Virtual DVD Tours Offer New Sales Channel for Pre-Owned Business Jets; Aircraft Shopper Online Collaborates With UK's GBJTV

Business Wire, April 2, 2002

Business Editors

CORTE MADERA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Aircraft Shopper Online Collaborates With UK's GBJTV To Reach

Top-Tier Owners & Operators Via Exclusive Video Magazine

If you're trying to sell a multimillion-dollar Gulfstream IV that used to be owned by the Sultan of Brunei, chances are that a classified ad won't get you very far.

Now dealers and brokers can showcase the cream of their long-range business jet crop through virtual audiovisual tours that will reach every current high-end owner and operator via an exclusive DVD-based video magazine called GBJTV (Global Business Jet TV).

The strategy is designed to reach the elusive top-tier business audience through in-flight entertainment systems -- either during a flight for a busy CEO, or between flights for pilots who stay on board while waiting for their next takeoff -- or on home DVD players or DVD-enabled computers. Close-up footage and in-depth audio descriptions of available aircraft will give dealers and brokers a new way to pique the interest of prospective purchasers and thereby generate highly qualified sales leads.

Debuting on DVD in May, GBJTV will be distributed on a quarterly basis to the 6,200-plus pilots and senior executives who own and operate medium, large and long-range business aircraft in 90 countries. It is produced by GBJTV in the United Kingdom.

Each edition will include a "Jet Portfolio" providing two- to three-minute multimedia tours of select pre-owned aircraft. These $1,250 advertising slots will be placed by California-based Aircraft Shopper Online (ASO), the leading online marketplace for pre-owned aircraft and now the exclusive sales agent for GBJTV.

Every DVD will also contain video-based sections dedicated to business aviation news, pilot resources, and lifestyle reports on topics ranging from superyachts and safaris to warbirds and fine wines, plus links to relevant web sites and extended news reports. "Dealers and brokers who sell these multimillion dollar aircraft need to promote them in a way that's commensurate with their price tag and the caliber of their purchasers," said David Wright, producer of GBJTV.

"Through GBJTV, we will be able to connect with the key decision makers who are notoriously difficult to reach, and we will allow them to see a select group of aircraft in such detail that they'll feel like they're walking down the aisle," Wright said. "This is an entirely new way to get this elite category of aircraft in front of the owners and operators who may be in the market for a new plane."

"With GBJTV, dealers and brokers have a high-class new tool for promoting their top aircraft, and placement in a given edition will be as prestigious as being listed as the `House of the Week' in the Wall Street Journal," said Tony Friend, president of ASO.

"We believe this has the potential to be as significant a change in the marketing of pre-owned long-range business jets as the online advertising that we helped to pioneer for used aircraft of all kinds," Friend said. "It's a fresh and effective approach to the challenge of selling a high-ticket item to a highly targeted audience."

For information on participating in GBJTV, contact Aircraft Shopper Online at (888) 767-7276 or visit www.ASO.com.