increased seat and aisle width, as well as seats with greater recline, can also improve passenger movement efficiency and flight comfort during the flight.
The adjustment of cabin facilities is fully intelligent. Using handheld smart devices such as mobile phones or tablets connected to the cabin management system, you can easily adjust lights, temperature, curtains, audio and video and view flight information..."
When Fan Shaoguang saw that Zhang Yida and Zhao Erya were interested, he knew that the other party was interested.
He then borrowed the projector at Zhang Yida's home and played a set of PPTs introducing the interior of the cabin.
Every time a picture was released, Fan Shaoguang stood next to the screen and began to introduce its specific functions and details.
Zhang Yida and Zhang Yida sat on the sofa and nodded while listening. They felt very novel. It was the first time they heard such a detailed explanation and introduction about private jets.
After more than half an hour of introduction, Fan Shaoguang finished explaining all the layout and functions of the aircraft cabin.
He looked at Zhang and Zhao and said with a smile: "The "2016 Asia-Pacific Business Jet Fleet Report" shows that the number of business jet fleets in Greater China is 466, making it the market with the largest number of aircraft in the Asia-Pacific region.
In terms of market share, the three largest aircraft manufacturers in Greater China are Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault, accounting for 38%, 29% and 9% of the overall fleet in Greater China respectively.
Since the launch of the first business jet "Gulfstream L" in 1958, Gulfstream Aerospace has been one of the most famous manufacturers of luxury and large business jets in the world.
To date, Gulfstream has produced more than 1,300 aircraft, which are widely used in various civilian, commercial, government agencies, private and military fields.
The G550 and G650 models launched in recent years have become even more popular in the market.
At least 1/4 of the Fortune 500 companies in the United States use our Gulfstream series of business jets."
Fan Shaoguang paused and then said: "By the way, in China, many wealthy people are also loyal fans of our Gulfstream.
Jack Ma, Li Jiacheng, Xu Tingyin, Wang Jianlin, Liu Ruoxi, etc. are all its supporters.
Cai Yanming, the chairman of Want Want Group, not only owns two business jets including the Gulfstream G200, but also has Want Want color images spray-painted all over the fuselage, making the business jets a veritable advertising "self-media".
Fan Shaoguang smiled again and said: "If Mr. Zhang has this idea, he can also print his company's logo on the fuselage."
Zhang Yida shook his head repeatedly, "Wangzi is so cute!"
Taobao and Goudong don’t have any inkjet ads, so I’d better keep a low profile!
"You said Jack Ma, Wang Jianlin, and Brother Dong all bought Gulfstream aircraft?"
Fan Shaoguang nodded, "Yes, Mr. Jackma purchased a Gulfstream G550 for 300 million yuan in cash in 2013, and then leased it back to Ali Group for free, mainly for his own business flights.
Dong Ge purchased a Gulfstream G650 for 400 million yuan last year, which directly surpassed Wang Jianlin and Jack Ma’s G550 in terms of performance and configuration.
It just so happens that it’s Dong Ge’s G650 that I personally handled.”
Zhang Yida looked at Fan Shaoguang and asked curiously: "Brother Dong, is that plane really sold by Mr. Fan?"
Fan Shaoguang nodded and thought to himself: After this, there has been no billing for more than a year! Do you think it is miserable or not?
"If we place an order now, how long will it take to deliver it?"
When Fan Shaoguang heard this, he immediately cheered up and said: "Because there are orders lined up, the actual delivery will not be until a year at the earliest."
Zhang Yida felt helpless. It was too troublesome to wait for so long! He couldn't wait to experience it now.
Seeing that Zhang Yida was a little unhappy, Fan Shaoguang quickly explained: "In fact, the entire industry takes more than a year from ordering to production and delivery of private jets.
"Iron Man" Mr. Elon Musk also placed an order for the Gulfstream G650ER last year, which was successfully delivered last month."
"Oh, Musk's rocket maker also bought your Gulfstream aircraft?"
Zhang Yida is quite curious about this. It seems that Gulfstream is really a strong brand. No wonder so many celebrities and wealthy businessmen choose it.
In fact, Zhang Yida did not know that the incident of "Musk's private jet surpassed China Eastern Airlines" occurred in his previous life.
Musk's plane took off from Los Angeles later than China Eastern Airlines' Boeing 777, but it "overtaken" the plane at an altitude of 10,000 meters and finally arrived in Shanghai before the passenger plane.
The Gulfstream G650 has become famous again! It can be regarded as a successful advertising and marketing!
"Okay, I'll think about it and give an answer to Mr. Fan tomorrow!"
Zhang Yida decided to make a comparison and look at Bombardier's aircraft.
Although Fan Shaoguang was a little helpless, he would not stalk him, so he packed up his things and left.