After some delay, it is all coming together for HondaJet. We might just see one at Geneva next year. HondaJet president and CEO Michimasa Fujino is in Geneva this week to relate the latest good news of his brainchild business jet, now on final approach for certification in the first quarter of next year. With the assessment by FAA pilots now under way, Honda has been emboldened to build the first production machine, which was recently rolled out in Greensboro, North Carolina, and will fly soon.
The Press Office at London City Airport had a tough time in early April batting off a media assault that grew to epidemic proportions. It was caused by a report from the New Economics Foundation suggesting that London City Airport should be closed and re-developed for housing. NEF’s challenge: Does it make sense to locate an airport in such precious inner-city space? What if we reclaimed this historic site and built a new neighborhood, incorporating the best thinking about sustainable urban design?
Want to fly your business aircraft into the same London aerodrome used by the Queen and Prime Minister David Cameron? You don’t need to know a man who knows a man who can fix it for you. All you have to do is call on Jackie Spratt, commercial business manager, at Booth 2229, where Royal Air Force Northolt is enthusiastically inviting visiting aircraft to a runway conveniently close to the center of town.
T extron Aviation expands capabilities of newly integrated service organization to ensure coverage of Hawker, Beechcraft and Cessna lines. Textron Aviation, as it continues to integrate the operations of Beechcraft and Cessna, is combining the respective service organizations into a network of 23 company-owned centers that can service any of the Beechcraft, Cessna or Hawker product lines, and a “constellation” of 200 authorized centers/support outlets worldwide.
VistaJet, which operates an all-Bombardier fleet of more than 40 aircraft, is seriously considering adding helicopters, too. Founder and chairman Thomas Flohr has operated a twin-engine AgustaWestland GrandNew in the St. Moritz area for the last year, and has offered it with some success to customers of VistaJet’s guaranteed availability plan. “We’ve conducted 45-50 flights—about one a week—for clients,” he notes. Flohr uses it too, and the helicopter has now logged about 150 hours.
Universal Aviation has opened its updated Paris-Le Bourget FBO. The update includes an additional 12,094 square meters of ramp and parking space (for a total of 32,000 square meters), renovated crew and passenger lounges, a business center, client meeting rooms and private screening facilities. The company has the only private hangar in the area that can accommodate two of the larger commercial aircraft used for business aviation. It is available for use by monthly based clients on overnight or flexible durations.
VistaJet is keeping its fleet of 40 aircraft at an average age of two years as it takes delivery of five more Global aircraft and up to 20 more Challengers this year. VistaJet’s fleet has grown to more than 40 aircraft as the operator added five Bombardier Globals, valued at more than $250 million, to its fleet in the first quarter. Four of the Globals joined the fleet in March alone.
EBAS is celebrating the anniversary of its relocation to the Diamond Hangar at London Stansted Airport with the arrival of its first 8C inspection on a Bombardier Global Express business jet. The 10-year inspection represents a significant milestone for the company, requiring detailed overhaul and assessment of current airframe, landing gear and engine conditions. In addition, EBAS will upgrade the Global’s avionics installation to incorporate full Batch 3 and FANS-1/A+ compatibility so as to ensure compliance with future navigation and communication standards.
SyberJet continues to progress on its efforts to bring the SJ30i and SJ30x with a production certificate and delivery center groundbreaking. SyberJet secured its production certificate from FAA’s San Antonio Manufacturing District Office, marking the next step in the company’s quest to return the SJ30 – now the SJ30i – to market. Receipt of production certificate clears the company to manufacture, certify and deliver the aircraft.
Former Embraer Executive Jets president Ernest “Ernie” Edwards is keeping his hand in the business aviation market with the formation of a new leasing firm, Veling Tayara Limited. Edwards, a long-time business aviation executive, late last year retired from Embraer after building its Executive Jets unit into one of the largest business jet manufacturers.
The results of a survey conducted by the Baltic Air Charter Association indicate that BACA members are confident that business conditions will improve during 2014. Of those responding, 66.7% said they believe private jet charter revenue will increase in 2014 while 29% believe it will be flat. Only 4.3% said the anticipate a decline compared to 2013. Most growth is expected to be from existing clients flying more frequently.
Embraer is pulling out the stops to ensure trouble-free support for visiting and local Embraer Executive Jet operators for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the biggest sporting event in global soccer, which starts in Brazil next month.
Elit’Avia added two more aircraft to its EROPS-approved fleet, including the first such authorization for a Challenger 605 operated by a charter in Europe. Elit’Avia recently secured approval from the Slovenian Civil Aviation Agency for extended range operations (EROPS) for its Bombardier Global 6000 and Challenger 605 in its fleet. The approval clears the way for more direct flight paths by permitting overwater operations up to three hours’ range from an alternative airport with use of one engine.
On average, there are 325 to 350 air shows each year in the U.S. and Canada alone, generating some $110 million in revenue. It’s a big business, one marked by breathtaking aerial performances, lots of noise and panoply, sunburns, corn dogs, and, yes, danger. Overseeing the mixed bag of promoters, performers and show rules is ICAS, whose leadership was assumed by Cudahy 17 years ago.
Shortly after graduating from France’s prestigious Hautes Etudes Commerciales in 1974, Rosanvallon found himself driving a heavy truck and learning the art of sharpshooting – all part of the military service required of young French citizens then. Upon mustering out, the 24-year-old responded to a posting with a renowned aerospace firm, Avions Marcel Dassault, and got the job. The son of a candy executive and a chemistry professor, Rosanvallon came upon aerospace accidentally, but the fit was right and lasting; he’s never had another employer.
328 Group CEO Dave Jackson says growth within the company is coming from special mission versions of the Dornier 328 turboprop and associated Part 21J design engineering activities. The firm’s largest single order to date was the conversion of 17 Dornier 328 turboprop ex-regional airliners for Sierra Nevada for supply to U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to be operated by the U.S. Air Force and since designated by them as C-146A Wolfhound. The last of these aircraft was handed over last July. The total deal is believed to be worth over $200 million.
Rolls-Royce’s CorporateCare engine maintenance program is making a real difference to aircraft resale values, says Stephen Friedrich, VP, Sales and Marketing, Civil Small and Medium Engines. “We now have 1,600-plus aircraft signed up, and more than 70% of all new Rolls-Royce deliveries are enrolled,” he says. “We’re no longer seeing market acceptance but market demand.” Indeed, the sign-up rate exceeds the number of new deliveries as used aircraft five, 10 or even 20 years old are enrolled.
Luma Technologies’ Lumatech TM 45-station integrated LED caution warning display will be standard equipment on Nextant Aerospace’s King Air G90XT, which is scheduled for certification later this year. “Nextant and Luma have enjoyed a good working relationship since the beginning of the 400XTi program,” says Luma president Bruce Maxwell. “It’s a natural extension for them to carry the 400XTi’s reliable LED technology over to the G90XT.
Jet Aviation has partnered with Brazil-based C-Fly Aviation to offer handling services and parking for business aviation aircraft at Galeão International Airport (GIG), the main airport serving 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer traffic in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the final match. Located north of the city and within 1.5 hours of six World Cup venues, Galeão is the only international airport in Brazil that has dedicated ramp space for business aircraft during the games. Its 200,000 sq. ft.
General Dynamics’ Aerospace group’s $8.1 billion in sales last year accounted for more than a quarter of the firm’s revenue, according to operating numbers released by GD. This year looks even more promising, with GD Aerospace reporting $2.125 billion in first-quarter revenue, up 19% from 1Q13, earnings up 30% compared with the same period last year, and final-phase deliveries up more than one-third over 1Q13.
Comlux the Aviation Group (Booth 5152) comes to EBACE with a maintenance and refurbishment contract for a BBJ based in Asia. The airplane is expected to arrive at the company’s Comlux America facility in Indianapolis, Indiana in the second quarter 2014 and will spent four months at the center. The unidentified owner is being represented by the aircraft management company Sino Jet, led by CEO Jenny Lau.
The exterior paint shop at L-3 Platform Integration has had considerable experience applying unique and beautiful finishes on large VIP jets, but the new 747-8 is a challenge that would have taxed the talents of Michelangelo. As an artist’s canvas goes, it is big. Really, really big; with a wing span of 59.6 meters (195 ft, 8 in) and 70.6 meters in length (231 ft, 10 in).
George Washington readily owned up to a small-scale exercise in deforestation, but how likely is it that he would have confessed to an experiment in ‘cherry tree cancelation’? Believe no longer that debates about the number of angels able to dance on a pinhead represent the world’s most excruciatingly obtuse argument. Would even Albert Einstein be smart enough to fathom when a business jet order is not a business jet order?
* Illegal flights . The EBAA has led two studies into so called illegal flights in Europe. Work is ongoing but the figure of about 7% of illegal flights is roughly correct. “The very important thing to keep in mind, is that very few are deliberately illegal,” says association president Brian Humphries.
