Business & Commercial Aviation

Heritage Aviation announced the development of Heritage Aware, a remote aircraft maintenance-monitoring portal that allows customers real-time access to updates and work-in-progress reporting.

Ross Aviation (KLGB) in Long Beach, California, was named as a gateway FBO through the DCA Access Standard Security Program, granting flights leaving the operator the ability to fly directly to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (VABB) was the most requested departure and destination airport requested with the Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder by brokers and travelers shopping for charter flights during the last 12 months.

ADS-B installations are a small part of Duncan Aviation’s business despite market outreach ahead of the 2020 deadline. President and CEO Aaron Hilkemann explains operators’ reasons for delaying the upgrade—and the consequences.

News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community.

Jet-A and avgas per-gallon fuel prices—March 2017

Compare Jet-A and avgas fuel prices by region based on a survey conducted in March 2017 by Aviation Research Group/U.S. Inc. and an analysis of the lowest fuel prices reported by FBOs on acukwik.com.

Northrop Grumman is proposing that the Gulfstream G550 serve as the platform for the U.S. Air Force's next Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-Stars).

The Global 7000/8000 program's second flight test vehicle flew for the first time March 4, and Bombardier says the 7000 is on track to enter into service in the second half of 2018.

The latest companies to join the General Aviation Manufacturers Association as members include CAMP Systems, Pipistrel and Tamarack Aerospace. New associate members are Ascent Vision Technologies, SmartSky Networks and Uber.

Embraer is cautiously optimistic about its executive jet segment amid a used aircraft market that remains challenging, the company said March 9 as it released 2016 financial results.

VistaJet reports it has conducted more than 100,000 flights carrying 250,000 passengers to 1,600 airports in 187 countries since the charter operator's founding in 2004.

Honeywell has selected Bird ExecuJet Airport Services at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi to enhance maintenance, repairs and upgrades for customers in India.

Bell Helicopter signed a purchase agreement with the Arizona Department of Public Safety Aviation Bureau for a Bell 429 light twin-engine aircraft.

Smyrna Air Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, is now Hollingshead Aviation. Jeff Hollingshead is president of the fixed base operation.

Weston Aviation, based in the UK and Ireland, has expanded its Business Aviation Center at Humberside Airport in the UK.

A coalition of aviation groups, including the American Association of Airport Executives and U.S. Contract Tower Association, has written leaders of the U.S. Senate and House appropriations committees to request that the FAA appropriations bill continue the contract towers program.

More than 115 mayors from all 50 U.S. states have sent a letter to Congress saying they are concerned about the impact that privatization of air traffic control would have on communities around the country, especially in rural regions. By contrast, large commercial airlines are supporting the idea, which is being advocated by some legislators.

XTI Aircraft Co., a Denver-based startup aircraft manufacturer, is hoping to build a hybrid-electric ducted-fan vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) business aircraft. It recently teamed with electric propulsion specialist Bye Aerospace to develop the TriFan 600.

Pivoting to an unprecedented wave of new aircraft owners and pilots, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is now welcoming unmanned aerial vehicle pilots into the fold. “Drone pilots are seeking their place in the larger world of aviation and looking for opportunities to expand their experience,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. The association noted an FAA estimate that 1.3 million pilots will be certificated to operate drones under 14 CFR Part 107 by 2020.

Robinson Helicopters is considering adopting a diesel engine for a future derivative of its R44 piston-engine light helicopter. The company is “holding strong to putting a diesel” in the R44 over the next 3-4 yr., CEO Kurt Robinson announced in a speech to the Western Museum of Flight in Hawthorne, California, late last year. The helicopter manufacturer is working with a “couple of different [engine] manufacturers,” Robinson says. “We have got to get the vibration loads right.

With certification of its AW609 commercial tiltrotor finally in sight, Leonardo is now embarking on the next step of its tiltrotor journey. Backed by the European Union’s Clean Sky 2 aeronautical research program, the Anglo-Italian aerospace company is putting the finishing touches to the architecture it envisions will shape its next tiltrotor and potentially give Europe the lead in fast civil rotorcraft.

Gulfstream and BAE Systems set out to reintroduce the intuitiveness of mechanically coupled flight controls by integrating electronically coupled sidesticks on the G500 and G600 business jets, set for certification this year and next year, respectively. Gulfstream G500 and G600 business jets will be the first commercial FBW aircraft with active sidesticks in service. For that achievement Gulfstream and BAE Systems were awarded the Aviation Week 2017 Technology Laureate during a gala in Washington.

Gulfstream Aerospace's second G600 flight-test aircraft flew for the first time Feb. 24, joining the manufacturer's flight-test program. The flight lasted 4 hr. 26 min. The first G600 aircraft had its first flight Dec .17 from Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. Since then, the aircraft has flown more than 150 hr. The aircraft is undergoing flutter testing, and is expanding the flight envelope.

Learjet 70 and 75, the marketing names for the upgraded Learjet 40 and 45, are far more capable than the original models that entered service 20 years ago.