Business & Commercial Aviation

Honeywell has launched a commercial infrastructure inspection service using Intel's Falcon 8+ industrial drone.

French manufacturer Daher has opened an aerostructures manufacturing and logistics site in Queretaro, Mexico. to produce doors for Airbus A320 emergency exits and cargo bays.

Jet Aviation is shuttering its St. Louis Downtown Airport maintenance operations and Gulfstream Aerospace Services Corp., also a General Dynamics subsidiary, will take over the site.

VistaJet has launched VistaJet Direct, a digital membership app that provides members access to empty-leg flights on VistaJet's fleet of more than 70 aircraft.

Seeker Aircraft America has formed a partnership with KAHA Aviation Solutions, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as it expands into a new market.

Airflite was appointed as the exclusive sales representative for Piaggio Aerospace in Australia and New Zealand. Australia and New Zealand are priority markets for further development of Piaggio, the company said.

News of business aviation promotions, appointments and honors

Questions for Bill Dolny, CEO of MedAire Worldwide in Phoenix.

Satcom Direct has become the first service provider to activate the Inmarsat Jet ConneX technology for a Brazilian registered executive aircraft, the company said.

Sierra Nevada Corp. in September filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the U.S. Army's decision to cancel a competition to replace its Beech C-12 Huron and Fairchild C-26 Metroliner turboprops.

The aim of the Cape Town Convention, said Colin Gill, deputy director of civil aviation for the Isle of Man, is to reduce the costs of raising financing for large, high-value, mobile assets that routinely cross borders.

Texas Turbine Conversions has received European Aviation Safety Agency approval for Hartzell Propeller's four-blade composite swept propeller designed for single-engine Supervan 900 aircraft.

FAA has awarded Winglet Technology an STC for transitional winglets on the Citation Sovereign as the culmination of a development and certification project that began in July 2013.

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy in Mesa, Arizona, has placed an order for its second CJ1+ Level 5 Flight Training Device from Frasca International.

This year my car turned 17, making it a senior four-wheeled citizen since the median for flivvers is less than 10. However, the average age of a general aviation aircraft today is roughly 40 years.

Caverton Helicopters, a subsidiary of Caverton Offshore Support Group in Lagos, Nigeria, has signed for eight Bell 407 GXP helicopters along with Customer Advantage Plans support for them. Deliveries are scheduled to begin later this year.

Faced with continuing concerns such as rising taxes, lack of privacy and regulatory issues, business jet owners are opting for offshore aircraft registration.

Flying Colours has completed maintenance, avionics upgrades and extensive interior reconfiguration for a pair of Bombardier Challenger 850 aircraft for an undisclosed Fortune 500 company.

Prompted by a brutal 2016 wildfire season, Los Angeles County has purchased two Sikorsky S-70i helicopters for conversion to Firehawk firefighting and other missions.

SevenJet Private Travel has expanded its aircraft maintenance facility in Clearwater, Florida, where it offers light aircraft maintenance, inspections and other services for Piaggio, Avanti, King Air, Citation, Beechcraft and other aircraft.

One Aviation recently completed the first flight of the proof-of-concept wing for the Eclipse EA700 now under development.

C&L Aerospace and Securaplane Technologies have developed a Supplemental Type Certificate for the Securaplane sealed acid batteries for Saab 340 aircraft. The two companies have entered into an agreement that designates C&L as the worldwide distributor for the batteries. The batteries are maintenance free and directly replace existing nickel-cadmium batteries.

VistaJet has received a $150 million cash investment from Rhone Capital. The transaction values VistaJet's equity at more than $2.5 billion.

A new forecast by JetNet IQ predicts demand for 8,436 new business jets valued at $223 billion at list prices for 2017-26. Company says percentage of used business jets on the market is at its lowest level in more than nine years.

MRO provider Constant Aviation says it has more than doubled its automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) sales compared to the same time one year ago.