Seven months ago Honda finally got its jet certified (review). Getting a design certified (a type certificate) is only half the battle, however, in the highly regulated aviation industry. It was just a few days ago (press release) that Honda received an FAA production certificate for the factory in which the airplanes are being built.
This is presumably the same issue that is holding up deliveries of the Icon A5 seaplane, quasi-certified with great fanfare a year ago but not going into production until 2017. (The Icon A5 is a “light sport” aircraft that is subject to much less regulation and therefore getting a light sport design approved cannot be directly compared to type certification under the standard FAR 23 rules.)
Investors: Remember this extra delay if anyone ever asks you to put money into a new aircraft design from a new company!
When something is well engineered it has an elegance, it looks pretty. The Hondajet looks fugly. Don’t know why anyone would buy one vs the very pretty Phenom 100.
I feel the same way about Robinson egg beaters too, but at least Robinsons are so cheap that you have to cut them some slack.