Business & Commercial Aviation

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

AvFab has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approval for pleated window shades on Beechcraft King Air 200, B200 and B200GT aircraft. The shades replace the factory-installed polarizers and can be closed when the aircraft is parked. The shades are flame retardant, have an antibacterial coating, provide Sun protection, reflect heat and are available in several colors.

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.

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.

Aircraft leasing company Milestone Aviation Group Ltd. in February announced a contract for six Leonardo AW139 and three AW169 helicopters for delivery this year and next. Milestone leased seven AW169s and 11 AW139s in 2016. The latest deal is valued at $96 million.

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).

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

The Learjet 45 and 45XR, built from 1998 to 2012 and only the second clean-sheet Learjets since the 1963 Learjet 23, have a lot going for them

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

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.

Bombardier Business Aircraft has established five new line maintenance stations in Europe to support customers of Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft.

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.

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.

After decades of consideration and debate, the European Union recently approved commercial air transport (CAT) operations for single-engine turboprop aircraft in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and at night. The new regulation was to take effect in March. The move was applauded by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) as well as individual airframers such as Daher, whose TBMs have been employed in such activities in North America and elsewhere for some time.

Pratt & Whitney Canada is working on a new 2,000-shp-class helicopter engine that could be ready for market by year-end. According to P&WC President John Saabas the company identified a gap in its product range between the 1,750-shp PT6C-67C/E and the 2,300-shp PW100 family of engines, and the new engine is likely to be a further development of the PT6C core. He says the engine would be ready to launch by year’s end, but is waiting for a launch application.

The Women in Aviation International's 28th annual convention, held March 2-4, drew 4,500 attendees from 19 countries to Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

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.

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.

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.