Bombardier Experience Magazine 26

Bombardier Business Aircraft Magazine

Issue 26 2016

NEXT GEN NOW

The Learjet 75 brings a grand legacy into the 21st century ———

BRITISH LUXURY REVIVAL + ON CALL WITH FLIGHT OPS PRIVATE MALTA + NORMANDY REVISITED + BEST OF BHUTAN

THE CHALLENGER 650 AT T H E F O R E F R O N T O F D E S I G N A N D T E C H N O LO G Y

The new Challenger 650 aircraft serves to empower and inspire passengers and pilots alike, demonstrating design and technology leadership within the cabin and flight deck.

Bombardier has designed a new cabin concept, drawing inspiration from the finest and most forward-thinking examples of interior and technology design. The result is a distinctly authentic yet contemporary cabin experience, enjoyed in an environment as aesthetically rich and rewarding as it is conducive to productivity.

Bombardier and Challenger 650 are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. Š 2016 Bombardier Inc. All rights reserved.

DESIGNER CREATIVITY AND

THE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE

A NEW TAKE ON AUTHENTICITY

MORE OF EVERY JOURNEY

The Challenger 650 cabin’s subtle, organic curves and depth-accentuating lines are a signature design aesthetic. Fluid metal inlay work outlines and embraces the cabin technologies. Deep tailored seats feature hand-sculpted head and backrests, while the cabin control touch screens are optimized for angle and position. All these elements combine to provide passengers an inflight experience unmatched not only for comfort and convenience, but for sheer luxury and beauty.

Anticipating every passenger need, the cabin technologies are comprehensively among the most advanced in business aviation today. Complete cabin control is assured with the industry’s finest intuitive Cabin Management System. Access and compatibility are unmatched, with input media sourced from virtually any device, and – as one might expect from Bombardier – standard wireless streaming capability.

A true testament to Bombardier’s commitment of making the most of every passenger’s journey.

Discover why a Challenger 650 is right for you.

Visit businessaircraft.bombardier.com/Challenger650

Featured Aircraft

16 NEXT GEN NOW The Learjet 75 is the next generation of

Bombardier’s high-performing luxury aircraft.

BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

On the cover: Skycharter FBO Toronto Pearson International airport (YYZ/CYYZ) Aurora Jet Partners’ Learjet 75 aircraft was shot at the Skycharter fixed base operator (FBO) in Toronto, Canada. Founded in 1968 by pilot and entrepreneur Irv Shoichet, Skycharter offers Toronto’s only full-service FBO with secure lounge access, offering business aircraft owners 80,000 square feet of heated hangar space, as well as contract fuel, charter and de-icing services, while crew and passengers can enjoy on-site customs, laundry services, a boardroom and a new art boutique, Shop AGO at Skycharter. aurorajet.ca

4

Experience

PHOTO (COVER): AIRCRAFT COURTESY AURORA JET PARTNERS; PHOTOGRAPHER: NEIL MOTA; ASSISTANTS: ENRIQUE SANCHEZ, SEBASTIAN POLITOWICZ; STYLIST: NADIA PIZZIMENTI; ASSISTANT STYLIST: CORNELI CAMAYANG; HAIR & MAKE-UP: ANNA NENOIU; PRODUCTION: RODEO; WARDROBE COURTESY HERMÈS (JACKET, SHIRT, PANTS); HUGO BOSS (BAG, SHOES); MICHAEL KORS (SUNGLASSES); PHOTO (THIS PAGE): KATE PETERS (TROPHY)

22

30

36 40

22

40

30

Travel

The Heights of Happiness Does the Kingdom of Happiness live up to its name? We take a high-altitude tour through Bhutan’s monasteries, spas and villages to find out. BY ADAM H. GRAHAM My Own Private Malta The best of the Maltese islands can be found below its cobblestone streets and behind closed doors. BY ELLEN HIMELFARB

Modern Makers In London, the next generation of artisans is putting a contemporary spin on traditional crafts – and getting royal approval to do so.

Profile

The Way Back When Clarence and Kerry Scharbauer flew to Normandy, they found a living testament to World War II in the form of The Greatest Generations Foundation.

BY KATE HAHN

Must Have

Goods Fresh inspiration in style, technology, culture and media.

13

Cars A look at the world of wheels.

14

Cities Where to dine, shop and live it up in Amsterdam.

Craftsmanship

BY CRAILLE MAGUIRE GILLIES

36

9

6 7

In Every Issue

Insight

Contributors

48

Wingspan

52

Customer Service

53

Fleet

56

News Experience

5

INSIGHT

P

Our customers are using their Bombardier business jets to make a difference.

lanes and flight spark interests and dreams, but it’s the people in our industry who make aviation a lifelong passion. Great people are behind every Bombardier product’s success – from the talented and dedicated team members who design and build our world-class aircraft, to our respected customers who continue to fulfill their dreams aboard our business jets.

Our customers understand the value of business aircraft: They are, without a doubt, essential tools that help corporations and individuals succeed and remain highly competitive across the globe. But not far from the world of corporate aviation, our customers are also using jets to make a difference.

In this issue, we bring you an exceptional story of fate that brought together a group of strangers during a chance meeting in France. The encounter ultimately led the group on a journey of reminiscence and discovery along the shores of Normandy, where a Bombardier customer fulfilled a personal vow to make a difference with his Challenger 300 aircraft. People of all generations can make a difference, big or small, and the significance in every act of kindness and generosity can never be underes­timated.

Passion across generations is painted with a different brush in the heart of Wichita, birthplace of the Learjet 75 aircraft. Its celebrated lineage spans five decades, but its performance today continues to set the benchmark in private aviation and thrills pilots and passengers alike.

We’re proud of Learjet’s legacy, and we’re even more excited about its promising future.

A passion for flying is just one of the many qualities that describe the members of Bombardier’s Flight Operations department. We take you behind the scenes to reveal a team of steadfast professionals who are committed to demonstrating the value of business aviation and elevating the Bombardier Business Aircraft experience to new heights.

We hope this latest installment of Experience magazine helps ignite your passion for our industry and its possibilities.

Peter Likoray Senior Vice President, Sales, Bombardier Business Aircraft

Experience magazine is accessible online at issuu.com or at bombardierexperiencemagazine.com

CONTACTS Montreal (Headquarters) 400 Côte-Vertu Road West Dorval, Quebec, Canada H4S 1Y9 — Aircraft Sales T 1 514 855 8221 bombardier.com

Africa and the Middle East Aircraft Sales T 971 4601 6350 Asia-Pacific Aircraft Sales T 852 2827 6464

Canada Aircraft Sales T 1 514 855 8221

India Aircraft Sales T 91 996 706 6247

China Aircraft Sales T 86 10 8517 2268

Latin and South America Aircraft Sales T 1 514 855 8221

Russia, CIS & Eastern Europe Aircraft Sales T 44 1252 526 605 United States Aircraft Sales T 1 514 855 8221

Manager, Public Relations and External Communications Mark Masluch Senior Advisor, Media and Public Relations Anna Cristofaro

6

Experience

Pre Owned Aircraft T 1 514 855 8221

Bombardier, Learjet, Learjet 40 XR, Learjet 45 XR, Learjet 60 XR, Learjet 70, Learjet 75, Challenger, Challenger 300, Challenger 350, Challenger 605, Challenger 650, Challenger 850, Global, Global 5000, Global Express XRS, Global 6000, Global 7000, Global 8000 and Bombardier Vision are trademarks of Bombardier inc. or its subsidiaries.

2 All performance data are preliminary estimates.

3 The Global 7000 and Global 8000 aircraft are in the development phase. All data and specifications are estimates, subject to changes in family strategy, branding, capacity and performance during the development, manufacture and certification process. * Under certain operating conditions.

1

Director, Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs Christina Peikert

Western Europe Aircraft Sales T 44 1252 526 605

Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement Number 40064924 //

ISSN 1925-4105

CONTRIBUTORS Adam H. Graham

ISSUE 26

The Heights of Happiness (page 22)

experiencemagazine@spafax.com

Adam H. Graham is an American travel journalist based in Zurich, Switzerland. He’s traveled to over 100 countries and is a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic and the BBC. In this issue of Experience, he wrote about Bhutan. “I’ve been around the world a few times, but Bhutan moved me more than anywhere else I’ve ever been. There’s something so wild and earthy about the Himalayas.” His next trip: Borneo and Papua New Guinea.

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Natasha Mekhail Associate Editor Eve Thomas Digital Editor Renée Morrison Editorial Intern Robin Della Corte Copy Editor Jonathan Furze Fact Checker Jaclyn Irvine Proofreader Katie Moore Art Art Director Guillaume Brière Assistant Art Director Mélanie Ouimet Graphic Designer Marie-Eve Dubois Production Production Director Joelle Irvine Production Manager Jennifer Fagan Contributors Dan Abraham, Carol Besler, Chris Chilton, Donny Colantonio, Stephanie Drax, Craille Maguire Gillies, Clémence Godfroy, Adam H. Graham, Kate Hahn, Ellen Himelfarb, Michael Johnson, Gunnar Knechtel, Emilie Léger, Paige Magarrey, Neil Mota, Kate Peters, Stephanie Plentl, Mike Spry

Craille Maguire Gillies Modern Makers (page 30)

Born in Canada and based in London, United Kingdom, Craille Maguire Gillies is a regular contributor to The Guardian and the features editor of Eighteen Bridges magazine. Her favorite thing about writing this piece for Experience: “seeing behind the curtain at Asprey – the workshops are a hidden treasure. And also meeting the younger designers who are full of ideas and inspiration.” Next up, she’s staying in a houseboat in London and is then headed to the Canary Islands.

Kate Peters

Modern Makers (page 30)

© Copyright 2016 by Spafax Canada Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Experience magazine is published twice per year by Spafax Canada Inc. Points of view expressed do not necessarily represent those of Bombardier Business Aircraft. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject all advertising matter. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return or safety of unsolicited art, photographs or manuscripts.

Printed in Canada.

For this issue of Experience, London-based photographer Kate Peters captured the city’s rich craftsmanship heritage and future artisans. “My favorite thing to shoot was the silversmiths – my parents were antique dealers, and I grew up working summers in their workshop.” Shooting for publications including TIME, Marie Claire and Telegraph magazine takes her around the world – her last trip was to Myanmar, her next is a week of skiing.

Printed on FSC® Certified and 100% Chlorine Free paper.

spafax.com 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1020 Toronto, ON, Canada M4W 1A8 T 1 416 350 2425 F 1 416 350 2440 500 St. Jacques Street West, Suite 1510, Montreal, QC, Canada H2Y 1S1 T 1 514 844 2001 F 1 514 844 6001

Chief Executive Officer, Content Marketing Raymond Girard

Account Manager, Luxury and Lifestyle Brands Elana Crotin

Executive Vice President, Content Marketing Nino Di Cara

Chairman, Content Marketing Niall McBain

Senior Vice President, Content Strategy Arjun Basu Senior Director, Business Development and Client Strategy Courtney MacNeil Senior Strategist, Luxury and Lifestyle Brands Christal Agostino

Advertising & Media Sales Media Director Laura Maurice laura.maurice@spafax.com

South America Spafax Medios y Publicidad Ltda.

Deborah Mogelberg deborah.mogelberg @spafax.com

Advertising Production

Asia – Singapore Spafax Airline Network PTE, Ltd. Geraldine Lee geraldine.lee@spafax.com

Production and Circulation Coordinator Stephen Geraghty stephen.geraghty@spafax.com

National Sales Manager Tracy Miller tracy.miller@spafax.com

Europe – London Spafax Inflight Media Phil Peachey phil.peachey@spafax.com

Manager, National Sales, High Net Worth Media Fiona Stedman fiona.stedman@spafax.com

Middle East – Dubai Spafax Dubai Nick Hopkins nick.hopkins@spafax.com

Ad Production Manager Mary Shaw mary.shaw@spafax.com

Ad Production Coordinator Joanna Forbes joanna.forbes@spafax.com

Experience

7

MUST HAVE GOODS / CITIES / HOTELS / DESIGN / CARS

Design

TITLE WAVE

mousarris.com — When you hear that Stelios Mousarris’ Wave City was inspired by a film, Inception might come to mind. But in fact it was a documentary about tsunamis that led to the incredibly intricate limited-edition table. “The movement of waves is the theme that dominates in this piece,” says the Cyprus-based designer. “It’s a combination of something organic with something man-made.” The metre-long table is made of steel with a wood veneer, while the cityscape itself is 3-D printed and then painted to give it a wood-like feel. Looking to put your feet up on your own neighborhood? Mousarris is more than open to customizing it to various locales. “If the design is interesting, why not?” he says. –PM

Experience

9

Design

Happy Trails

bowlusroadchief.com — Bowlus Road Chief gives glamping a whole new meaning with its line of luxurious and lightweight travel trailers. Tech-entrepreneur couple John Long and Helena Mitchell, along with their daughter Geneva, recently relaunched the American heritage brand, which was first developed in the 1930s by William Hawley Bowlus – a designer and engineer who also worked on the early development of the Learjet.

The exterior preserves its vintage roots with its polished aircraft-grade aluminum shell, while the interior is thoroughly modern. The 2017 Open Road edition comes in six color schemes inspired by the open road. You can also fully personalize your Road Chief from hundreds of bedding, seating and flooring options. So while the Road Chief may be practical and efficient in function, in form it’s a sculptural stage, from which to launch your crosscountry adventures. –RDC

Gastronomy

SASSOON’S SECRETS

fairmont.com/peacehotel — Shanghai real estate impresario Victor Sassoon built the Cathay Hotel – now Fairmont Peace Hotel – in 1929, imbuing it with his personal flair from whippet frescoes (his preferred dog breed) to the shape of the building itself (said to be a “V,” for Victor). The stylish playboy entertained guests of the day (Charlie Chaplin, Noël Coward and Marlene Dietrich among them) with a personal cocktail repertoire that would put many modern mixologists to shame. For years these handwritten recipes lay hidden in Sassoon’s diaries – that is until Canadian writer Taras Grescoe

uncovered them while researching his historical novel, Shanghai Grand. The author shared the libations with the hotel, and now you can find four of them – Champion Martini, Puss Moth, San Remo and Conte Verde (pictured) – on its Jazz Bar menu. Grescoe’s book, meanwhile, which chronicles in real letters the complex love story between Sassoon, New Yorker journalist Emily Hahn and Chinese poet Sinmay Zau, comes out this summer. –NM

Beauty

Flower Power guerlain.com —

Guerlain’s Orchidée Impériale skin-care line has enjoyed cult status since it was introduced 10 years ago, harnessing the anti-aging properties of orchids, a flower whose petals stay plump and moist even over time and in harsh climates. The process begins in China, where organic orchids are grown in a reserve, before moving on to Strasbourg and Geneva, where specialized researchers work to harness the plant’s biological strengths. The end result can be enjoyed in sublime facial treatments at Guerlain spas around the world, including Paris’ Institut Guerlain, whose VIP waiting room is adorned with those very same hanging orchids – or right at home, of course, with the exclusive 10th-anniversary editon of The Cream, presented in a stylish laser-cut box in signature blue and gold. –RM 10

Experience

MUST HAVE: GOODS Gastronomy

Glass House 67pallmall.co.uk —

Timepieces

RARE RUBIES

vancleefarpels.com — The Rubis Secret Bracelet watch is one of those good things that comes only to those willing to wait... and wait. It took several years for the jewelers at Van Cleef & Arpels to collect the 115 perfectly color-matched rubies for this unique piece, and another year to make it. Each ruby – there are 151.25 carats in total – was custom cut to fit the white-gold setting in slight variations of oval and cushion shapes. The three rows of rubies are then separated by round and square diamonds. The wearer reads time by way of a secret sliding panel integrated into the bangle to a tolerance of a hundredth of a millimeter so that it glides in and out under the girdles of the gems above it, coming whisper close but never touching them. –CB

Founded by oenophiles frustrated with the sobering markups on fine wines in London’s restaurants and bars, 67 Pall Mall is a new members club in the historic St James’s district. A splendid former bank designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens has been refashioned as a sleek sanctuary for wine connoisseurs.

Thanks to cuttingedge Coravin technology – a hollow needle that allows a bottle to be poured from without removing the cork – members can drink 500 fine wines by the glass. They can also attend unique master classes, trade wine using the club’s in-house merchant, and store their own bottles in the decommissioned bank vault. –SD

Design

PHOTO: XAVIER GIRARD-LACHAÎNE (COCKTAIL)

A Natural Selection

darwinsect.com — The Belgian duo behind Darwin Sect launched their company to accentuate the art in nature, using glass domes to display pinned butterflies and insects. Now they want to show off the beauty found in oceans – namely, jellyfish – with the Darwin Tank. The domed aquarium not only looks stylish, but its curved, membrane-like glass of laboratory-grade borosilicate magnifies the living garden within. A pump aspirates the water, simulating a gentle tide, which keeps the creatures healthy and guarantees a work of art that’s always in motion. –ET

Experience

11

MUST HAVE: GOODS

PHOTO: KRISTIN SINCLAIR / GETTY IMAGES (HILL)

ONE-STOP SHOPPER Stylist Sophie Hill (below) introduces her clients to brands like Ulyana Sergeenko.

Design

Cooler Now skypak.de —

Airplane trolleys get a second life thanks to Skypak, a German brand that turns the bare-bones storage units into showcase design pieces. Wine and spirit connoisseurs can opt for La Barrique Edition trolleys, which are handcovered in oak from vintage wine or whisky barrels – still mildly fragrant – and outfitted as coolers or storage spaces for bottles, glasses and serving accessories. Other models are decked out in 24-karat gold or Swarovski crystal, but clients are encouraged to customize – making it the perfect pairing for any space. –RM

Style

LABEL INSIDER threadsstyling.com — Among a certain set of women from Bahrain to Brazil, Sophie Hill is the name to drop. The founder of Threads Styling, probably the world’s most upmarket shopping service, Hill is responsible for introducing Dior devotees to special orders and bespoke pieces from brands like Erdem, Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane and Emelia Wickstead – “London brands that are fast becoming heritage.”

Lately Hill has broadened her definition of fashion hero to include global designers who fuse traditional detailing and exotic color with street style, qualities popular with her younger clients. Here she drops some names of her own. –EH

There’s a movement toward embroidered summerwear and the Ukrainian designer Vita Kin is by far the leader. The vyshyvanka-style embroidery on her caftans is a selling point.”

Vetements is headed by the Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia – he recently took over as creative director of Balenciaga. He does a lot of leather, but he’s also designed a line of floral prairie dresses inspired by his grandmother’s aprons.”

Another designer going back to heritage silhouettes and craftsmanship is Ulyana Sergeenko.

For a past couture collection, for example, she designed wood-box bags hand-painted with images from Russian folk artists.”

The Bugatti Super Sport Sapphire is arguably even cooler Drive Time than the car it emulates: the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 Super Sport, the fastest street-legal production car in the world. parmigiani.ch That’s because the transparent sapphire case exposes — and magnifies the movement, which is made of 18-karat gold. It is assembled on a dial plate angled at 45 degrees to align with the comma-shaped case design, which recalls both the contours of the car and the signature teardrop lugs of most Parmigiani Fleurier watches. Time is read at a 90-degree angle to the plane of the movement, so a driver can see it even while his hand grips the steering wheel. –CB Timepieces

12

Experience

MUST HAVE: CARS

BONDWORTHY

IN TRANSIT The latest and greatest in the world of automotive design.

BY CHR IS CHILTO N

astonmartin.com — Described by CEO Andy Palmer as the most important car in Aston Martin’s 103 years, the DB11 trades on more than handsome lines and the benefits of being associated with the world’s most famous secret agent. Everything is new, from the bonded aluminum platform to the twin-turbocharged 600 hp V12 engine, and design director Marek Reichman’s stylish touches – familiar at the front but shockingly different behind – makes sure you know it. The cabin is significantly bigger than the outgoing DB9’s and features a 12-inch digital instrument panel and eight-inch infotainment screen, the latter controlled by a Mercedes rotary controller or optional touch pad.

Aston’s recent tie with the German giant has been pivotal in gaining access to the technologies that today’s customers demand.

Good Sport

bentleymotors.com — SUVs have finally found their place in the extreme luxury market, and while Aston Martin and Lamborghini both have models in development, Bentley is a step ahead with the Bentayga. Less dramatic and less divisive than the earlier EXP 9 F SUV concept, the Bentayga shows a clear resemblance to Bentley’s Continental sedans and coupés. It also includes the same twin-turbo W12 engine and lavish options, such as a hamper set complete with Linley china and crystal for dining al fresco at the polo, and a gold Mulliner Tourbillon by Breitling clock that is actually wound by the car (worth nearly as much as the vehicle itself).

Moving Tribute lamborghini.com —

Although only in command of the supercar company that bears his name for around one fifth of its 53 years in existence, the late Ferruccio Lamborghini’s specter looms large. This year, Lamborghini is celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth with the limited edition Centenario. Based on the existing V12 Aventador but restyled with aggressive

carbon fiber bodywork that incorporates active aerodynamics for maximum down force, the Centenario features Lamborghini’s most powerful production engine yet, a 770 hp V12.

Drivers hoping to use that performance on track will benefit from a sophisticated telemetry system. Just 40 examples will be offered for sale, 20 coupés and 20 opentopped Spyder variants.

Experience

13

MUST HAVE: CITIES

GOING DUTCH

Its numerous “coffee shops” and famed Red Light District may have earned Amsterdam the reputation of Europe’s Sin City, but that’s just one facet of the Dutch metropolis. With an ingenious canal system, burgeoning food scene and impressive roster of art museums, the picturesque city is one to be enjoyed by even the most distinguished culturati.

BY RE N É E MOR RI S O N

Stay

View from the Top

ALL THE STOPS A dedicated Eleven Experience vacation home “experience manager” is always on hand to assist with more elaborate outings or family day trips, from hot-air ballooning over the Dutch flower fields to picnics on Amsterdam’s urban beaches. Every stay at Canal Huis 58 includes airport transfers, museum entries, a fully stocked bar and fridge, chef-prepared breakfasts, a personal guide and concierge, plus use of bikes and a boat.

14

Experience

— There’s no shortage of upscale hotels in the city, but for a truly authentic experience, book your very own townhouse. A recent addition to the Eleven Experience roster of exclusive vacation homes, five-storey CANAL HUIS 58 is one of only 13 properties in the city to overlook the intersection of two canals, and its prime downtown location is just a hint at its best-of-the-best amenities. Start the day with breakfast courtesy of an in-house private chef, who whips up whatever you’re craving, be it fresh fruit salad or bacon-topped eggs Benedict, then get moving with a ride on one of the house’s cruiser bikes. Explore the city solo, or let expert guide Joe Wegecsanyi take you on a tour tailored to your interests, be they boutiques, museums, landmarks or cheese shops. He’ll also be happy to point out noteworthy spots from the helm of the open-air Eleven Experience sloop, available to guests for canal cruises.

Of course, when staying in a city like Amsterdam and a home like Canal Huis 58, there’s no shame in practicing your mixology skills in the cozy second-floor bar, or in putting your feet up and doing whatever feels right.

Pauw

Do

Time Machine

— Book a museum tour with art historian Marko Kassenaar, a veritable human library who shares anecdotes that make it seem as if he had lived alongside the world’s master painters. Start at the RIJKSMUSEUM , where four floors of permanent collections showcase art from the Middle Ages to the present day, including the world’s largest collection of paintings from Dutch Golden Age artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and de Hooch.

Don’t leave without a peek into the research library, a breathtaking space with four levels of balconies overflowing with art books.

At the STEDELIJK MUSEUM just down the street, find modern and contemporary art of all forms: Rotating exhibits range from mechanical sculptures to edgy performance art, while the permanent collection includes pop pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, abstract watercolor paintings by Pablo Picasso, and video installations by Steve McQueen.

Shop

Mix It Up

MODERN CLASSIC (From top) The Hall of Honor at the Rijksmuseum; “Nofretete” (2014)

by Isa Genzken at the Stedelijk Museum.

De Belhamel

— In Amsterdam, treasure hunting is made easy with a handful of shopping streets that cater to different tastes. Van Baerlestraat is home to PAUW, a fashion emporium with a curated collection of pieces by Dutch designers, as well as an in-house line of understated, exquisitely made wardrobe staples for men and women, while big-name brands from HERMÈS to HUGO BOSS line the adjacent P.C. Hooftstraat.

On Staalstraat, design lovers get their fix at DROOG , a modern design collective whose concept shop offers furniture (including Tejo Remy’s iconic Chest of Drawers) and eyecatching home accessories (don’t miss Patrick Morris’s Sky Planter, an ingenious plant pot that hangs upside down).

Dine

It’s in the Details

PHOTO: ERIK SMITHS (RIJKSMUSEUM)

—

RON GASTROBAR is far more elegant than its name implies. Led by twoMichelin-starred Ron Blaauw, this stylish eatery is admittedly very fusion – Asian, Southern US and French influences manifest themselves in dishes like udon noodles with soft-shell crab, BBQ ribs with homemade sambal, and organic foie gras with marinated beets and raisins. But it works, and it works beautifully, especially when followed by a complimentary house-made ice cream cone. For lunch, try DE BELHAMEL , a tiny gem of a restaurant right next to Canal Huis 58 that features an outdoor terrace. Star dishes include the Belhamel salad, with black forest ham and Dutch goat cheese, and every plate comes with freshly baked bread that’s too good to pass up.

Experience

15

FEATURED AIRCRAFT

NEXT GEN NOW

The Learjet 75 is the next generation of Bombardier’s high-performing luxury aircraft.

BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Forward Thinking

Learjet may be synonymous with tradition and the birth of the business jet industry, but the latest member of Bombardier’s illustrious Learjet family is built for the future. The Learjet 75 is the fastest business aircraft in its class – and every detail is an improvement on previous Learjet models. The Learjet 75 boasts an impressive 2,040 nautical mile (3,778 kilometer) range, connecting passengers to more major destinations nonstop, and, with the right operating conditions, its high speed cruise of Mach 0.81 (860 km/h) not only covers more ground but also does it faster than any other jet in its class. The aircraft’s twin power plants, coupled with forwardthinking aerodynamics, make it a champion of low operating costs, offering better performance for less fuel.

The Learjet family has accumulated 111 world speed records to date, including, most recently, those set by the Learjet 75 aircraft on a round-trip between New York and Los Angeles in September 2015. The flight marked the 50th anniversary of aviator Clay Lacy’s record-setting transcontinental round-trip, beating his time by 17 minutes. No other aircraft has a faster climb rate or higher cruise speed among its direct competitors, and the Learjet 75 aircraft’s state-of-the-art carbon brakes provide superior landing performance – even on short runways and in challenging weather conditions, such as snow and rain.

16

Experience

FEATURED AIRCRAFT

TO EACH PASSENGER THEIR OWN

–

The Learjet 75 aircraft is the only business jet to feature seven-inch personal touch screens mounted at every seat.* The innovative design creates utility in both the stowed and viewing positions, independently displaying content from the media center at each seat. The monitors tie into the industry-leading niceTM HD Cabin Management System, which blends innovation and accessibility. *Seats adjacent to emergency exit feature 4.3-inch screens.

OPTIONAL POCKET DOOR

– The Learjet 75 is the only aircraft in its class to feature an optional pocket door, an innovation that enhances privacy and creates a quieter ride for passengers. Separating the cabin from the cockpit, the door cuts down on noise in the cabin, boasting a reduction of 6 to 8 decibels in preliminary testing. It’s a game changer for light business jet owners who want to relax, sleep or get work done while on the go.

Intelligent Design

On the exterior, the Learjet 75 aircraft builds on its predecessors’ sleek design and renowned performance with new canted winglets – inspired by the Learjet 25 aircraft, the first business jet to feature winglets – for improved aerodynamics and efficiency. Inside the aircraft, a wholly modern experience unfolds, as attentive as it is refined.

The Learjet 75 features a flat floor design – the first and only one to have such a design among its immediate competitors – which helps to accommodate two distinct floor plans for six or eight passengers, with the former providing the most legroom in an aircraft configured for six seats, and the latter allowing a cabin to be at capacity without compromising range. A new galley pocket door on both floor plans provides increased privacy and a quieter cabin, while the double-club swivel seating offers more headroom, legroom and mobility than any competitor.

The galley has more storage space and amenities than ever, with a microwave option, dual ice drawers and other catering features that far exceed the light jet standard.

The aircraft’s niceTM HD Cabin Management System (CMS) blends innovation and accessibility, offering full access to environmental, recreational and informational controls at the convenience of personal touch screens (each seat also has its own personal USB port).

The media center, located in the forward cabin, reads Blu-ray disks, DVDs, CDs and information from USBs or HDMI, playing content on any screen in the cabin.

The Learjet 75 is the most advanced business jet in its respective class, and thanks to the Bombardier Learjet Completion Center in Wichita, Kansas, it’s also the most personalized. From handcrafted cabinetry to other interior customizations, the Completion Center’s design team calls on a wealth of in-house expertise to meet even the most meticulous technical or aesthetic requirements.

Experience

19

20/20 Vision

As the next generation of the iconic Learjet family, the Learjet 75 aircraft sets the stage for private aviation – and continues to set the pace, five decades later. The Bombardier Vision flight deck is a benchmark in business aviation, and standard across all current in-production Learjet aircraft. It’s lauded not only for its technological prowess but also its ergonomic design, a factor that both reduces workload and provides greater situational awareness for the pilot. Three high-resolution 14-inch wide-screen displays are fed by a wide range of avionics, including Primary and Multifunction Flight Displays, which provide advanced inflight information.

And the Synthetic Vision System, an industryleading weather and terrain monitoring system, ensures a smoother and more predictable journey.

20

Experience

In the news Aurora Jet Partners took delivery of Bombardier’s 75th Learjet 75 aircraft in Wichita, Kansas, this February.

Name Bill McGoey

new Learjet 75 is the

Position President,

‘updated memory’ of

Aurora Jet Partners, a

that great business

private aviation company

aviation experience.”

with bases in Canada.

On flying private “The

On the Learjet 75 “Our

best thing about private

clients are impressed

air travel is that our

with the comfortable,

clients can travel on

flat-floor cabin and with

their own schedule, to

the performance,

their preferred final

including the cruise

destination, without the

speed and range.”

pre-flight inconveniences

On the Learjet legacy

and crowds associated

“Aurora Jet Partners has

with commercial air

been operating Learjets

travel. Our customers

since the 1970s, and we

spend their time working

have fond memories of

or visiting with their

the safety and reliability

guests over a catered

our clients enjoyed in the

meal and a few drinks

Learjet 36 model. Our

from the galley.”

PHOTO: KELLEN JENKINS/WICHITA BUSINESS JOURNAL (PORTRAIT)

FEATURED AIRCRAFT

CLIFF NOTES The Paro Taktsang Monastery, also known as the Tiger’s Nest, was built in the 17th century on a cliffside about 10,000 feet over Paro Valley.

TRAVEL: BHUTAN

wormwood touted for its medicinal properties). After all, the ancient name for Bhutan is The Land of Medicinal Herbs and its traditional medicine stretches back to seventh-century Tibet, with elements borrowed from ancient Indian Ayurvedic techniques. Surely, this too is a source of its happiness.

THE HEIGHTS OF T HAPPINESS Does the Kingdom of Happiness live up to its name? We take a high-altitude tour through Bhutan’s monasteries, spas and villages to find out.

BY ADAM H. GRAHAM

I

“

s it really happier here?” I wonder just before touching down at Paro Airport, a short landing strip wedged into the basin of a remote Himalayan valley.

I descend into the eternal folds of granite that make up Bhutan, one of the last remaining Buddhist kingdoms.

Over the next two weeks, I hope to have the answer revealed to me while hiking to remote Himalayan-perched monasteries, visiting cloistered dzongs (Bhutan’s hybrid of government administrative centers and monasteries), and learning more about the mindfulness that’s earned Bhutan its nickname: the Kingdom of Happiness.

In 1972, a policy of GNH (Gross National Happiness) was instituted by the fourth and very beloved Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in order to emphasize the value of happiness over GDP. The 60-year-old is responsible for most of Bhutan’s modern reforms, but has since abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Today, the retired monarch can be seen cycling the pine-choked foothills of Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, perhaps serving as a living model of his own policy. And since the country opened to tourism in 1974, and then allowed private sector investment in the 1990s, visitors can experience this happiness, too.

While interested in exploring this uniquely Bhutanese claim to fame, I confess to a streak of skepticism. It’s not that I don’t believe Bhutan is happy but, rather, I question whether a country can quantify happiness. And frankly, I’m also here to experience some serious short-term pleasure: a stay at five different Aman properties, each with its own flavor and mix of mile-high modernism, tranquil spas and, in some, traditional hot stone baths (a mixture of river water and

o assist me, I hire a Bhutanese guide, Namgay, a stout 30year-old new dad with a love of competitive archery, Bhutan’s national sport. (Guides aren’t just a plus here, they’re a necessity – see sidebar.)

First stop, the famed Tiger’s Nest Monastery. The 100-minute hike up the wide, switchback trail is steep and at times difficult, requiring a few breathers along the way. The trail passes tattered prayer flags, bright mountain wildflowers and dogwood berry trees strewn with a lichen called “old man’s beard.”

“It never gets old,” says Namgay wistfully, when we reach the first view of the 17th-century cliff-perched monastery, known locally as Taktsang Palphug. It’s every bit as breathtaking in real life as it is in photos, and its origins only add to the mystique: The temple complex was built around a former tiger’s lair, and legend has it that Rinpoche, an eighth-century Buddhist guru, flew there from Tibet on the back of a tigress before meditating for three years in the caves. The final stretch of trail to it crosses a bridge that spans a waterfall adorned with prayer flags flapping in the misty wind. This spot, where nature intersects with human-made forces, can choke up the most hardened of world travelers, myself included.

Like all Bhutan’s sacred sites, photography inside the monastery itself is strictly forbidden. With phones and cameras put away, visitors can interact with the monks and admire with the naked eye the ornate yak-butter sculptures that adorn its three separate temples. I sit with the monks during meditation and ask them to bless my copy of the Dhammapada, a collection of the Buddha’s sayings. They do so by reciting the sanskrit mantra om mani padme hum several times before giving me holy water for drinking and washing my face. Like many travelers exiting the temple, a stillness washes over me. It’s not happiness I feel, not sadness, but something else in the middle.

Indeed, sustaining this “middle way” is one of the primary tenets of Buddhism and it’s said to be a great reliever of suffering.

While there may be a melancholia and feelings of transcendence at Tiger’s Nest, I come down the mountain with a sense of optimism that I didn’t have going up. Maybe it is the accomplishment of finishing the hike, or the sacredness of the temple, but I feel my skepticism ebbing.

Later that night, I settle in at Amankora Paro, with its rammedearth walls and traditional bukhari woodstoves. I eat dinner with a Korean-American couple and we exchange Tiger’s Nest stories over pumpkin bruschetta and blueberry ice cream, laughing as we admit that we only pretended to drink the holy water, unsure of its origin.

Experience

23

TRAVEL: BHUTAN

IN RESIDENCE Buddhist monks at the Punakha Dzong in the country’s ancient capital; the “Palace of Great Happiness” is the monks’ official winter residence.

Back in my room, a fire has been lit and a bath drawn in my absence, so I slip into the silky almond-scented hot water while the pinecones and oak snap and crackle in the stove.

N

amgay picks me up early the next morning and we set off for Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital. The spectacular drive hugs the sapphire blue Paro Chu river, showcasing scenes of red chili peppers drying atop tin roofs and endless rocky hillsides dotted with ornate woodwork architecture. At the confluence of the Paro and Thimphu rivers we pass stupas, mound-shaped reliquaries that serve as meditative places, and hundreds of tiny ornate tsa-tsas – small votive objects the size of jam jars, made with cremation ash – wedged into rocky crevices along the roadside. Both are said to ward off bad spirits and maintain a sense of peace.

While Thimphu might be a happy city by most urban standards, I get the sense that not everyone there lives in bliss. There are signs of poverty and growing pains found throughout the developing world.

Labor camps for Indian migrants line the roads, suggesting that Bhutan is not a sealed bubble. Perhaps calculating Gross National Happiness is more complicated than it seems.

Thimphu’s Amankora property is circled by blue pines and inspired by the architecture of the dzongs, with high, whitewashed flagstone walls, soaring ceilings and wood-paneled interiors. It is near the royal family’s palace, and the capital is so small – at 91,000 residents – that run-ins with royalty are not unusual. On my first evening, I am alone in the hotel when suddenly a flurry of staff rushes past me to ready the spa for the Queen Mother, a frequent guest. Later that night, I hit the town with another Bhutanese guide, Lotay, who takes me on a

24

Experience

While there may be a melancholia and feelings of transcendence at Tiger’s Nest, I come down the mountain with a sense of optimism. tour of Thimphu’s homegrown music scene, finishing up at Mojo Park where we bump into the dashing young Prince Jigyel. Perhaps the down-to-earth royals help keep people content?

M

y non-royal schedule resumes the next day as we set off for a three-hour roadtrip to Punakha. The ancient capital is home to the mighty Punakha Dzong, the official winter residence of Thimphu’s monks, due to its warmer climate and lower altitude. The road to it from Thimphu climbs up to the Tibetan refugee village of Hongtsho before topping off at the 10,170-foot (3,100-meter) high Dochula Pass, where the ratcheting crank of prayer wheels and twinkling bells fill the cold rarefied air.

The pass is marked with 108 stupas, commissioned by the Queen Mother to memorialize the soldiers killed in Bhutan’s 2003 war with Assam rebels from India. It is also the site of Druk Wangyal Lhakhang, a temple built in 2008 to celebrate 100 years of Bhutanese monarchy. The temple is home to some wonderfully modern paintings of the Bhutanese royalty dressed

INNER WORKINGS (From top) Amankora Thimphu lodge’s exterior is inspired by dzong architecture; a suite and staff member at Amankora Paro.

Experience

25

Like many travelers exiting the temple, a stillness washes over me.

It’s not happiness I feel, not sadness, but something else in the middle.

LOCAL FLAVOR (This page, from top) Live drangyen (lute) music at Amankora Punakha; Ngaja, a sweet milk tea, is part of the traditional Bhutanese morning ritual; (opposite) the view from the Amankora Paro includes mountains and pine forests.

as floating deities and sporting uplifting smiles that could give the Mona Lisa a run for her money.

A three-hour drive takes us to Gangtey, a marsh-soaked plateau nestled in a glacial valley on the sunny western slopes of Bhutan’s Black Mountains. Lording over the treeless valley is the imposing, 17th-century cloistered Gangtey Monastery, where Buddhist monks in burgundy gho robes meditate and play dungchen – brass trumpets used during ceremonies. The monastery closes for the winter and most of its monks move to the winter capital of Punakha.

When they do, Gangtey’s other trumpeting residents arrive: migrating black-necked cranes. The endangered birds hold a sacred place in the hearts of locals, as symbols of peace and longevity whose haunting calls signal the arrival of winter.

That night at Amankora Gangtey, I’m led by a staff member to a source of happiness hidden in plain view: In a mountain meadow planted with beetroot and potatoes, a rustic stone shed has been converted into a hot stone bath. Inside, a dozen votive candles f licker from wall mounts and an ornate bell cast with Tibetan script sits on a table next to the steamy tub. I’m told to ring it once I’m settled in. With one strike, the shed’s bamboo doors open to reveal the deep valley below me and the mist-strewn 17th-century Gangtey Monastery. During my sublime and serene 40-minute soak, I listen to the black-necked cranes’ calls bleed into the wails of the dungchen horn. I let my mind return to the prayer flags fluttering beside the Tiger’s Nest Monastery waterfall and to Thimphu, and take the time to meditate yet again on what it means to be happy.

T

he next morning, Namgay and I hike to the Black-Necked Crane Visitor Center armed with binoculars. “Every winter when the cranes return, they circle the monastery three times before landing,” says Namgay, solemnly, watching the birds. “The monks believe they are the reincarnated souls of former lamas – the high priests of Buddhism – and that they come home to pay homage to the beloved monastery of Gangtey Gompa. So seeing them is a reminder of what home is. And home is happiness.”

Just like that, I get it. I watch Namgay watching the birds, and see the pleasure wash across his big round face. To the Bhutanese, the love of home equals happiness. I think of my own home, and smile.

Experience

27

TRAVEL: BHUTAN Guides –

Bhutan’s daily visa requires that all travelers (except citizens of India, Bangladesh and the Maldives) hire and travel with a Bhutanese guide at all times.

Audley is an upscale tour agency that offers bespoke itineraries to Bhutan’s spas and more rugged treks to its farflung monasteries and convents. audleytravel.com Bridge to Bhutan is a locally established agency that emphasizes Bhutan’s sustainable projects and cultural tours. bridgetobhutan.com

SENSE OF PLACE (From top) A Bhutanese artist creates a traditional divinity painting; Amankora Paro’s stone baths are heated by fragrant bukhari woodstoves.

Hotels –

Amankora is a network of five different Aman properties scattered across the mountainous kingdom of Bhutan with a common design theme including terrazzo tubs and traditional bukhari – woodstoves stuffed with local oak and pinecones. The modern 24-suite Amankora Paro boasts a library, spa with sauna, hot stone baths and yoga area. The 16 dzong-inspired suites at Amankora Thimphu feature high rammed-earth walls. Adjacent to the royal palace, the property has a spa and an outdoor dining deck surrounded by fragrant blue pines.

The five-suite Amankora Gangtey, the smallest and most remote of the properties, sits on a cliff overlooking the bowl-shaped Gangtey Valley. Don’t miss its traditional hot stone bath. aman.com

28

Experience

DAW N A striking, seductive encounter The new Dawn has arrived – a Rolls-Royce like no other.

A striking true four-seater, it captures the exhilaration of open-top driving with an interior crafted in anticipation of unforgettable moments between friends.

Anything is possible. Contact us to start your journey.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited Asia Pacific Office (Singapore Branch) 1 Harbourfront Avenue, #15–02 Keppel Bay Tower, Singapore 098632 Tel: +65 6838 9674 Email: asiapacific@rolls-roycemotorcars.com © Copyright Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited 2016. The Rolls-Royce name and logo are registered trademarks.

MODERN MAKERS

In London, a deep appreciation for England’s most iconic brands lives on, but the next generation of artisans is putting a contemporary spin on traditional crafts – and getting royal approval to do so.

BY C R A I L L E M AGUIR E GIL LI ES | P H OTO S BY KAT E P ET E RS

T

he windows of Asprey’s flagship in London resemble those of a giant Victorian sweet shop. Inside, I find not sugary treats but vitrines of silver and crystal confections. “It has an Alice in Wonderland feeling,” a shop assistant says, casting an eye over the space, which is formed from 19th-century townhouses encircling a glassed-in courtyard. His description is apt: Mere blocks away, people at Oxford Circus – arguably the city’s busiest intersection – stream out of the Underground towards the high street. Here, tucked away from the mayhem, Asprey is an urban sanctuary.

Soon I’m whisked away, up a lift and down a narrow hallway to a room where craftsmen in white lab coats kneel on the floor, working on the America’s Cup, the sailing trophy’s Louis Vuitton traveling case propped against the wall. In the workshop next door, a silversmith puts the finishing touches on the 2016 Dubai World Cup. All told, it will take about 400 hours to complete.

CRAFTSMANSHIP

PRECIOUS METAL (Clockwise from top left) Silversmith Andrew Harrison and a team of specialized craftspeople work magic with their hands (and plenty of tools) at Asprey’s London workshop; businesses advertise royal warrants by displaying the coat of arms or the heraldic badge of the royal family member who appointed the company.

PHOTO: MAURICE SAVAGE/ALAMY (COAT OF ARMS)

Every object you’ll find here – and many bespoke ones you won’t – are made by expert craftspeople who work by hand, as did generations of artisans before them. (Asprey’s motto is: “It can be done.”) This attention to excellence first earned the iconic brand a coveted royal warrant of appointment from Queen Victoria in 1862 for what its current artistic director, Håkan Rosenius, calls its “extraordinary objects.”

The first royal warrant was bestowed in 1155 by Henry II. In the centuries since, it has become the royal stamp of approval, granted to everything from the biscuits served with Her Majesty’s afternoon tea to the biofuel that powered the Aston Martin Prince William drove on his wedding day. Today, Asprey is in rarefied company: Only about 800 businesses have the right to bear royal arms, an honor granted only by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh or the Prince of Wales to those who provide superior goods or services to the royal household.

The Royal Warrant Holders Association was established in 1840 and reflected a golden era of craft in the United Kingdom. “It’s a big

family,” says Russell Tanguay of the RWHA, who explains that things have not always been so favorable. By the 1970s, traditional crafts had seen such a sharp decline – due to mass production and a decadeslong decrease in skilled workers – that they were never expected to rebound. Then came the 1980s, an era of sweeping change in the United Kingdom – one that brought a renewed appreciation for highquality luxury goods and a rise in entrepreneurship.

There was also pressure to revive the image of British-made goods in the public imagination, says Tanguay, but there was still the risk that centuries of traditional skills would be lost. Recognizing that the future of these industries depended on supporting those people who never thought they could make a career of their craft, the RWHA established a £1 million scholarship program in 1990. Thus was born the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), which has become an incubator for the next generation of royal warrant holders. This year, the Queen herself has become its patron, something which Tanguay says means a great deal. “Perhaps QEST has truly come of age.”

One might even say that British craft itself has come of age,

Mix Master Asprey’s golden age in the 1920s coincided with the golden age of cocktails, and ever since the brand has brought that vintage mix of whimsy, humor and elegance to its barware. Here’s a look at Asprey’s iconic cocktail shakers through the decades, with many still on offer.

1920s

1930s

1977

2013

2015

The 2015 incarnation – an airplane designed

Dumbbell

Starboard

Champagne

Lighthouse

Airplane

by Håkan Rosenius – is already a collector’s item.

Experience

31

DREAM WEAVER Textile designer Gillian Murphy finds inspiration in the colors and textures around her, then creates swatches – and eventually, finished pieces – using the industrial knitting machines at the Royal College of Art.

are being taken in new directions. QEST awards apprenticeships and scholarships to the most promising designers – the future Philip Treacys and Vivienne Westwoods of the United Kingdom. It has led to a host of designers and makers with a hand in tradition and an eye to the future, from a headpiece designer (Deirdre Hawken) apprenticing with the Queen Mother’s milliner to a children’s book author and illustrator (Fiona Rose Batey).

New World Order

QEST has become an incubator for the next generation of royal warrant holders. turning London’s luxury market into a global leader. “We’re in an extraordinary time,” says QEST trustee Mark Henderson, chairman of bespoke tailor Gieves & Hawkes, a royal warrant holder since 1799. “We’ve gone through a period where as long as something was covered in a rare material like ostrich skin, it was fabulous.

But the luxury market has an increasing interest in true provenance and craftsmanship.”

Brands like Asprey have understood this all along, but for young artisans it opens up a vast playing field – one where traditional skills

32

Experience

To see what else the future might hold, I head to the Royal College of Art (RCA), where I’m met by Gillian Murphy, who is pushing the limits of knitwear. We slip past an impromptu fashion shoot and make our way to the library, where Murphy, a QEST scholar who is completing a master’s in textile design, pulls out a large portfolio.

The Glaswegian designer is interested in what she calls slow fashion – worlds away from the computer-designed frocks found on the high street. “I hope there’s a time limit on fast fashion,” she says.

“People are aware of quality, and they are willing to pay more for something that will last.”

Her process begins not by looking at what’s on the latest runways, but by wandering outdoors, camera in hand. “When I look at something, my eye crops it. I see a line, a texture, a flash of color. And when I look at my photographs, I can see knitting textures.” She makes collages with details from photos – a concrete wall, a bright door – pasting them on to a picture of a model. “I can work on a computer, but I feel more engaged when I work with paper,” Murphy says. Then she heads to one of the industrial knitting machines steps from her desk and creates swatches of wool, silk and cashmere inspired by her collages.

The scholarship, Murphy says, has provided not just money but mentorship. “The most beneficial things have been the relationships I’ve made,” she says. After finishing an undergraduate degree at the

CRAFTSMANSHIP Sole Craft How fireman and footwear designer Tomiwa Adeosun takes a boot from concept to completion.

— Step one: reconnaissance “I start with research,” says Adeosun, whose collection Brother was inspired by his love of workwear, the firefighters he works with and the photographer Irving Penn’s 1950s series on tradesmen with their tools. He goes to the archives, looks at images and compiles a visual database of ideas.

— Step two: sketches Adeosun started out sketching trainers with his teenage best friend. “I often make hundreds of sketches of my ideas, including details and the shapes of shoes,” he says. “Then I incorporate the two into a final design. For Brother, I wanted to get as much of the personality of each fireman into the shoe as possible.”

— Step three: prototype Adeosun’s boots often play with classic forms, adding unique details. “If you have the right form and function, the DOUBLE DUTY Designer Tomiwa Adeosun’s footwear collection was influenced by traditional men’s workwear, a medium in which he had hands-on experience: His second occupation is as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade.

aesthetic will be right,” he says. To make a prototype, he chooses a last – the foundation or mold of the boot – and transfers his ideas from paper into a 3-D form. This form is then used to make paper pattern pieces, which then become

PHOTOS: EGLE ARAVICI (ADEOSUN); JOHN McGRATH (SHOES)

a template to cut out the material for the final product.

Glasgow School of Art, Murphy cast around for a way to keep her hand in design. She had exhibited in London and Paris, and been prodded by a half-dozen people to apply to the RCA. But it was a meeting with a team from QEST that changed things. “I was already so passionate about British knitting and fashion, and it was incredible to be in a room with six people who wanted to support exactly that,” she says.

Sponsored by John Smedley – a knitwear brand that once held an intimate reception where Murphy presented her work to the Queen – the designer says the greatest benefit is the support she’s had. In addition to trips to the veteran knitwear brand’s office in Matlock, she can zip over from the RCA to QEST or head in the other direction for a quick visit with a mentor from Burberry – someone providing not only fashion insight but life advice.

Murphy is following in the footsteps, you might say, of Tomiwa Adeosun, who revisited a teenage hobby of sketching trainers.

Adeosun had been a self-described “sneakerhead” but never imagined he could turn it into a profession. English bespoke tradition was full of Oxfords and brogues, but few trainers. “But then I thought, ‘What did I do when I was younger? What could I see myself doing in the future?’” Those questions led him to the RCA, where he graduated last year with an MA as a cordwainer, a shoemaker who traditionally works with leather.

Adeosun did it while working full-time as a firefighter – a job that isn’t as far from the fashion studio as you’d think: His final collection was inspired by the men at Chelsea fire station and Irving Penn’s photography of tradespeople. Shoes are named after coworkers, whom he had photographed in striking black and white portraits.

— Step four: assembly “Here I make a 3-D idea two-dimensional again by taking the shoe apart, and then back to 3-D,” he explains.

“I ‘last’ it – I pull it back over the last and bind and secure around the bottom.” The final step: Apply the sole and heel, trim and then clean and polish. Then you’re ready to put your best foot forward.

Experience

33

CRAFTSMANSHIP

A PERFECT FIT (Left) William Skinner, managing director of Dege & Skinner, is the fifth generation to run the business; (above) the tailoring house is known for creating sturdy military uniforms, including those worn by the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) who guard the Tower of London.

A Stitch in Time

There’s an awareness that the future of British craftsmanship is as important as its past.

“This collection was about shoes for real men that use the language of the fire service,” he says, pointing to a photo of a rugged man with a mustache and wearing a leather jacket. It’s accompanied by “Stephenson,” a sturdy boot with a swath of burgundy pony skin named after the mustachioed man. “I try to get as much personality of the real person into the shoe as possible,” Adeosun explains.

The day we talk, he’s scheduled to meet with Adidas about an opportunity in Germany, a role that would marry his love of footwear with his love of football, and potentially put him a step closer to one day starting his own fashion brand. Murphy, meanwhile, is savoring the last few months at the RCA. “In 10 years, I could imagine doing my MA all over again,” she says.

They’re both starting their careers at a time when everyone from purveyors such as Asprey to family-run tailors on Savile Row recognize the value of skilled designers and makers – and luxury consumers are embracing handmade objects not only for their durability but for the stories of how they were made. It reminds me of something Henderson had told me about changing attitudes to British craft: “Why is it valuable? Because a master has spent perhaps 10,000 hours learning how to do what they do.”

34

Experience

To see the result of those 10,000 hours, I stroll down Savile Row. Through tall basement windows I watch master tailors with needle and thread in hand. Above ground, I stop by Dege & Skinner, a royal warrant holder known for its bespoke suits and military garments.

“Without skilled craftspeople, we wouldn’t be able to exist,” says William Skinner, who took over the 151-year-old business from his father and leads a staff of around 20. (His father, Michael, dressed the British Peers of the Realm for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and Dege & Skinner once made a military-inspired outfit for Michael Jackson.) When we pass a print of Princes Harry and William in their Dege & Skinner-made uniforms (the painting itself hangs at the National Portrait Gallery), Skinner casually remarks, “I saw their father last night.”

“When you have a bespoke suit made, it becomes part of you,” says Skinner, who explains that it takes roughly 55 hours to make a suit, from the initial fitting to the cutting and tailoring to the finishing details. He leans across a table and pulls out a customer’s file, not unlike one you’d find at a doctor’s office, that goes back more than 20 years, noting measurements, fabrics used, when garments were created and subsequent adjustments made. “As you can see,” he says with a smile, holding up a tan kraft-paper pattern with several new pieces stapled to it, “this has been added to over the years.”

Like all of the craftspeople and designers I meet, Dege & Skinner prioritize quality over quantity when it comes to their offerings, an approach that has served them well. Their relationships – and the clothes they make – often last decades. As a cutter outside his office gets to work, Skinner mentions that a customer recently brought in a morning coat they’d created in 1963. “It’s still going strong – although it is a bit tight.”

Even in a shop with such esteemed heritage, there’s an awareness that the future of British craftsmanship is as important as its past.

That might be found in avant-garde knitwear, or the next batch of “extraordinary items” at Asprey, or the haute-couture visions of a sneakerhead. Or even in a morning coat from 1963, so valued by its owner that it arrives back on the cutting room floor because it’s just a bit tight, but as good as new.

P A S S I O N

F O R

E X C E L L E N C E

AN EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE, EVERY TIME Passion for excellence is our trademark. In everything we do, our goal is to meet and surpass your expectations. Our highly trained staff is always on hand to ensure your complete satisfaction, both on the ground and in the air. And our unrivalled facilities located at Dubai World Central guarantee your comfort and convenience every time you fly.

T: +971 (0)4 870 1800 | www.dc-aviation.ae | an Al-Futtaim joint venture Al Maktoum International Airport | DWC | Aviation District | Dubai U.A.E

PROFILE

BACK

When Clarence and Kerry Scharbauer flew to Normandy, they expected a history lesson. What they found was a living testament to World War II in the form of The Greatest Generations Foundation.

BY KATE HAHN

L

ieutenant Arthur Staymates charged ashore on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. He was part of the first wave of American troops to storm Normandy on D-Day. He says it was like “coming into hell,” crashing out of the landing crafts into a hail of machine gun fire and mortars. The unit sustained 75 percent casualties – most killed before they made it from the surf to the top of the cliffs. He was 19 years old.

But Staymates had no time to mourn. He fought on: in Paris, Bastogne, the Battle of the Bulge. As a member of the 1st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One (for the large red numeral one on their shoulder patches), he was part of the most decorated unit in the European theater. They were later chosen to serve as MPs at the Nuremberg trials at the end of the war.

When Staymates shipped back to the United States he could never have imagined that he would return to France 70 years later. But in October 2015, he traveled to the small town of Caen, Normandy, with The Greatest Generations Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit that takes veterans back to the battlefields where they once fought, all expenses paid.

“The only thing we ask for in return is for them to tell us their stories,” says founder Timothy Davis. The firsthand accounts are recorded and turned into vignettes available for viewing on the organization’s website. “Our goal is to preserve their legacies.”

Since its founding 12 years ago, TGGF has taken 3,500 American combat veterans back to their battlefields. They go in groups of 20 to 30 and stay an average of two weeks. So far, the organization has completed 110 of these programs (called “programs” rather than “trips” to highlight the educational component of these battlefield returns).

Staymates was with a smaller group that had gone on to Normandy after a larger program in other parts of Europe. The men included Timothy Davis and another vet, Joseph Reilly, who parachuted into Normandy behind enemy lines at 1:30 a.m., five hours before Staymates landed.

36

Experience

T

he group set out early the next day for the first leg of a threeday tour in refurbished World War II era Jeeps. That windy October morning at Omaha Beach (the code name given to the stretch of French coastline by the American military) the Scharbauers saw firsthand the impact The Greatest Generations

PHOTOS: THE GREATEST GENERATIONS FOUNDATION

A THE WAY

s Staymates headed to meet his companions at the hotel bar in Caen, another man was checking in: Clarence Scharbauer, a Texas businessman with interests in oil and gas, as well as real estate development. He and his wife Kerry had just traveled to Scotland on their Challenger 300 aircraft to fulfill her lifelong dream of seeing the lands of her ancestors, who include William Wallace, the hero who inspired the film Braveheart. Now it was Clarence’s turn to set the itinerary. He was born on D-Day (though years after the war ended), and had wanted to visit the Normandy beaches his entire life.

While his wife settled into their room, Scharbauer walked into the hotel restaurant. There, he noticed the American veterans in their uniforms.

“I introduced myself and Joe said, ‘Clarence, I’m Joe Reilly and I’m here with The Greatest Generations Foundation. I jumped in the 101st Airborne on D-Day outside of Sainte-Mère-Église.’ I sat down, and I just went, ‘Really?’ Then I said, ‘And you, sir?’” That’s when he met Staymates. “Both of them were just as clear as a bell,” Scharbauer recalls fondly in his Texan drawl.

Like Staymates, Reilly survived while many of his comrades were killed in action. He spent three weeks fighting in the notorious Normandy hedgerows, the maze-like fields where American soldiers faced heavy mortar fire from German forces. He then went on to Holland – where he jumped again. He is one of the last members of the Band of Brothers involved in Operation Overlord, the code name for the Allied invasion of France.

Soon after the men began trading stories, Kerry Scharbauer joined them and both she and her husband noted how almost everyone at the restaurant came up to the men and asked for pictures or autographs.

“Justin Bieber,” is how TGGF’s Timothy Davis describes it. “That’s exactly what it’s like for these 90-year-old men when they go back to these little villages.”

Kerry Scharbauer immediately noted how different the two veterans, soon known as “Art and Joe,” were. “Joe’s 94, shorter than me – and I’m 5ˇ3 "! He walks with a cane but he can still wear his same exact paratrooper uniform and boots from the day he left the army.

He’s a born storyteller.” Meanwhile, “Art is 91, 6ˇ2 ", stately and handsome. Kind, soft-spoken, very intelligent.”

While the two men never met during the war, they bonded through the foundation, and were happy to let Clarence and Kerry join in.

When the Scharbauers heard that the veterans were planning to drive three hours to Paris to catch a commercial flight back to the United States, they invited them to stay a few days longer so they could fly them back in the Challenger 300 jet.

After a surprised silence, the men happily agreed. Then Timothy Davis suggested that he and the vets act as guides to the Scharbauers, and it was the couple’s turn to offer an enthusiastic, “Absolutely!”

ON THE BEACH (From top) Touring Normandy in refurbished WWII-era Jeeps; veteran Arthur Staymates (left) and Clarence Scharbauer on Omaha Beach.

who have been patiently

hair cut, pack their bags,

waiting,” says founder

and they’re gone.”

Timothy Davis. “Our

Generations Foundation

back on the battlefields of

is an IRS 501(C)(3) tax-

Normandy and Pearl

exempt charitable

Harbor and other sites

organization. Make a

before it’s too late.”

donation or volunteer your

One of the biggest

The Greatest Generations Foundation

The Greatest

mission is to put as many

personal or corporate

hurdles TGGF faces: the

aircraft by going to The

actual air travel.

Greatest Generations

“We want to fly them

Foundation website. You

all first class, but on the

can also check out photos

routes we fly there are

of veterans and their

usually not enough seats,”

journeys back to the

–

says Davis. While he

battlefields on the group’s

Roughly 123,000 veterans

would love to partner

Facebook page.

have applied to The

with a major airline,

www.tggf.org

Greatest Generations

he welcomes the

Foundation to go back to

participation of more

their foreign battle sites.

private aircraft owners like

To assist all of those who

the Scharbauers.

served, more resources are needed.

“We’re getting

“I can fill that plane right now and send them to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii or

applications every day.

Normandy, France. All

But we’re also receiving

these veterans need is a

obituaries of the veterans

few days’ notice. Get their

THEN AND NOW (Clockwise from top) Soldiers approach the coast of Normandy, France, on D-Day; Joseph Reilly visits the Normandy American Cemetery; Arthur Staymates on the battlefield during WWII.

PROFILE

“We put these men back where they were as 18-year-old kids.

They see what they did was worth it. ” –Timothy Davis, Founder, TGGF

FIRST FLIGHT (Left to right) TGGF founder Timothy Davis, Joseph Reilly, Kerry Scharbauer, Arthur Staymates, TGGF VP Donnie Edwards and Clarence Scharbauer by the Scharbauers’ Challenger 300 jet.

Foundation has on combat veterans. They arrived at 9:06 a.m. because, Clarence Scharbauer explains, “Timothy Davis knew at 9:06 that day the tide would be exactly the same as the day that Art landed in the first wave on Omaha.” The temperature was near-freezing. The sands were deserted save for a family kicking a soccer ball. It was the first time Arthur Staymates had been back since the war.

“Art figured out where it was he came in because he recognized the cliffs. He remembered going up them when they knocked out the Nazis’ machine gun next to the bunkers.”

When the group got out of the Jeep, Staymates started crying, says Clarence Scharbauer. “And then we all backed off.”

Except Joseph Reilly. The two men sat in the Jeep together and talked. Timothy Davis says that this strong emotional reaction happens a lot.

“We put these men back where they were as 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids,” Davis says. “One veteran starts to talk and find the emotion.

The other men understand what he’s going through. They cry, or the tone of their voice changes, they comfort each other. After seven decades, they see what they did was worth it. They say goodbye to their brothers in cemeteries throughout Europe and the Pacific. They release demons. They find closure.”

As Arthur Staymates and Joseph Reilly talked, Kerry Scharbauer watched the children laughing on the beach as the wind caught their soccer ball. She reflected on the fact that these strangers had no idea that only a few feet away from them were men who had secured their freedom, whose bravery had likely made their very lives possible.

A

fter three days of touring to out-of-the-way museums and bunkers and secret spots only men who had fought on the beaches could know about, it was time to head home. Knowing they would soon be saying goodbye wasn’t easy for either group.

“They both fell flat smooth in love with Kerry!” Clarence Scharbauer says with a warm laugh. “She made sure they had their blankets on when they were in the Jeeps, that Joe had his pint of Guinness at night. Joe even asked me when we got back to Midland, ‘Can I take her home?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve been married for 43 years. I don’t know, Joe.’”

As the men boarded the aircraft, they couldn’t have known they were helping the Scharbauers fulfill a vow Clarence Scharbauer had made in a speech at the delivery ceremony for the Challenger 300 jet, the last one built before the Challenger 350 entered into service.

“I told Bombardier that day that this airplane wouldn’t just be for doing business. When we can help, we’re going to help,” says Scharbauer, who is on the board of Texas Christian University (and had the aircraft painted with a TCU purple and black stripe). “I love these guys, and I love what they represent and what they did for this country.”

Adds Kerry Scharbauer, “It was a blessing to have them on that plane and know that they were comfortable. We put them in those front seats that can recline. They could lay back and put their feet up.

We had them covered with blankets. They took naps. Even though Art’s a really tall man, he could almost stand up in our plane. He could get up and move about in the cabin and get some circulation going.”

No matter how veterans return from The Greatest Generations Foundation programs overseas, it’s only the beginning of their journey.

“When they come home, they’re able to say to the families, ‘Here’s what happened. Here’s my story,’” says Davis. “Some of them haven’t talked about their wartime experiences for 70 years.” They also continue to share their stories and those of other veterans with the public. “How we engage them back into the community throughout the United States – we feel strongly about this – we’ve extended their lives. They’ve got something to fight for: their legacies.”

The men also reunite, courtesy of The Greatest Generations Foundation, at NASCAR events, and at professional football and baseball games. And the efforts won’t end when the World War II veterans fade away. Davis points out that there’s a reason the name of the foundation is plural: Generations. Veterans who fought in Vietnam will be its next big focus. Men like Arthur Staymates and Joseph Reilly are joining TGGF’s efforts to create new programs and get the next wave of veterans back to visit the battlefields of Vietnam.

“The men who participate in TGGF programs overseas all come home with the same goal, the same mission,” Davis says. “How can I help the next group of veterans?”

Experience

39

TRAVEL: MALTA

MY OWN PRIVATE MALTA

The best of the Maltese islands can be found below its cobblestone streets and behind closed doors. As part of Private Malta, guests are granted an all-access pass to the Mediterranean archipelago’s most exclusive experiences.

BY E LL E N HI ME L FAR B | PH OTOS BY G UN NA R KN ECHTEL

NUANCED HARMONY (This page) An interior of Jim Dunn’s palazzino reveals the many influences (English, Italian, French, Middle Eastern) that converge in the Maltese aesthetic; (opposite page) 16th century Valletta is the southernmost capital city in Europe.

TRAVEL: MALTA

T

he church bells are clanging from every direction, slightly out of sync so that they echo even more resoundingly. In any other country, such insistent pealing would signal a royal wedding, but here in Malta it simply means five o’clock. Or is it six?

Unspooled in a lounger on Jim Dunn’s rooftop deck, the sun blazing just above the horizon of the infinity pool, I’m afraid I’ve lost track.

This is the life. Dunn’s life, to be precise. The British native and his partner, Arthur, have made themselves at home in Cospicua, one of Malta’s historic Three Cities, since retiring here a few years back.

After restoring this double-fronted palazzino with evocative ceiling frescoes, plush upholsteries and stuffed-peacock centerpieces, they set about bringing an international joie de vivre to the captivating harbor town. When friends working for the five-star Corinthia Palace Hotel established Private Malta, a new program that gives inquisitive visitors special access to exclusive spaces, Dunn extended a standing invitation. Today it’s my turn to make myself at home. And as Dunn hands me a gin and tonic with a twist of lemon from the garden, I do just that.

Who wouldn’t deserve a drink after the day I’ve had? It began with a private guided tour of sister city Vittoriosa, with its dozen limestone auberges built with palatial symmetry by the formidable Knights of Malta. Between them we ducked into wine bars carved out of 200-year-old stone houses and the five-star Palazzo Vittoriosa hotel, blossoming from the roots of a gilded manor. At the neoclassical marina, we boarded a dg ajsa, or traditional Maltese gondola, for a gentle cruise through the dome-studded Grand Harbour. Past Marsa we could just make out the rolling green of the golf course and polo grounds. Exhausting.

We arrived in Cospicua at a modest dust-colored facade, still with its century-old bodega sign. As it turns out, this is how most Maltese townhouses appear from the outside. When their glossy painted doors swing open, they reveal vast, intricately tiled villas with citrusfringed courtyards, soaring ceilings and deep bay windows that overlook the street. At Dunn’s, a walk-in galleria window juts out from a piano nobile flounced with oriental silks, delivering floating views of tight streets and grasping spires. While some homes stop there on the second floor, Dunn has extended the wow-factor upward, which is how I’ve found myself on the third floor, kicking off my sandals and leaning back just as a solitary wisp of a cloud glides out of the sunburnished scene.

That magnificent light is the number one reason to visit Malta. It’s the sort of pure, unfiltered brilliance you imagine might meet you in the afterlife, only here it is life affirming, and as invigorating in February as in June. Pure and unfettered by pollution or weather (shining 3,000 hours a year, more than in nearly any other European nation), it comes on with full force the moment it crests the island’s

42

Experience

FRAME BY FRAME Georges Magri is a descendant of a physician sent to tend to the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John; (opposite page) Magri’s Casa Bernard is adorned with artworks amassed on his ancestors’ Grand Tours and at Napolionic auction.

great hilly horizon. And at the “golden hour” before dusk, it washes the old citadels in amber.

The second reason to visit Malta is its history, as thrilling and hopeful as that of Rome, Jerusalem or Istanbul – and intertwined with all three. Most visitors detour briefly to the hauntingly quiet ancient capital, Mdina, or drift fleetingly along the deep, trough-like streets of the modern capital, Valletta. Then they make haste to a seaside resort in St. Julian’s or Sliema, where Malta has tried to carve out a Costa del Sol ambiance akin to Marbella.

The Corinthia Palace would like to show them the light. Last year the 50-year-old hotel developed Private Malta to take advantage of its network of insiders – which, for a heritage business in a country half the size of Chicago, is predictably vast.

There are few Maltese who haven’t spent time behind the

TRAVEL: MALTA

Off Valletta’s central boulevard, St. John’s is a cathedral so sodden with 24-karat gold, it practically vibrates with regal energy.

HOLY ORDER (Top and right) Details of St. John’s Cathedral, a dazzling example of Malta’s 365 churches – one for each day of the year; (above) the eight-pointed Maltese cross is the symbol of the Knights of St. John, who built the cathedral to honor their patron saint.

44

Experience

Palace’s neo-classical facade – and lots of it. At Dunn’s I meet Stephen Cordina, a friend who develops exotic fragrances and devised the rosy, woody signature scent of the hotel. Naturally he is once removed from everyone in our entourage, including Clive Cortis, our guide for the sojourn, who previously worked for Heritage Malta, the national agency for cultural preservation. Cortis is a tour-guide triple threat: multilingual, film-star handsome and absolutely unflappable in the face of the most obscure line of questioning. With a deep tan and blue eyes that complement the washed-denim hue of the sea, he holds le tout Malta in his thrall.

M

y second day in town, Cortis and I are waved into Malta’s most fabled spaces. In the medieval citadel Mdina (pronounced “im-DEE-na”) we shuffle past the heavy velvet curtains of the Metropolitan cathedral after dusk, looking up into its distinctive red-capped dome. It is one of 365 churches on the island – one for every day of the year – but the highest-ranked. Its patron saint Paul won over the Maltese in 60 A.D., after surviving a near-fatal snake bite. The religion has endured several attempts by Turks and Moors to convert the people.

Just 55 miles off the coast of Sicily and half way between Gibraltar and Cairo, Malta has been a stopping-off point for nearly every imperialistic civilization in history. It was conquered by 14 cultures over 7,000 years: temple-builders, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, French. Mdina, built on the highest point, amid tawny fortifications, saw the most action. “Each culture is layered over the last,” says Cortis, “like a club sandwich.” Fifteen years ago the city undertook the epic task of burying all electrical wires beneath pristine limestone paving, helping to preserve it in pre-modern aspic.

From the 12th century, Mdina housed Norman, Spanish and Sicilian nobility, who dropped the “e” from the Arabic medina to make it sound more Latin. Most palaces here at the heart of the country are still owned by noble families – half in medieval villas, the other in Baroque surrogates built after an earthquake battered the island in 1693.

B

ut Mdina isn’t called the Silent City for nothing. With only one hotel and fewer residents than Vatican City, our “inside track” has few insiders to track. For those we progress to Rabat, Mdina’s “suburb,” which in Malta means it’s just 2,000 years old rather than 4,000. At Casa Bernard, equidistant from the symmetrical limestone churches of St. Paul and Ta’ Giezu, the jolly owner Georges Magri beckons us in past a 12-foot-high green door. “Churches in Malta are like football teams,” he tells me. “The supporters of each are instant rivals. But it’s a healthy rivalry.”

From the outside, Casa Bernard looks like any other dwelling on this 16th-century street, but the interior is another story, all cascading French faience, engraved rapiers and dower chests on cabriole legs.

And that’s just the foyer. Spotting me ogle a stand of antique walking sticks, Magri lifts up the prettiest and unscrews the head to reveal a hollow shank for keeping liquor. “It’s English, naturally,” he laughs.

Magri is a descendant of the first Bernard in Malta, a physician imported from France to care for the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, who ruled Malta from 1530 until Napoleon charged through in 1798. Over centuries the Bernards amassed fine furniture, silver, carpets and jewellery, mostly from the heirs who collected it on the Grand Tour. The most recent were purchased at auction, after

Corinthia Palace Hotel –

It is almost inconceivable that only 50 years ago, Malta had no tourist industry to speak of. In 1962 there was only one hotel on the island, in the capital Valletta. That’s when the Maltese businessman Alfred Pisani purchased a turn-of-the-century stately home near the president’s official residence and proceeded to convert it into a five-star hotel for visiting dignitaries and royalty (the Duke of Edinburgh led its inauguration in 1968). Today it still offers the same old-fashioned luxury, with a sprawling marble foyer, gracious rooms and a triple-height pillared dining room in the former courtyard. It’s still the hub of Maltese society; families come on weekends to colonize the Grecian-styled pool and fall under the spell of the masseuses in the spa.

Outside the gates, florid San Anton Gardens is home to swans, turtles and, naturally, peacocks.

Experience

45

TRAVEL: MALTA

Malta’s magnificent light is the sort of pure, unfiltered brilliance you imagine might meet you in the afterlife.

LEADING LADY (Opposite) The Marquise de Piro inside Casa Rocca Piccola; (above) the villa’s once clandestine orange garden contains its own hidden treasures, such as this Romanesque fountain and a talkative resident parrot.

Napoleon banished the knights and sold off their assets to finance his voracious appetite for European nations.

As I loll in the galleria window watching horse-drawn carriages swagger down the street, Magri breaks from an anecdote about a veiled dowager and a bewigged uncle. He sidles over and bends down to lift up a loose brick in the floor. “In most other houses this would have been tiled over,” he says, pointing through the gaping hole. It’s like a peephole to the doorstep. “If there was a knock at the door, the lady of the house would peer through to see who it was. And often pretend she wasn’t in.”

Malta was transformed when the Knights of St. John arrived in 1530. They had originally hailed from Jerusalem, where their MO was nursing sick pilgrims. But years of fending off crusaders forced them into a de facto military order. Eventually they fled to Rhodes, but got bashed about by Turkish invaders. It is said that the King of Sicily found them roaming the Mediterranean with no place to tether and gave them free rein over Malta.

In many ways, it’s thanks to the knights that Malta has any culture at all. After outgrowing their first headquarters in Cospicua

450 years ago, they built the current capital Valletta, with Baroque bowling-lane streets as easy to navigate as Manhattan’s are today.

Cortis and I arrive there just as the mighty sun is inching over the new City Gate, built last year by Renzo Piano in the silhouette of an ancient Maltese fortification. It is now the buzziest end of town.

Off Valletta’s central boulevard is a cathedral so sodden with 24-karat gold that it practically vibrates with regal energy. We got here early, and we’ve got it to ourselves, while most tourists are still fumbling out of the taxi queue outside the city walls. We float dizzily through a series of frescoes in the vaulted ceiling depicting the life of St. John the Baptist in intense color. The culmination of this series takes up an entire wall in one transept: the monumental Beheading of St. John the Baptist, one of Caravaggio’s – nay the world’s – most famous paintings. Tiptoeing with Cortis across the almost 400 tombstones inlaid in the marble floor is alone worth a visit to Malta.

But there’s more besides. Casa Rocca Piccola. Like other Maltese villas, it sort of creeps up on you. If not for the coat of arms on the transom above the door, you might not guess it was the family seat of the Marquis de Piro, whose 16th-century ancestor held the bombastic title Commander of the Arsenal of the Sovereign Prince.

Here, we sidle across a parquet floor, past shelves laden with antique books, to take tea with Frances, Marquise de Piro – who, it transpires, is something of a hoot. As we nibble sweet, creamy cannoli on ominously fine china, among silk rugs and heavy gilt mirrors, her ladyship chortles irreverently over family photographs from Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. She shares witticisms from pious dowagers and produces, with unwavering enthusiasm, heirloom lace and gold filigree.

We’re meant to stay an hour, but after two we’re down in the bomb shelter, cranking a 1940s air raid siren. Then we’re up in the orange garden, a rare green space in a city where perennial drought rendered them verboten. The resident parrot, keen to penetrate the conversation, offers his (unintelligible) two cents.

Our dg ajsa is waiting for us in the harbor. It is dwarfed by proper yachts that can be procured, by the Corinthia, to cruise into Gozo, a sister island ringed by dramatic coves and megalithic temples. On summer evenings, guests can also be whisked to Verdala Palace, the private residence of president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, for dinner in the frescoed dining room. To cap off the evening, they have a private audience with Joseph Calleja, the great tenor from Attard, who otherwise makes just one local appearance a year between international engagements.

It is at the hotel in Attard where I catch the last rays by the pool before that exquisite light disappears. It’s not a bad place to be from, I think. Not a bad place, at least, from where I’m lounging. At the center of a pretty villa-strewn town, at the center of the country, I feel very much at the center of it all, like the sun itself.

Experience

47

WINGSPAN

MOVING PARTS: A TALE OF THREE CITIES Preparation and passion define Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Flight Operations.

BY MIKE SPRY | PHOTOS BY DONNY COLANTONIO

T

he sun is bright and warm in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and Bradley International Airport is quiet. A few passenger jets descend and ascend, skipping in and out off the edge of the Pioneer Valley.

Though it’s the second-busiest airport in New England, Bradley is hardly a bustling hub. Built on an expansive tract of grassland, it’s where local college students catch flights home, where people arrive en route to Springfield to the north and Hartford to the south. If you’re here, you’re probably on your way somewhere else.

Tucked into a quiet corner of Bradley is an elegant yet inconspicuous building that houses part of the Bombardier Flight Operations team. “Flight Ops” is tasked with demonstrating to potential business jet owners the entirety of the Bombardier Business Aircraft experience – not just what a particular jet can do, but how it will change a client’s life.

Five hundred miles north in Canada – not too far from where Bombardier was founded – the Montreal team readies a Challenger jet for flight. Fifteen hundred miles west, in Wichita, Kansas, a Learjet is shining in the early spring sunlight. Though separated by geography, the Flight Ops team defies the challenges of distance, working towards a common goal of making flights effortless.

Fit for Duty

“It’s still romantic,” Yann Lemasson says with a smile. “It’s still romantic to fly.” If you were to run into Lemasson on the street and had to guess his vocation, you’d guess pilot. He has the character, gait, and demeanor of someone who flies. Even his cropped haircut and painter’s brush mustache suggest a pilot’s life – which is exactly how the Director of Flight Operations spent 23 years, accumulating over 9,000 flying hours before joining Bombardier.

While serving in the Canadian Air Force, Lemasson was a pilot for then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The protocol, discipline and responsibility of such an important position could not have better

48

Experience

prepared him for his current role, overseeing the entirety of the Flight Ops team, under the umbrella of Bombardier Business Aircraft. If there’s any burden to managing acquisition of the impossible reverie of flight in three very different locations, Lemasson shows none of it.

Flight Ops tailors each customer’s experience to their unique needs. If the purpose of a jet is to make regular trips between Paris and New York, that’s the flight that will be prepared to perfection, and it will be a demonstration not just of the technical abilities of the aircraft, but of the inherent luxury in its capacities. No two demonstrations are the same, as no two customers are the same. But Lemasson abridges what seems like a monumental undertaking with a deceptively simple request: “I tell the teams to create relationships and deliver an experience.”

There is no end to the attention and awareness that go into each interaction, or as Lemasson puts it, “the intricate amount of detail required to create this magical experience.” That experience is not what Bombardier is selling, but rather what they’re facilitating. It begins, Lemasson says, with the glimmer in the eye of a potential aircraft owner upon seeing the aircraft for the first time, when they first witness its beauty up close, and then when they board and fly.

Lemasson has a glimmer himself when he describes the aircraft he and his team introduce to potential customers: the Learjet 75, Challenger 350, Challenger 650 and Global 6000 aircraft – the Learjet in Kansas, the Challenger aircraft in Quebec, and the Global jets in Connecticut.

AROUND THE CLOCK At the Windsor Locks airport in Connecticut, the Flight Operations team – including director Yann Lemasson – puts a world map and a wall full of timezone-specific clocks to good use.

Flight Ops is tasked with demonstrating not just what a particular jet can do, but how it will change a client’s life.

READYING FOR TAKEOFF (From left to right) Denise Petrone, Marjorie Arnold, Matt Bastian, George Hobbs, Chandra Dusseault, Andrew Cultrera, Mike Obue and Sal Vicari make up the Flight Operations team in Connecticut.

Team Effort

“Being focused and alert to challenges is a key component to success in our environment,” says Sal Vicari, Scheduling Manager. “Because of this, the more complicated the trip, the less likely you are to make a mistake. Of course, we never let our guard down. A simple one-hour trip receives the same level of attention and detail.”

Scheduling teams are responsible for handling the infinite amount of details that go into planning a demo. From weather, landing permits, fueling and refueling, to hotels and transportation, and beyond, Vicari oversees what Lemasson describes as the “behind-the-scenes, forward thinking” component of the operation.

W hen Vicari discusses the challenges Scheduling faces he does it with passion. “You never know what the next day is going to bring.

The missions are constantly changing. Give me the challenge of getting an aircraft to China within 12 hours, that’s the fun part,” says Vicari with wry, almost mischievous delight. His team buzzes about him below a giant map of the earth, an adornment that in most office environments is a decoration, but here is a necessity.

“We had a globe, but you couldn’t see the whole world at once,” he explains.

Somewhere on that map is Montreal, and a speck, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport. “We’ve repatriated the jet that started Bombardier Business Aircraft, and brought it back!” says Murray Balzer, proudly, of the Challenger 650 aircraft. The Chief Pilot of Canadian Operations for the Flight Ops team, Balzer is a historian and revels

50

Experience

in the story of Bombardier, tracing the company history as one would trace a flight route, with precision and grace.

Just as the Challenger returned to Quebec, the Learjet – born in the Midwest – calls Kansas home, and draws on the expansive aeronautical skillset of the region. The challenges of being spread over two countries are often found on the desk of Interim Lift Manager Denise Petrone. After 29 years with Bombardier, her institutional knowledge makes her an invaluable resource. Petrone’s office is at the center of Windsor Locks Flight Ops, making it a meeting point to stop, bring in the Wichita and Montreal teams, and discuss and formulate plans to address issues. Like her colleagues, Petrone is quick to share credit: “It’s a team effort.”

Scheduling teams are responsible for handling the infinite amount of details that go into planning a demo, from weather, landing permits, fueling and refueling, to hotels and transportation.

WINGSPAN

Final Touch

“Attention to detail is where I come in,” says Andrew Cultrera proudly. Cultrera is a Groomer. Technically, he’s an Aircraft Appearance Specialist, but that’s a title for his business card, not for the rest of the Flight Ops team. He has a background in automotive detailing, which perfectly prepared him for his 19 years with Bombardier. This is a vocation of aesthetics, ensuring that potential customers are treated to that perfect first impression of the aircraft, inside and out.

Every detail of the aircraft is attended to with rigor and respect for the customers’ needs (visually, professionally and even culturally).

No feature is ignored, no element unconsidered.

Cultrera shows off the jets with pride, as if they were his own. The results are remarkable. Each demonstration aircraft appears brand new, as if on its delivery day. The interiors are immaculate in both design and acuity. The final touch: He shares with me a selection of Jo Malone scents, designed specifically for Bombardier by the London-based perfumer. I’m not sure what to expect, but somehow, the bouquet is perfect, subtle yet unforgettable, capturing the very essence of Bombardier aircraft. Truly, no detail is neglected.

As the Connecticut afternoon leans towards evening, traffic picks up at Bradley Airport, just as spring returns to Montreal. In a few hours, a waxing gibbous moon will signal evening in Kansas. Even as the sun sets on their day, the Flight Ops teams are still in action, preparing flights for the next day, week, month. There are infinite challenges to be met. There are myriad customers to impress. There are aircraft that need to be prepared with precision, destined for the sky.

POWER OF THREE (From top) In addition to the base in Connecticut, Bombardier has Flight Operations divisions in Wichita, Kansas (including demonstration pilot Kerry Swanson, pictured) and Montreal, Canada (including Maintenance Manager Martin Pomerleau and Chief Pilot Murray Balzer).

Experience

51

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Europe 3 Regional Support Offices 1 Bombardier Service Center 13 Authorized Service Facilities 3 Parts Facilities 2 Training Facilities

North + South America

Asia + Middle East

2 Customer Response Centers 5 Regional Support Offices 5 Bombardier Service Centers 19 Authorized Service Facilities 4 Parts Facilities 3 Training Facilities

5 Regional Support Offices 1 Bombardier Service Center 12 Authorized Service Facilities 5 Parts Facilities 1 Training Facility

Africa 1 R egional Support Office 2 Authorized Service Facilities 1 Parts Facility

Australia 1 Regional Support Office 2 Authorized Service Facilities 1 Parts Facility

PUTTING YOU FIRST

— > Two 24/7 customer response centers: Montreal and Wichita > 15 regional support offices worldwide > On-site support through Bombardier’s Customer Response team > High parts availability with 14 parts facilities around the world > Bombardier flight and technical training with six training facilities worldwide > Over 60 service and maintenance facilities around the world

52

Experience

North + South America

Toluca, Mexico

Asia + Middle East

Van Nuys, CA

Atlanta, GA

Washington, DC

Chicago, IL

Wichita, KS

Dallas, TX Denver, CO

Europe

Amsterdam,

Houston, TX

Netherlands

Miami, FL

Belfast, UK

Montreal, QC

Burgess Hill, UK

Morristown, NJ

Farnborough, UK

San Jose, CA

Frankfurt, Germany

São Paulo, Brazil

Seattle, WA

Teterboro, NJ

Moscow, Russia

Hong Kong, China Mumbai, India Shanghai, China Singapore

Fort Lauderdale, FL Hartford, CT

Beijing, China Dubai, UAE

White Plains, NY

Columbus, OH

Legend

Tucson, AZ

Tokyo, Japan

Regional Support Offices Bombardier Owned Service

Centers Parts Facilities Training Facilities Mobile Units

Africa Johannesburg,

South Africa

Australia

Munich, Germany Nice, France

Sydney, Australia

Contact our Customer Response Centers: 1 866 538 1247 (North America) // 1 514 855 2999 (International)

FLEET

GLOBAL / CHALLENGER / LEARJET

Global 6000

The Global 6000 aircraft was created to satisfy the needs of the world’s most discerning travelers, offering a more advanced, comfortable and luxurious long-range business jet. From the state-of-the-art cockpit, and the incomparable cabin amenities, to the tranquil sanctuary of its aft stateroom, the Global 6000 jet seizes the opportunity to demonstrate why it’s a leader in its class. From style to ingenuity, comfort and convenience, nothing has been overlooked.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 13 Maximum range* 6,000 NM (11,112 km) City pairs* Aspen-London City, Beijing-Los Angeles

> The most accomplished and luxurious business jet created to accommodate the needs of the most discerning travelers. > All-around performance to connect you more rapidly and efficiently to your world. > The Bombardier Vision flight deck provides pilots with unprecedented levels of convenience, comfort and control. > A cabin designed for comfort, productivity and the most rewarding in-flight experience. > Bombardier WAVE (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere) delivers consistent, fast in-flight internet.

Global 5000

The Global 5000 business jet is designed to deliver optimized comfort, speed and range. It is unsurpassed in its class, with superior cabin spaciousness, technologies and aesthetics. It has extraordinary short-field and nonstop transcontinental capabilities, and its leading-edge flight deck reduces pilot workload and increases situational awareness for unprecedented peace of mind. The Global 5000 aircraft exemplifies grace, power and performance without compromise.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 13 Maximum range* 5,200 NM (9,630 km) City pairs* New York-São Paulo, Frankfurt-Hong Kong

> Faster and more short- fi eld-capable than any other aircraft in its class. > S uperior, versatile cabin matches spacious comfort with proven reliability. > Innovative flight deck environment combines cutting-edge technology and advanced design. > Bombardier WAVE (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere) delivers consistent, fast in-flight internet.

Experience

53

FLEET

Global 7000

The Global 7000 aircraft† provides unparalleled spaciousness, luxury and comfort, with four distinct living spaces creating an environment that fosters productivity and provides additional leisure time. Seats position you perfectly to take in the view from large windows that broaden your perspective on the world. Enjoy exquisite dining experiences at a table for six while journeying nonstop between key cities. Relax and refresh in the tranquility of a private stateroom, reaching more of your world faster, more luxuriously and better prepared.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 17 Maximum range* 7,400 NM (13,705 km) City pairs* Dubai-New York, London-Singapore

> Unique cabin design featuring four living spaces. > Greater aerodynamic efficiency is achieved by a more advanced exterior design as well as the development of a new wing design for outstanding performance capabilities. > Next-generation high-efficiency engines contribute to low fuel burn and low emissions.

Global 8000

The Global 8000 aircraft† leads the evolution of business aviation with its consummate cabin comfort and remarkable nonstop range capability. Whether it’s a power lunch or a family dinner, the large galley provides extraordinary culinary capabilities with luxury and lifestyle in mind. Designed and crafted for both work and pleasure, the Global 8000 jet delivers versatility and unsurpassed excellence.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 13 Maximum range* 7,900 NM (14,631 km) City pairs* Hong Kong-New York, Sydney-Los Angeles

> World’s farthest-reaching business jet promises faster connections between the places you need to be. > Offers an expansive and comfortable three-zone cabin environment. > New design, driven by customer feedback, provides uncompromising quality, flexibility and comfort. > Engines provide next-generation power and efficiency with lower fuel burn and low emissions.

Challenger 350

The Challenger 350 aircraft exceeds expectations at every altitude. With its groundbreaking cabin design, new range capability and low direct operating costs, no opportunity to advance on excellence has been overlooked. The aircraft is earning the appreciation and approval of executives, pilots and operators everywhere and offers more performance, definitive reliability and unmatched value.

54

Experience

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 9 Maximum range* 3,200 NM (5,926 km) City pairs* Miami-Seattle, Mumbai-Hong Kong

> R edefined cabin with groundbreaking aesthetic and ergonomic advances create the ultimate in-flight experience, including more natural light care of larger windows. > More powerful engines allow for an unsurpassed time to climb while the newly designed winglets increase efficiency, putting more destinations within reach. > Forward-looking avionics designed to shift the workload away from busy pilots for increased situational awareness.

* Under certain operating conditions ** Baseline configuration

†

The aircraft is currently under development and the design tolerances remain to be finalized and certified

Challenger 650

The Challenger 650 aircraft redefines the ultimate in-flight experience, offering the industry’s best overall value, reliability and efficiency.

State-of-the-art technology upgrades, improved performance capabilities and a groundbreaking redesign of the widest-in-class cabin reaffirm Bombardier’s industry leadership, providing customers with everything they need, along with worldwide support anytime, anywhere.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 10 Maximum range* 4,000 NM (7,408 km) City pairs* Chicago-London, Beijing-Moscow

> Boasts the widest cabin and only true 12-passenger capability in its class, with exceptional stand-up headroom and a flat floor throughout. > The Bombardier Vision flight deck provides pilots with cutting-edge technology and superior design aesthetics for new levels of control and comfort. > Lowest in-class operating costs* and industryrecognized dependable platform.

Learjet 70

The Learjet 70 aircraft leverages Bombardier’s efficient high-speed aircraft experience with the ability to carry six passengers and full fuel.* Its performance allows you to achieve more with powerful engines and forward-thinking new winglet design that enable it to cruise at a speed of Mach 0.81 and climb to an operating ceiling of 51,000 ft (15,545 m).*

Stats

Highlights

Passengers**

> T he Bombardier Vision flight deck’s industry-

7

leading avionics and aesthetics optimize productivity

Maximum range*

and safety for unprecedented levels of comfort,

2,060 NM (3,815 km) City pairs* Cairo-Frankfurt, Chicago-San Juan

convenience and control. > H oneywell engines provide the aircraft with greater power for fast and efficient connections to more of your world. > A n innovative cabin management system and stateof-the-art communications options underscore the Learjet 70 aircraft’s evolution of light jet excellence, placing efficiency and total control at your fingertips.

Learjet 75

The Learjet 75 aircraft combines comfort with cutting-edge technology and connection capabilities throughout the cockpit and cabin. It flies faster and farther, with full passenger and fuel capacity, than its closest competitor.

Cabin configurations seating six or eight passengers feature the best-in-class ease of mobility, legroom and seated headroom.

Stats

Highlights

Passengers** 9 Maximum range* 2,040 NM (3,778 km) City pairs* Toluca-Chicago, Miami-Aspen

> Offers the lowest-in-class direct operating costs. > T he Bombardier Vision flight deck’s advanced navigation and communications capabilities decrease pilot workload and increase situational awareness. > H ighly efficient Honeywell engines ensure more power, superior fuel efficiency, and faster time to climb rate.

* Under certain operating conditions ** Baseline configuration

Experience

55

NEWS PEOPLE / EVENTS / AWARDS

November 16, 2015

Challenger Milestones Bombardier Business Aircraft and NetJets celebrated the delivery of their first Signature Series Challenger 650 aircraft at the 2015 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) conference and exhibition in Las Vegas. The aircraft also marked Bombardier’s 1,000th Challenger 600 series aircraft entered into service. NetJets Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is the worldwide leader in private aviation rental and fractional ownership, with the largest and most diverse private jet fleet in the world.

September 10 + October 20–21, 2015

World Records

Bombardier Business Aircraft set multiple world records with its fleet of business jets in 2015. On September 10, the Learjet 75 aircraft set a world speed record, flying a round-trip from New York to Los Angeles, leaving at 8 a.m. and returning at 8:26 p.m. The flight coincided with the 50th anniversary of Clay Lacy’s 1965 record-setting round-trip in a Learjet 23, which marked the first time a business jet made a round-trip flight across the United States between sunrise and sunset on the same day. (The new record beat his time by 17 minutes.) In addition, NetJets set two world speed records with its Global 6000 aircraft. On October 20, the Global 6000 flew from Aspen, United States, to London, United Kingdom, in just eight hours. The following day, the Global 6000 aircraft completed a round-trip between London City Airport and Lugano Airport in the Swiss Alps, a 962 NM (1,782 km) journey, in two hours and 43 minutes.

February 25–27, 2016

Polo in the Snow

(From top) Left to right: Pat Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, NetJets, and David Coleal, President, Bombardier Business Aircraft; a record-setting Learjet 75; a Challenger 650 jet ready for the Snow Polo Tremblant International tournament.

56

Experience

Over 3,000 guests attended the second edition of the Snow Polo Tremblant International tournament in Mont-Tremblant, Canada.

Teams made up of players from around the world, including South Africa and Argentina, played on a snow-covered field built at the Mont-Tremblant airport, Gray Rocks.

Bombardier invited VIP guests to warm up in a luxury suite at the event.

February 7, 2016

Super Bowl 50 Bombardier Business Aircraft and NetJets were on hand at Super Bowl 50 with a Customer Response Team (CRT) truck and a Parts Express aircraft to show their customer service offerings firsthand to football fans. The display also included testimonials from both clients and customer service employees, including pilots.

February 24, 2016

Delivery of the 75th Learjet 75 Bombardier Business Aircraft and Aurora Jet Partners celebrated together at the Bombardier Learjet facility in Wichita the delivery of the 75th Learjet 75 – two years after the first Learjet 75 aircraft entered service. To mark the event, Bombardier presented the milestone aircraft to Bill McGoey, President of Aurora Jet Partners.

Aurora Jet Partners is a private aviation company in Canada that specializes in providing custom tailored, high-quality private travel solutions to its clients.

March 1–5, 2016

Dubai Boat Show Bombardier Business Aircraft was a supporting sponsor at the 24th edition of the Dubai International Boat Show, the region’s number one marine luxury, leisure and lifestyle industry event. The show, which welcomed 30,000 guests from over 120 countries, had more than 840 leading international, regional and local exhibitors from over 55 countries.

(From top) Bombardier’s CRT trucks and Parts Express aircraft on display at Super Bowl 50; Bill McGoey, President, Aurora Jet Partners, and Tonya Sudduth, General Manager, Learjet Programs and Wichita Site, cut the ribbon at the delivery of the 75th Learjet 75; a display at the Dubai Boat Show; European deliveries of the Challenger 650 jet began after it received full-type EASA certification.

March 8, 2016

Certified Challenger Bombardier Business Aircraft announced that its Challenger 650 jet received fulltype certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). EASAregistered European customers started taking delivery of the aircraft, which features Bombardier Vision flight deck and HD monitors in the cabin, in 2016.

Experience

57

November 17, 2015 + March 21, 2016

WELCOME WAVE

— Actor and aviation enthusiast William Shatner joined Bombardier Business Aircraft at NBAA to celebrate the release of WAVE (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere), the fastest worldwide high-speed in-flight internet connectivity and productivity solution in

58

Experience

business aviation. In March, WAVE was awarded a supplemental type certificate (STC) from Transport Canada, and it is now available as an option for new Global 5000 and Global 6000 aircraft customers and as an upgrade option on Global aircraft currently in service. Bombardier is the first business aircraft manufacturer to make ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi services available in-flight globally and the first to offer performance commitments for network availability and speed.

PHOTO: DONNY COLANTONIO

NEWS

Bougainvillea House Exuma, Bahamas, Caribbean Offered at $4.9 million USD

•

Exotic, Exotic, tranquil, exclusive Villa, located on a private, pristine, white sandy beach

•

Penelope Penelope Cruz, Cruz, Javier Bardem and other celebrities have stayed here

•

Sleeps Sleeps 10-18 10-18 adults in seven bedrooms with nine bathrooms and three kitchens

•

Features Features 160 160 feet of waterfront on a shallow beach with a prevailing, light sea breeze

•

Ten Ten minutes minutes from from the Emerald Bay Resort, Golf Club, and Marina; and the village of George Town

•

Income Income property property with tax and business advantages as a Bahamian Corporation

•

Located Located on on the Island of Exuma, Bahamas; one hour from Florida with twice daily jet service

•

Two hours100 from New York Boston, Nonstop passenger jetCity, service fromChicago, Toronto, Houston, Canada with twice weekly service from Toronto

•

The The Villa Villa is available for weekly rental, starting at $21,000 per week with regular returning clientele Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty | Nassau, HG Christie Bahamas Real Estate - since 1922Bahamas Heather Lightbourn Peterson, Broker Janet Watts - Broker/Appraiser - Exuma, Bahamas tel: 242-393-8630 | cel: 242-477-7223(242)-336-2274 janet@hgchristie.com (954)-607-2502;

242.345.0005

|

info@bougainvilleahouse.com

|

www.bougainvilleahouse.com

rolls-royce.com

Nobody does it like CorporateCare® Bringing you the most comprehensive and sought-after business jet engine maintenance program in the world, with industry leading service and expertise provided by the original manufacturer. Regardless of where you travel, CorporateCare will be there to support you. To help maximize your asset’s availability, value and liquidity, Rolls-Royce is proud to offer CorporateCare.

To find out more contact Steve Friedrich, Vice President – Sales and Marketing, at +1 (703) 834-1700, or email corporate.care@rolls-royce.com.

Trusted to deliver excellence.