As part of a partnership between private jet charter and ownership firm VistaJet and Bombardier Aerospace, acclaimed street artist RETNA has hand-painted a unique work of art on the tail of a VistaJet Global Express XRS.

The $60 million luxury aircraft, an ultra long range corporate and VIP high speed wonder, will be the new star of VistaJet’s fleet of 31 private jets.

Drawing from a wide array of influences including gang graffiti, Asian calligraphy, Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Hebrew and Arabic script, RETNA’s vision is designed to be a new and unique “international visual language”.

Eurocopter’s EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style helicopter made its world debut at the 2011 European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva.

Conceived in a styling project led by the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Como, Italy, the interior of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style is inspired by the automaker’s range of high-end vehicles.

It features deluxe materials, elegant woods and ambient cabin lighting, along with multi-function boxes.

Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson‘s company that hopes to be taking tourists into space within a couple of years, has shown the inside of its spacecraft to the media for the first time.

A BBC journalist was this week given an exclusive look inside the vessel, which is designed to propel six tourists and two pilots through the atmosphere and over 100 kilometers above the Earth.

While the inside looks rather cramped, the first “space tourists” will be able to get a good view thanks to the large porthole-shaped windows on each side, and entry is through a narrow hatch on the bottom side of the vessel.

A new cabin concept called Phoenix, featuring a colour-scheme and layout designed to appeal to Asian tastes, is being offered to Airbus Corporate Jet customers.

The main cabin features seating for six people around a large circular-table – the focus of family life in many Asian cultures – which facilitates work-related discussions and dining.

Airbus Corporate Jets are able to offer this feature because they have the widest and tallest cabin of any business jet, existing or planned.

The growing list of billionaires in India is an enticing prospect for executive jet makers seeking to recover from a slump in demand caused by the financial crisis.

Prominent among exhibitors at the ongoing Aero India 2011 air show in Bangalore were manufacturers such as US-based Gulfstream and Brazil’s Embraer – both hoping to seduce corporate high-flyers with their luxury private planes.

The global private jet market had a hard landing in 2008-09, with jet prices plunging by up to 30 percent and actual flying time falling by an estimated 40 percent.

Honda Aircraft has successfully completed the first flight of its FAA-conforming HondaJet advanced light business jet.

The HondaJet took off from the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Caroline on 20 December and flew for 51 minutes.

While Honda enters the flight test program with the HondaJet, its aircraft production facility on its Greensboro campus is also nearing its completion.