Receivers for bankrupt Dutch company Fokker said final attempts to revive the former airplane maker have collapsed (January, page 13). Since Germany's Daimler-Benz pulled the financial plug on Fokker about a year ago, various parties-foreign and domestic-have been negotiating to salvage the company. But, now the Fokker plant is expected to close permanently this summer, after the last three aircraft are completed.
Bell Helicopter has teamed with Samsung Aerospace of Korea to produce a new light-twin helicopter. First flight of the 427 is slated for December, with certification to follow at the end of 1998. The company said in February that it has logged 50 orders for its $1.875-million helicopter.
The outlook for the civil helicopter market is decidedly upbeat, with most segments of the business reporting improved activity during 1996. The consensus is for modest but sustained growth, a trend that has been evident for each of the last few years.
Caribbean charter carrier HelenAir Caribbean will enter scheduled service July 1, operating flights from St. Lucia to Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad, Dominica and St. Vincent. By the end of the year the carrier hopes to be serving St. Maarten, Guyana and Antigua. The company, chaired by former BWIA executive Edward Wegel, has contracted with Raytheon Aircraft Credit for operating leases on five Beech 1900Cs. The first two aircraft will be delivered by June 15 and the latter three by November 1. The carrier has used Beech 99s in its charter operation.
After nearly 40 years of owning and operating business aircraft, Dresser Industries has closed its flight department, is selling its Gulfstream IV and two Challengers, and is letting go its five pilots and seven mechanics. But the Dallas company intends to remain a user of business aviation-via fractional ownership-according to a company source.
DOT did not comply with Congress' mandate to submit a plan by April 1 for continued funding and upgrading of Loran-C as a backup to GPS. According to an FAA spokesperson, the agency is revising the plan, ``then it will go back to the DOT and finally to Congress.'' But the FAA gave no anticipated date when Congress would receive the plan. In fall 1996, Congress rebuked the DOT sharply for scheduling an early phaseout of Loran-C and ignoring thousands of Loran-C users' protests (November 1996, page 17).
Dornier Luftfahrt President Jim Robinson has been promoted to president and member of the board directors of Fairchild Aerospace Corp. He relinquishes his former Dornier Luftfahrt post to Michael Meshay, who came from the position of site general manager for AlliedSignal Engines at Stratford, Conn., responsible for overall operations of the former Textron Lycoming Turbine Engine Division after the acquisition by AlliedSignal. Robinson, however, retains his post as chairman of the Dornier Luftfahrt management board.
Bombardier's proposed bail-out of Fokker in 1996 had Boeing and a 90-seater in the scenario. B/CA is told that the Bombardier plan would have scrapped both the Fokker 70 and 100 as being too heavy, too costly to maintain and behind the technology curve.
In September, the FAA is scheduled to approve or disapprove a proposed noise compatibility plan for Arkansas' Fort Smith Airport. The plan was submitted under FAR Part 150 and the public may comment. For more information, contact the FAA's Tim Tandy in Fort Worth at (817) 222-5635.
In our ``1997 Salary Survey'' (April, page 42), salaries for department managers and directors of operations were transposed. The 11 department managers make an average of $94,717, while the four directors of operations have salaries averaging $48,000.
Garrett Aviation's Augusta, Ga. maintenance facility was appointed as a factory authorized service center for Falcon Jets. This unit, the fourth Garrett location selected by Dassault Falcon Jet, also is approved for CFE738 line maintenance. The other three Garrett units with Dassault approvals are in Los Angeles, Houston and Springfield, Ill.
Rockwell Avionics and Communications (Cedar Rapids)--E.J. Senen is the new vice president of marketing for the Collins Air Transport Division. He succeeds Shannon M. Murchison who retired after 43 years of service.
Farmingdale, N.Y.--Construction is starting on new facilities for the Million Air FBO at Republic Airport. Over the next 11 to 13 months, the company will build an 11,500-square-foot terminal, a 30,000-square-foot hangar and two 10,000-square-foot hangars. The new terminal will have a crew lounge with a satellite TV, private snooze rooms, modem and Internet connections and two conference rooms. Tel: (516) 752-9022; fax: (516) 752-9099.
Prime Fleet, a new fractional ownership venture between Prime Airborne of Stratford, Conn. and Fleet Capital Leasing of Providence, R.I., will announce this month the first lease program devised for shared ownership of corporate aircraft. While a one-quarter share of a used Falcon 50 would sell for $3.5 million, the five-year lease price would be $40,000 per month. Monthly management fees and hourly rates would be the same regardless of whether a share is owned or leased.
Comments are due May 12 on the FAA's proposal to require commercial operators, including air taxi companies, to maintain passenger manifests for all flights within the United States. The proposal follows a similar one issued in late 1996 that would apply to all flights to or from the United States (November 1996, page 20). The proposals are a direct response to complaints against larger air carriers involved in major disasters. Applying the rules to air taxi operators is ``ridiculous,'' says the NATA.
Minnesota Aviation Trades Association (Minneapolis)--Alan Nitchman, vice president and general manager of Elliott Aviation's Minneapolis FBO, was elected to a two-year term as president of the association.
Productivity is the essential quality for making a profit in the regional airline industry, and as one leading airline executive put it, ``You build from profitability, not to profitability.'' Productivity is derived from speed, field performance, capacity and the versatility to operate profitably over varying sector distances.
It's twice the honor for Cessna, which has landed its second Robert J. Collier Trophy. This year, the National Aeronautic Association chose Cessna Aircraft and the Citation X business jet for its Collier winners, and saluted the company for what it believed was the greatest aeronautical achievement in the United States for 1996. The Citation X was hailed as the first production commercial aircraft in U.S. aviation history to achieve a cruising speed of 0.92 Mach. In 1985, Cessna and its business jet line won the Collier Trophy for its passenger safety record.
Aircraft Window Repairs Co. recently added delamination repair to its window restoration services. The company, with facilities in Torrance, Calif. and North Port, Fla., says that more than 75 percent of the transparencies it evaluates are repairable. Glass, acrylic or laminated windows sent to the company are evaluated for reparability at no charge.
Steve Townes, former president of Sabreliner's SabreTech maintenance unit, recently was named president and chief operating officer of Hunter Aircraft Corp. in Alexandria, Va. Prior to joining Sabreliner in late 1995, Townes was a vice president at The Dee Howard Co. and then held the same position at Stevens Aviation. As the new head of Hunter, Townes will lead the firm's rebuilding effort, which is currently targeted at acquiring maintenance and repair companies with between $2 million and $40 million in business.
NBAA will confer its prestigious Jack P. Doswell Award on Torch Lewis, an icon in the business aviation industry and the singular writer of B/CA's popular Greenhouse Patter column. Lewis, a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot and flight department manager, was selected to receive the award for his lifelong support and service to business aviation and for his participation in the NBAA. The NBAA will present the award to Lewis at the association's 50th annual meeting September 23-25 in Dallas.
A non-TCAS collision avoidance system has been introduced by BFGoodrich. The system, called Skywatch, retails for $24,285, about half the price of the company's TCAS I. The Grand Rapids, Mich. company says that after receiving replies to its Mode C interrogations, Skywatch predicts the responding aircraft's potential conflict and provides an aural as well as visual warning. The system can track up to 30 intruder aircraft simultaneously and display the eight most-threatening targets.
A more than $30-million effort to enhance reliability of the AlliedSignal LF 502/507 turbofan engines that power the British Aerospace 146 family should begin bearing fruit for operators this month. In April, AlliedSignal began offering block upgrade programs that incorporate some 24 separate fixes engineered and certified in 1996. The problem areas were identified through intensive dialogue with the affected airlines, according to Jon Baetty, AlliedSignal's regional turbofan program director.
