Gulfstream Aerospace is holding firm - for now - on its estimate of producing 85 new business jets this year, but President Bill Boisture is watching orders and sales very closely and said production levels will be reassessed at the end of the first quarter. Boisture believes his most important job this year is making sure Gulfstream doesn't produce more aircraft than the market can absorb. "We can always ramp up" production if demand warrants, he added.
FAA added a new airmen services account capability to its U.S. Civil Aviation Registry web site, http://registry.faa.gov. The service will allow airmen to update mailing addresses, a requirement of the Federal Aviation Regulations. The web site, which averages about 2,500 visitors daily, provides a wealth of information on aircraft and airmen.
BOMBARDIER SELLS FIVE LEARJET 45 XRs TO U.K. CHARTER COMPANY - Bombardier won an order from United Kingdom charter operator Gold Air International for five Learjet 45 XR business jets. The order, which Bombardier valued at about $55 million, is the second the Canadian aerospace company has received from Gold Air. The executive jet charter firm currently operates five Learjet 45 aircraft. Deliveries of the new aircraft are expected to begin in spring of next year and continue through mid-2005.
Marquis Jet Partners, Inc., which provides short-term leases in NetJets fractional aircraft shares, formed a strategic alliance with the Ritz-Carlton Club to offer joint Ritz-Carlton Club Marquis Jet Programs.
Jet & Propjet 2003, the Corporate Aircraft Directory, was published this month by AvCom International of Wichita, Kan. This year's 25th anniversary edition of the data-rich, 530-page publication lists - by serial number, registration number, owner and country - more than 22,500 turbine-powered business airplanes in operation with 13,915 flight departments in 154 countries. The listings include 196 jet aircraft models (with series within model designations), and 158 different turboprop models.
House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) outlined an ambitious schedule last week to craft a comprehensive bill this year that reauthorizes FAA's funding programs beyond fiscal 2003. Mica has scheduled a series of hearings on aviation topics, including one on general aviation in March, and plans to make several site visits throughout the country with stops in Cincinnati, Detroit, Wichita, Seattle, San Francisco and Oregon.
BOXER, ISRAEL INTRODUCE JETLINER MISSILE DEFENSE BILL - Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), last week introduced a measure with Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) to require jetliners to be fitted with anti-missile defense systems similar to those now used on military planes.
ADAM AIRCRAFT SIGNS DEAL TO OPEN FACILITY IN PUEBLO - Adam Aircraft plans to move some manufacturing operations for its A500 and A700 aircraft models to an existing 30,000-square-foot facility in Pueblo, Colo.
AIAA TO AWARD CESSNA PILOT CENTER SCHOLARSHIPS - The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as part of its Evolution of Flight Campaign in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of powered flight, plans to award 50 $1,000 scholarships for students to begin or continue their pursuit of private pilot licenses. The $1,000 scholarships, to be awarded to promising students, will be administered through Cessna Pilot Centers in the recipient's local area. Winners also will receive a complete Cessna Private Pilot Multimedia Training System from Cessna.
MERCURY SHEDS SHAREHOLDER LAWSUIT - A shareholder lawsuit filed against Mercury Air Group shortly before Christmas was dropped after the Los Angeles-based aviation services company successfully moved the complaint from state to federal court, Mercury said last week. The law suit, filed by the law office of Rex Beaber, was one of at least three similar shareholder actions filed late last year alleging board member misdeeds (BA, Jan. 6/4). Mercury pledged to fight each suit, saying they all had no legal basis.
INDIA'S COAST GUARD SEEKING LONGER-RANGE AIRCRAFT - India's Coast Guard wants to acquire medium-range surveillance aircraft on the international market instead of buying more shorter-range Dornier 228s built by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., according to the agency's head.
FSS AIRHOLDINGS ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE PROMOTIONS - FSS Airholdings of Pittsburgh, Pa., announced management changes at the company and its three affiliates: CJ Systems Aviation Group, Inc., Corporate Jets, Inc. and HeliDyne Systems, Inc.
GAMA'S BOLEN APPEALS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HELP ON FLIGHT TRAINING - Calling Department of Justice inaction an "outrage," General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Ed Bolen last week urged the Senate aviation subcommittee to help ensure that new Justice procedures for checking the backgrounds of foreign flight school applicants get implemented. In the Aviation Transportation and Security Act adopted in November 2001, Congress required that flight school applicants undergo up to a 45-day background check before seeking training at a U.S.
Flightsafety International secured Level "D" certification for its second full-flight simulator for the Cessna CJ2 at its Cessna Learning Center in Wichita, Kan. The simulator features the new VITAL V-9 high-definition visual system.
Raytheon Aircraft Services won a supplemental type certificate for reduced vertical separation minimum-compliant height keeping equipment for the Hawker 700A and 700B aircraft. The STC upgrades the height keeping equipment with digital altimeters equipped with data acquisition units.
General Dynamics's board of directors voted last week to permit the management of the company to repurchase in the open market up to six million shares of GD's issued and outstanding common stock. The six million shares represents about three percent of GD's total of 201 million outstanding shares. The previous repurchase authority for 10 million shares, which went into effect in March 2000, was basically exhausted with the 3.2 million shares that GD has bought back since the beginning of 2003.
A Raytheon spokesman told BA Friday that nothing has changed in that company's relationship with fractional aircraft provider Flight Options, but reports continue to circulate that the parties are close to an agreement under which Raytheon - which previously merged its Travel Air fractional program into Flight Options in return for a 49.9 percent stake - would regain majority control of the Cleveland, Ohio-based fractional provider. Kenn Ricci, chairman and CEO of Flight Options, told BA a month ago that an agreement could be finalized in two to four weeks (BA, Jan.
U.S. COAST GUARD CONSIDERS LEASING UAVs FROM CONTRACTOR - The U.S. Coast is considering extending the government's practice of leasing routine items such as office copying machines by using a similar rental plan for a fleet of sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will sponsor a symposium to "showcase promising new uses of simulation and virtual reality for training pilots and air traffic controllers" Feb 21-22 at its Daytona Beach, Fla. campus. "Simulation Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" will cover simulation's role in improving safety and allow participants to test advanced simulation devices used for flight training and air traffic management.
High-ranking FAA and TSA officials called a meeting with general aviation representatives for today to discuss proposed changes to the "National Capital Region" airspace. FAA sent a rule to the OMB for review last week that is expected to extend the restrictions in the Special Flight Rules Area over Washington, D.C. (SFAR 94) by up to two years. Reports of the extension come as bad news to the affected operators of the "D.C.
New World Aviation added a new (50 hours time-in-service) Gulfstream V to its charter certificate. The aircraft is equipped to carry up to 16 passengers.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is mounting what it calls a "full-court press" in Washington, D.C. to generate opposition to new FAA and TSA rules that allow the certificate revocation of pilots deemed security threats (BA, Jan. 27/37). AOPA has been meeting with several members of Congress and the Bush Administration expressing its concerns about the rules. The rules have drawn fire from several industry and pilots groups.
Adam Aircraft, which flew its first A500 Carbon Aero aircraft last summer (BA, Aug. 5/56), expects S/N 2 to make its first flight within "a week or so." A company official said FAA certification is anticipated this summer.
AVCRAFT COMPLETES 328JET ACQUISITION, OUTLINES STRATEGY - Avcraft Aviation, which just took over Fairchild Dornier's 328JET unit, plans to restart production of the plane in five months and hopes to sell another 300 to 500 328JETs during the program's life.
AOPA: NEW BUILDING POSES HAZARD TO POMPANO BEACH AIRPARK - Construction of a condominium project already under way will create a navigational hazard to air traffic at Florida's Pompano Beach Airpark and should be stopped by city officials, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
