Honda Aircraft Company

Honda Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, responsible for the production of the HondaJet family of aircraft. Originally a secret research project within Honda R&D, Honda Aircraft Company was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor in August 2006 under the leadership of HondaJet designer Michimasa Fujino.[2] Honda Aircraft Company began delivering aircraft to customers in late 2015, and by the first half of 2017 its HondaJet had become the top-selling twin-engine light business jet.[3][4][5][6]

Honda Aircraft Company
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryAviation
FoundedAugust 2006 (August 2006)
Headquarters
Greensboro, North Carolina
,
United States
Key people
Michimasa Fujino, President and CEO
ProductsAircraft
Number of employees
1200+ as of October 2014[1]
ParentHonda Motor Co., Ltd
Websitewww.hondajet.com
HondaJet

Honda Aircraft has introduced a number of innovations in general aviation aircraft, including an over-wing engine mount, natural laminar flow wings, and carbon composite fuselage.[7][8][9][10] The engine placement in particular overcame the limitations of earlier designs, allowing for reduced wave drag, and increased cabin and baggage space.[11] Honda Aircraft Company was also the first aircraft manufacturer to collaborate with Garmin to develop glass cockpits for general aviation aircraft.[12] In recognition for its contributions to aircraft design and business aviation, Honda Aircraft Company was awarded the AIAA Foundation Award for Excellence in 2018.[13][14]

History

Honda’s aircraft research began as a top-secret research project within Honda R&D in 1986.[15] The project was initially just a team of four engineers as Honda built up its aviation division from scratch.[16] Lead designer Michimasa Fujino first developed the concept for the flagship “HondaJet” in 1997, and development began in 2000 when the engineering team relocated to the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina.[17] Until 2005, the HondaJet team operated out of a single hangar, and kept press releases to a minimum.[18] The proof-of-concept HondaJet first flew on December 8, 2003, and was revealed to the public in 2005 at the AirVenture Oshkosh Airshow.[19] In 2006, twenty years after the research project began, Honda Aircraft Company was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor.[20]

Honda Aircraft Company’s first aircraft, the HondaJet, introduced a number of technological innovations to business aviation. The most notable is the over-wing engine mount, which improves aerodynamics and allows for a longer, quieter cabin by removing the engines from the wings.[21] Past attempts at over-wing engine placement resulted in unacceptable drag at high speeds.[22][23] In contrast, the HondaJet’s engines are placed in such a way as to actually reduce drag by combining the airflow around the engine with that over the wing.[24][25] Honda Aircraft also achieved a natural laminar flow wing design by constructing the HondaJet wing out of a single piece of aluminum, thereby minimizing the number of parts capable of obstructing airflow.[26][27] It also uses an entirely carbon composite fuselage, which both reduces aircraft weight and allows for improved airflow over the fuselage.[28][29][30] In recognition of these accomplishments, Honda Aircraft Company received several awards, such as the AIAA Foundation Award for Excellence in 2018 and the Flying Innovation Award from Flying Magazine in 2017.[31][32]

After Honda decided to commercialize the HondaJet program, Fujino was tasked with transforming his small research team of thirty engineers into a large-scale company capable of aircraft manufacture and providing long-term customer support.[33] Fujino searched for employees from across the world, eventually creating an international, multi-lingual staff.[34] Between 2006 and 2015, Honda Motors invested over $200 million to expand the Honda Aircraft Company facilities from a single hangar to an over 133-acre campus consisting of an R&D center, manufacturing plant, customer service center, and office headquarters.[35] As of 2020, the company has delivered over 150 of their aircraft to customers in over 40 countries.[36] Honda Aircraft Company and its CEO Michimasa Fujino served as a case study for Harvard Business School professor Gary Pisano, who in his 2019 book Creative Construction classifies Honda Aircraft as an example of start-up like behavior within a large, established corporation.[37]

In 2015, the Honda Aircraft Company received type certification for its first aircraft, the HondaJet.[38][39] The first delivery occurred on December 23, 2015.[40] In 2018, the company introduced the HondaJet Elite, which featured upgraded avionics, increased range, and an optional galley.[41][42] That same year, Honda Aircraft Company began offering the HondaJet APMG to existing HondaJet customers, which provided many of the upgrades seen in the HondaJet Elite.[43]

After receiving FAA type-certification in 2015, Honda Aircraft Company expanded its sales operations to Europe (2016);[44] India, the Middle East, South American, Southeast Asia, and Japan (2018);[45][46] and Canada and China (2019).[47][48] Maintenance and support are provided by Honda Aircraft Company’s network of 16 dealers, authorized service centers, and Honda Aircraft service centers.[49]

In March 2018, All Nippon Airways announced that it was partnering with Honda Aircraft Company to provide charter operations for ANA customers between multiple transit locations.[50] In 2018 and 2019, two charter operators – JetIt and Wing Spirit – began operations using fleets of HondaJet Elites provided by Honda Aircraft Company.[51][52]

On May 20, 2019, Honda Aircraft Company announced that they were building a new 15.5 million dollar facility in Greensboro N.C.[53]

Products

Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by Honda Aircraft Company
Model name Type Certified Type
Hondajet 2015 Twin-engine light business jet, 6-passenger
HondaJet APMG 2018 Twin-engine light business jet, 6-passenger
HondaJet Elite 2018 Twin-engine light business jet, 8-passenger

References
  1. Arcieri, Katie (20 October 2014). "Honda Aircraft Co. begins construction on $19M expansion at PTI; total work force is now 1,200+". Triad Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  2. Holden, Henry M. (February 2007). "HondaJet: On a Wing and a Dare". Airport Journals. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  3. Chalres Alcock (December 23, 2015). "Honda Aircraft Begins HondaJet Deliveries". AIN.
  4. Pisano, Gary (January 2019). Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation. New York: PublicAffairs. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-61039-877-0.
  5. Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (2019). The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780190497019.
  6. "General Aviation Aircraft Shipment Report - 2017 Year End" (PDF). General Aviation Manufacturers Association. May 8, 2018.
  7. Haines, Thomas B. (August 5, 2005). "HondaJet. Behind The Curtain" (PDF). aopa.com. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  8. Fujino, Michimasa (May–June 2005). "Design and Development of the HondaJet" (PDF). Journal of Aircraft. 42 (3): 755–764. doi:10.2514/1.12268. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  9. Fujino, Michimasa; Yuichi Yoshizaki; Yuichi Kawamura (July–August 2003). "Natural-Laminar-Flow Airfoil Development for a Lightweight business Jet" (PDF). Journal of Aircraft. 40 (4): 609–615. doi:10.2514/2.3145. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  10. Fujino, Michimasa (2013). "Case Study 4: HondaJet". In Carichner, Grant E.; Nicolai, Leland M. (eds.). Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design, Volume 2 – Airship Design and Case Studies. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. pp. 615–647. ISBN 978-1-60086-898-6.
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  12. Matoon, Jeff (May–June 2012). "Fujino's Form: An In Depth Look into HondaJet and its Visionary Leader" (PDF). Pilot Magazine. p. 6. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  13. "Aircraft Design Award". AIAA. 2018.
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  22. Berguin, Steven H.; Sudharshan Ashwin Renganathan; Jai Ahuja; Mengzhen Chen; Christian Perron; Jimmy Tai; Dimitri N. Mavris (October 2018). CFD Study of an Over-Wing Nacelle Configuration (Technical report). Georgia Institute of Technology. 1853/60464.
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  25. Haines, Thomas B. (August 5, 2005). "HondaJet. Behind The Curtain" (PDF). aopa.com. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  26. Fujino, Michimasa; Yuichi Yoshizaki; Yuichi Kawamura (July–August 2003). "Natural-Laminar-Flow Airfoil Development for a Lightweight business Jet" (PDF). Journal of Aircraft. 40 (4): 609–615. doi:10.2514/2.3145. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
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