INDIGO AXES CHARTER SERVICE FROM MIDWAY TO TETERBORO - Indigo Airlines cut charter flights on Embraer Legacy aircraft between Chicago Midway and Teterboro, N.J., leaving the fate of the 23 planes the carrier has on order unknown. A spokesman from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told BA affiliate Aviation Daily Indigo had no aircraft movements May 30 or June 2, and Indigo said in a taped phone message to customers it "was no longer taking reservations for daily service."
Avjet Corporation is the defendant in a wrongful death suit brought by the parents of Marissa Witham, 22, who died in a Gulfstream III crash March 29, 2001. The aircraft was chartered from Avjet in Burbank, Calif. for a flight from Los Angeles, Calif. to Aspen, Colo. and flown by an Avjet pilot, Robert Frisbie. Witham's parents, Lyle and Laurece Ann Witham, retained Brian J. Panish of Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler to represent them in the case, which began last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Pivotal Power won a contract to supply low-voltage power supplies for Raytheon's Forward-Looking Infrared System. The contract follows previous contracts from Raytheon, including the selection of Pivotal Power's power supply for the Raytheon AAQ-27 wavelength infrared imaging system in production for the U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey.
SAFIRE TO BUILD $40 MILLION FACILITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA - Safire Aircraft finalized a deal to relocate its headquarters and aircraft development facility to Opa-Locka Airport, in a move that could create 1,000 new jobs in Miami-Dade County in the next three years, officials said.
FAA SHELVES CPDLC PROGRAM DESPITE SUCCESSFUL MIAMI TRIAL - FAA halted its controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) program - until recently hailed as an important part of the agency's modernization effort - saying too few users will be helped to justify the planned late 2005 national deployment. Officials recently told Computer Sciences Corp. to stop work on the program's next phase, adding FAA won't expand CPDLC beyond the operational trial site in Miami. American, the airline most heavily committed to CPDLC, criticized the move.
EMBRAER PLANS PRODUCTION PLANT IN FLORIDA - In a move the airplane-maker hopes will raise the visibility of special mission platforms for its EMB 145 regional jet, Embraer last week announced plans to open a production plant in Jacksonville, Fla. Embraer has operated a sales and product support facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since 1979 and in the past few years has added an engineering office in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Nashville, Tenn.
The Aircraft Electronics Association hosted an avionics seminar for Russian aviation delegates. The purpose of the seminar was to gather representatives from repair stations and manufacturers to discuss business and opportunities in the avionics field. "The seminar was mutually beneficial in that it opened lines of communication to key Russian aviation business executives and provided strategic contacts for their interests in the U.S.," said Paula Derks, president of AEA.
Dassault Falcon will build a new flight operations hangar at its location at Teterboro Airport, N.J. The 32,200-square-foot facility will be built on a 2.9-acre lot across from Falcon's headquarters. The facility will house the company's flight operations department as well as the Falcon demonstration fleet. The hangar will be able to hold as many as six Falcons, and an additional 9,700 square feet of office space and 130 new parking spaces will be created.
OPENING DCA TO CHARTER GAINS MOMENTUM IN CONGRESS - Virginia Sens. George Allen (R) and John Warner (R) last week urged colleagues to sign a letter they intend to send to President Bush stating that on-demand carriers that follow approved security programs should be given access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The "Dear Colleague" letter issued by Allen and Warner is the latest in a series of letters generated on Capitol Hill endorsing charter access to DCA.
June 5 - National Business Aviation Association Forum and Static Display, Republic Airport, Farmingdale, N.Y., (202) 783-9000 June 15-22 - 45th Paris Air Show, Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France, +33 1 532 33333 June 27-28 - NBAA 8th Annual Flight Attendants Conference, Philadelphia, Pa., (202) 783-9000 July 29-Aug. 4 - Experimental Aircraft Association 51st AirVenture Oshkosh '03, Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wis., (920) 426-6523
BUSH SIGNS BONUS DEPRECIATION INTO LAW - President Bush Wednesday signed into law a comprehensive tax bill that would boost the bonus depreciation to 50 percent for property acquired after May 5, 2003 but before Jan. 1, 2005 (BA, May 26/237). The General Aviation Manufacturers Association and other GA groups lobbied hard for the accelerated depreciation, hoping it will jump-start sluggish aircraft sales.
NBAA's Board of Directors was intent on finding someone with strong political contacts to succeed Olcott - who has served as president of the organization since 1992 - and appears to have succeeded with the selection of Longmuir. Before joining United in March 1993, she held several senior posts at the Transportation Department in the George H.W. Bush Administration, including serving as deputy general counsel, deputy secretary and chief of staff to Andrew Card, who now serves as chief of staff at the White House.
CMC Electronics sold its non-aviation Global Positioning System Original Equipment Manufacturer product line to its subsidiary NovAtel, Inc. in a move to focus its interests on the aviation electronics market. The product line includes three GPS engines, which use the L1 frequency band known as Superstar I, Superstar II and Allstar, and software for Wide Area Augmentation System corrections.
US Airways has begun preliminary talks with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on building a new regional jet terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The carrier recently announced orders for 170 new regional jets (BA, May 19/228).
DAYTON, OTHER U.S. CITIES, TO BE STUDIED AS RIVALS TO PARIS - U.S. lawmakers, continuing to express their frustration about French opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, are looking at the possibility of a U.S.-based air show designed to compete with the Paris Air Show.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE LOST MONEY IN FIRST QUARTER - Bombardier Aerospace, once one of Canadian conglomerate Bombardier's most powerful economic engines, posted a pre-tax loss for the quarter ended April 30, the company reported Tuesday.
Nearly two years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and countless GA flight restrictions later, the Transportation Security Administration has begun to consider developing a "comprehensive and definitive" assessment to determine the threat GA poses to national security. The TSA has asked industry groups to provide input on a range of possible scenarios, including terrorist use of GA aircraft as guided missiles, as vessels for delivering chemical or biological weapons, or as weapons against nuclear facilities or other hardened targets.
Atlantic Coast Airlines and Bombardier agreed to push ACA's delivery schedule for 42 CRJ200s, originally slated for delivery through 2004, back to 2005. The two companies agreed to the revision just as an interim agreement to delay deliveries expires May 31. ACA agreed to take delivery of six aircraft immediately and two in the fourth quarter. It plans to accept six more in 2004 and the remaining 28 in 2005.
CHARLES CELLI was appointed vice president and general manager of Gulfstream's Dallas aircraft service and completions facility. He joined Gulfstream in 1987 as a structure and fuel tank mechanic and was most recently director of service center operations at Gulfstream's facility in Savannah, Ga.
