Renowned Italian sculptor, painter and printmaker Mimmo Paladino has become perhaps the first to turn a private jet into a work of art with the installation of a painted Piaggio P.180 Avanti II aircraft at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.

Dubbed the “Cacciatore di Stelle” (Star Hunter), Paladino’s plane will be on display in the famed centre through April 28.

Paladino decorated the turboprop with ancestral symbols, constellations and geometrical designs in homage to the skies in which it travels.

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.

Organisers of the second edition of Hainan Rendez-Vous, Asia’s first and only private aviation lifestyle exhibition, announced today that some 250 of the region’s business elites will be flown by private jet to their April 1-4 show in Hainan, a tropical island that is fast developing into China’s version of the French Riviera.

Showcasing the world’s finest private jets, Hainan Rendez-Vous 2011 provides an ideal communication platform for manufacturers and buyers of business aircraft.

It is the only Business-to-VIP-Customer aircraft exhibition in the whole of Asia, and the region’s only show where exhibiting private jet manufacturers actually fly in such a large number of show attendees from their city of origin and back.

In total the event, which also includes a yacht exhibit and luxury property and brands shows, is expected to draw some 8,000 high net worth individuals this year.

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.

After years of waiting for China to lift heavy restrictions on airspace, wealthy travellers and aircraft manufacturers have reason to celebrate — the country’s skies are opening up to private flights.

The makers of helicopters and small business jets are predicting a major bump in sales — France’s Dassault Falcon just moved its Asia office from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which it called the new “centre of gravity” for the market.

The private air travel industry “will be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the next 10 years”, Frank Lee, chairman of China Private Aviation Company, a consultancy offering aircraft acquisition and charter services, told AFP.