Honda readies its jet airplane -- for real this time

Honda would like to remind you that while journalists have spent the last few years fretting whether the Big H has "lost its way," the company has quietly launched, shelved, resurrected, and all but waited out its plan to dominate the business-jet skies, which we are to assume are less friendly than United's. The HA-420 HondaJet has been kicking around for more than 10 years now, but the very first production-ready plane just rolled off the assembly line in Greensboro, N.C., this week -- and, Honda promises, the $4.5 million business jet should be delivered in the second quarter of next year.

Honda began taking orders for the jet in 2006, but the long recession squashed the market for private jets. The engines, built in collaboration with GE, failed during testing and required a costly rebuild, delaying the project even further.

It's all but ready. Fokker Aerostructures in Germany is supplying the tail assembly, and Garmin is supplying avionics for the all-glass cockpit. The 1,000th employee joined the Honda Aircraft Company's R&D facility in Greensboro, just in time to see the sixth test mule built. The paint schemes have been sorted -- pearl green with gold, and a veritable Power Rangers palette for the rest. The pilots are being trained. And most importantly, the FAA type certification is underway, with ground tests scheduled before the production plane flies for the first time this summer.

Honda plans to build 70 to 100 planes per year, a figure the company announced back in 2008. At $4.5 million each, the five-to-six-passenger business jet actually seems like a bargain. Soon you'll be able to climb onto your CBR, lane-split past some CR-Zs, and park it next to your very own private jet with a Honda logo on it.

By Blake Z. Rong