Jet manufacturers must feel they are living in a golden age. Orders have gone up for four straight years and the outlook is rosy. Private aviation is now seen as nothing less than a necessity for an increasing percentage of major corporations. Fractional and card models are luring new segments of the leisure class. Dynamic economic growth in Russia, the Middle East and Asia is creating astonishing new pockets of wealth which are clamoring for private jets and promising to buoy the industry even as domestic growth may suffer due to the current economic downturn.

Impatient private jet customers may not join in the manufacturers’ mirth however, as strong demand is translating to long waits between order and delivery for the industry’s hottest jets. If you order a Gulfstream G-550 today, you won’t get it until 2012. Likewise for the Dassault Falcon 7X and Bombardier Global Express XRS. And the wait for a Boeing BBJ stretches to five years now.

Jets are of course incredible machines, as intricate as they are immense, and thousands of man-hours are required for their production. In spite of increased demand and revenues,manufacturers face prohibitive costs in trying to expand production. With the massive capital outlay required to build new manufacturing facilities, their only recourse is to enter orders into backlogs.

For those unwilling to wait several years to get their mitts on the latest and greatest jet, there are ways to move up the backlog. Eclipse Aviation is offering its Eclipse 500 VLJ at two prices: $1,595,000 to take delivery in Q2 2010, or $1,790,000 to jump the line and get it by this summer. Most manufacturers don’t offer this sort of service, but impatient buyers can always look to pay off a fellow customer for their spot in line. According to the National Post, the buyer of a soon-to-be delivered Global Express XRS ordered for $39 million in 2005, was offered $65 million dollars for the jet.

Payouts like this have become such a common practice that private jet speculators have created a tidy business by securing coveted spots in line which they then sell to the highest bidder. This has had the effect of raising the manufacturers’ prices for new jets in order to bring them in line with their going gray market rate. Most manufacturers disapprove of the practice, although there seems to be little that can be done. Gulfstream, for one, has introduced language into its sales contracts which attempts to make it more difficult for speculators to sell off a jet prior to delivery. But so long as demand so vastly outstrips supply, it is likely that the most eager jet buyers will find a way to get their plane ASAP.