Honda Aircraft Company has introduced a new Flexible Phased Maintenance Program for HondaJet customers that aims to optimise maintenance events for increased operational flexibility.

The new programme has been accepted by the Federal Aviation Administration and will be available to customers by April this year at all HondaJet authorised service centres in the U.S. It is applicable to all HondaJet HA-420 models, including the HondaJet, HondaJet Elite, Elite S and Elite II.

HondaJet customers utilising the Flexible Phased Maintenance Program are expected to see a significant reduction in downtime per maintenance event while maintaining the safety and reliability of the aircraft.

The Flexible Phased Maintenance Program divides the 600 hours and 1,200 hours major inspection event tasks as defined in the Airworthiness Limitation and Inspection Manual (ALIM) into four phases at 150-hour intervals while still covering all of the service tasks in Honda Aircraft Company's regularly scheduled maintenance programme. Compared to traditional maintenance programmes, the new HondaJet programme aims to reduce downtime for aircraft per service event and provide customers with a more efficient cadence of maintenance events.

"We are very pleased to offer our new Flexible Phased Maintenance Program to our growing base of customers," says Amod Kelkar, head of the commercial business unit and vice president of customer service at Honda Aircraft Company. "High utilisation customers require a higher degree of flexibility in maintenance planning, and this evolution of HondaJet's scheduled maintenance programme demonstrates our commitment to continually enhancing the HondaJet ownership experience."