VZCZCXRO1770
RR RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #2555/01 2372202
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 252202Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3584
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHDC
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEANHA/FAA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002555 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN AND EB/TRA 
DOT FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (CARAZZO) 
FAA FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (FRANCESCHI) 
DHS/TSA FOR SUSAN WILLIAMS 
DHS FOR CBP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CA EAIR
SUBJECT: TRANSBORDER USE OF VERY LIGHT JETS 
 
 
 ¶1. Summary:  For frequent business travelers, Very Light 
Jets (VLJs) offer important advantages, including less time 
spent on the ground before flights, direct flights that avoid 
multiple legs that often occur under the hub-and-spoke model, 
and the ability to land on shorter runways than other jets 
while flying faster than propeller planes of equal capacity. 
These developments stand to have important consequences on 
air travel, making aircraft available to a wider (but still 
well-to-do) population, increasing the number of planes in 
the air at any one time, and promoting the use of secondary 
and small airports.  The VLJs' impact on transborder travel 
may be even more pronounced as inbound planes from Canada 
could increase traffic to the international airports near the 
border, thus putting additional strain on CBP personnel who 
must travel to the smaller airports to conduct inspections. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) On a recent tour of the Pratt and Whitney Canada 
Headquarters with Montreal POL/ECON officer and Embassy 
Ottawa ECON intern, the Vice President for Government 
Affairs, Richard Bertrand, described the VLJ market  as 
"exploding".  At the factory, the firm is devoting several of 
its assembly groups to the construction of CPW 600 engines, 
destined for new VLJs from Cessna (US), Eclipse (US), and 
Embraer (Brazil).  In the short term there appears to be a 
large demand for VLJs.  Reports in the industry journal 
Aviation Week note that Eclipse alone has already received 
more than 2400 orders for its VLJ, the Eclipse 500, and that 
the FAA  projects deliveries of 4950 VLJs of all types 
between now and 2017.  Some air taxi services are already 
offering VLJ service,  suggesting an industry move away from 
slower propeller planes.  The VLJs are expected to cost 
significantly less than previous jets.  For example, the 
estimated cost of the Eclipse is  $1.48 million, which is 
cheaper than Light Jets, at a range of $3 million to $8 
million, and other traditional business jets that can cost 
tens of millions of dollars.  The lower price has been an 
incentive for air taxi services to start buying VLJs to 
replace their older, slower propeller driven planes.  For the 
same reasons of lower cost and faster speed VLJs are also 
attracting affluent private pilots. 
 
¶3.  (U) According to the Air Transport Association of Canada 
(which represents scheduled carriers and sees the VLJ 
phenomenon as an emerging form of competition),  VLJs are 
being marketed to elite business travelers, with the appeal 
of shorter lines at check-in counters and security 
checkpoints.  Additionally, personal VLJs will provide direct 
service to airports that may not have any direct scheduled 
airline service or have limited flight availability.  VLJ 
travelers can avoid stops at legacy carrier hubs and instead 
fly straight to their destinations at times convenient for 
them.  To the benefit of business travelers and current 
propeller aircraft operators, the VLJs are being certified to 
fly at 0.7 Mach, which is significantly faster than prop 
planes.  Finally, the VLJs open up many smaller airports 
because the aircraft can safely and legally land on runways 
as short as 3,000 feet, thus enabling pilots to operate from 
much less crowded airports and/or  at airports closer to 
their travelers' destinations. 
 
¶4.  (U) The increased use of VLJs could cause  additional 
Q4.  (U) The increased use of VLJs could cause  additional 
challenges for air traffic control, pilots, airport 
management, and customs services. This new type of jet will 
add more planes to the sky, making the sky over major 
metropolitan areas even busier.  Because these light aircraft 
weigh less than 10,000 pounds, additional time will be needed 
before final approach due to the potential of wake 
turbulence.  While VLJs are able to land at airports with 
shorter runways, they can only enter the U.S. from other 
countries legally at designated airports, possibly limiting 
VLJ routes and markets from abroad. 
 
¶5.  (U) Additional VLJ traffic could also strain the current 
system of customs and border protection along certain 
transborder routes.  In the case of travel between the U.S. 
and Canada, this may lead to additional flights in and out of 
the 39 American international airports near the border with 
Canada.  All of these airports carry the designation of 
"International Airport", and as Embassy Ottawa CBP Attach 
elaborated, whenever an aircraft arrives from abroad at a 
designated International Airport, customs inspectors must be 
available to process the passengers and inspect the aircraft. 
 For the larger airports, like O'Hare, the impact of these 
 
OTTAWA 00002555  002 OF 002 
 
 
new jets may be negligible. At smaller airports such as 
Ogdensburg, NY, however, the impact on CBP personnel may be 
more significant, particularly if the number of VLJs were to 
rise suddenly, potentially displacing CBP personnel away from 
their principal land crossing duty stations to the airports 
for longer periods of time, to inspect the additional 
aircraft and passengers. 
 
¶6.  (U) The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) would face 
similar understaffing, though perhaps to a lesser degree 
overall.  Canada has a limited number of airports with access 
to customs known as Airports of Entry (AOEs).  Similar to 
some smaller American international airports, there are some 
small AOEs where Canadian CBSA staff drive from other 
facilities to conduct inspections.  At these AOE locations, 
CBSA would encounter similar personnel and time constraints, 
as the U.S. CBP would have to confront.  However, AOEs, 
unlike American international airports, are not required to 
be open to foreign traffic at all times.  According to the 
Canadian Airports Council, only 22 of the 118 AOEs are open 
24/7.  Thus, associated CBSA costs and overtime would likely 
be more limited. 
 
¶7. CBSA also has a program called CANPASS Private Aircraft, 
which expedites the inspection process for pre-approved, 
low-risk travelers.  With this program, Canadian and American 
citizens can undergo a security check and receive a five-year 
CANPASS, which allows them to travel into Canada not only 
through AOEs, but also at a number of other small airports 
specifically designated by CBSA. 
 
¶8. Comment: Aircraft manufacturers appear enthusiastic about 
producing VLJs  because of the apparent comparative 
advantages over current commercial jet travel such as 
additional airport and destination access, fewer costly 
delays associated with overcrowded, hub-and-spoke large 
airports, and the VLJ's cheaper production price tag. It is 
too early to tell whether the industry's optimism and 
consumer demand in VLJs will be sustained over the long term. 
 However, as the 2400 orders for the Eclipse 500, along with 
hundreds of orders for other companies' VLJs, are assembled 
and put into the air, their growing popularity is likely to 
impact international airports along the U.S.-Canada border, 
especially the CBP's ability to staff and conduct additional 
inspections adequately at the airports while still 
maintaining the same degree of CBP coverage and vigilance at 
land and water border crossings. End comment. 
 
¶9. Embassy Ottawa Economics section intern Andrew Levin 
researched and drafted this message. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
DICKSON