Business & Commercial Aviation

London Oxford Airport is seeing an increase in large business jets using its facilities this year. Its FBO has seen a 37% increase in large jet movements and a 46% increase over the past two years, the airport reports.

Dassault's new Falcon 8X ultra-long-range jet has received approval to operate at London City Airport, which has some of the most restrictive steep approach and noise abatement regulations in business aviation.

Bombardier's third Global 7000 flight test aircraft flew for the first time May 10 and has entered the flight-test program. It will soon join Bombardier's flight-test center in Wichita.

Japan has set ambitious targets to double foreign visitors to 40 million a year by the 2020 Summer Olympics, and business aviation is expected to play a role.

CVR Recording for Challenger N115WF: Shortly past noon on Jan. 5, 2014, a Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger crashed during a landing attempt on Runway 15 at Colorado's Aspen-Pitkin County Airport/Sardy Field (ASE). The information below, from the NTSB report, is a record of what went on in the cockpit as the approach became unstabilized and the flight came to grief.

Jet Aviation has signed an FBO management agreement with Pazos FBO at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico. It is the only FBO in Puerto Rico with a full-service on-site U.S. Customs and Border Protection terminal for customs, immigration and agriculture processing of international flights.

Textron Aviation ended production of its Model 510 Cessna Citation Mustang light jet on May 11. No jobs will be lost as a result, as Textron Aviation is moving production of its Caravan turboprop to the plant where the Mustang was assembled.

Business aviation flight activity increased globally during the first quarter of 2017 compared to the last three months of 2016. In fact, it was the highest utilization of aircraft for any first quarter since 2008, according to Jet Support Services Inc., a provider of maintenance support and financial services.

Tradewind Aviation, which operates shuttle and on-demand flights in the U.S. and Caribbean, has added three Pilatus PC-12 eight-seat aircraft to its fleet as well as a hub at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts. Tradewind, which operates scheduled service from Westchester County Airport in New York, now operates 21 aircraft, including 18 PC-12s and three Cessna Citations.

Airbus sees strong potential in Voom, an on-demand helicopter booking service incubated within A3—the aircraft maker's Silicon Valley outpost—and now being tested in helicopter-friendly Sao Paulo.

BCA shares news of the latest products and services for the business aviation industry.

Frankly, the proposed fee schedule [user charges] doesn’t bother us as much as the fear that once the principle is set it then becomes a mater of how much more. – BCA Staff Rockwell-Standard declined to act on its option to pick up line of new aircraft models being produced by Ted Smith and his company. The option was for $6.5 million to be exercised by R-S upon certification of Aerostar model.

The Falcon 2000S is a large-cabin jet that has been redesigned, repackaged and repriced to fit into a niche between super-midsize and large-cabin business aircraft.

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

Wingly, an internet-based private-pilot ride-sharing service, a concept ruled as a violation of air regulations by the FAA—a position upheld in federal court—is operating in the UK, France and Germany.

Boeing Business Jets and GKN Aerospace are offering a new window on the world at 41,000 ft., one that Boeing claims is the largest available on any passenger jet today.

The FAA has adopted a new Airworthiness Directive for certain Learjet Model 60 airplanes. This AD was prompted by an evaluation by the design approval holder indicating the upper fuselage skin under the aft oxygen line fairing is subject to multi-site damage.

Duncan Aviation has released a new edition of its Business Jet Model/Market Summary, an initial introduction and overview of market conditions.

A highly experienced Mexican crew with newly minted Bombardier Challenger type ratings attempted an approach into one of business aviation's toughest airports with adverse winds on Jan. 5, 2014. The result was tragic.

The engineering of Universal Avionics' InSight display system is now fulfilled, and the company is working toward completion of the STC and TSO package in preparation for TIA.

Hawthorne Global Aviation Services has acquired JetSun Aviation Centre, an FBO located at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa. The facility has more than 100,000 sq. ft. of hangar space, a reception area, conference room, pilot lounge and flight planning.

The medium and light business jet resale markets began 2017 with two of the best first quarters in the past 10 years, according to a report by market research company Amstat.

Selected accidents and incidents in April 2017. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Rolls-Royce is developing a new generation of business aviation powerplants, for which the first full-up fan demonstrator is expected to run later this year. The ramp-up of work on the technology demonstrator, dubbed Advance2, signals a new phase for the manufacturer, which heretofore had revealed few details of its future business aviation family initiative. Covering the 10,000- to 20,000-lb. thrust range, the plan is to develop three Advance2 demonstrators with two different core sizes and three different low-pressure systems.

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