Mercury Air Centers is finalizing the sale of one its fixed-based operations and buying another FBO, yielding a pretax book gain of about $9 million for the Los Angeles-based company. Mercury signed a letter of intent with an international aviation service company to sell its FBO* in Bedford, Mass. for $15.5 million in cash and in return, buy one of its FBOs for $2 million in cash.
Eclipse Aviation's plans to build a new entry-level business jet took a step forward with a key FAA approval and the first flight of the EJ22 turbofan engine that will power the Eclipse 500 jet.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES elected Gerald (Jerry) Olson, manager of Cheyenne, Wyo., Airport, as chairman during its 74th Annual Conference and Exposition in Dallas. Serving with Olson is Bonnie Allin, chief executive of the Tucson, Ariz., Airport Authority, as vice chair; Bill Barkhauer, director of Morristown, N.J., Municipal Airport, as second vice chair, and Lowell Pratte, deputy general manager for the Regional Airport Authority of Louisville, Ky., and Jefferson County, as secretary/treasurer.
Canadian regional aircraft-maker Bombardier Aerospace appears to be moving closer to buying Fairchild Dornier's 728 program. On the sidelines of the company's annual meeting last week, Bombardier CEO Robert Brown said, "There is a basis for commercial analysis" of the program. "In the short term, the chances are positive, but there is much work to do and we are far from a decision," he added. Brown also stressed that the commercial analysis was not a due diligence process. A final decision would be made "later this summer," he was quoted as saying.
HARTZELL PROPELLER signed Pilatus Aircraft to an exclusive purchasing contract covering all existing business with the Swiss manufacturer. Under the agreement, valued at $16 million, Hartzell will install propellers on Pilatus PC-6, PC-7, PC-9 and PC-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft through 2010. Hartzell and Pilatus also will collaborate on development programs such as the PC-21 Advanced Trainer, which was rolled out in May.
CESSNA approved Banyan Air Service as a factory authorized service and parts distribution center for Conquest, Caravan and piston-engine aircraft. Banyan, located at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, fills a regional need in South Florida for parts and service work, Cessna said. The FBO has more than 80 technicians working in heavy maintenance, avionics, turbine engine work and propeller overhaul as well as eight people in parts distribution.
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S rule requiring background checks of certain foreign nationals seeking flight training in the U.S. has received Office of Management and Budget approval and is expected to be released shortly. The rule, however, is expected to incorporate a number of changes that have been made since an industry briefing in April (BA, April 29/197).
RESEARCH into the use of ethanol as an alternative aviation fuel continues to progress, but extensive testing in a variety of aircraft engines must be accomplished before it can be widely accepted, proponents agreed during the Ethanol in Aviation Conference held late last month at the University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. UND Aerospace said the conference drew aviation, government, petroleum and ethanol representatives to discuss the benefits and limitations of ethanol-based fuels under development.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES elected Gerald (Jerry) Olson, manager of Cheyenne, Wyo., Airport, as chairman during its 74th Annual Conference and Exposition in Dallas. Serving with Olson is Bonnie Allin, chief executive of the Tucson, Ariz., Airport Authority, as vice chair; Bill Barkhauer, director of Morristown, N.J., Municipal Airport, as second vice chair, and Lowell Pratte, deputy general manager for the Regional Airport Authority of Louisville, Ky., and Jefferson County, as secretary/treasurer.
DASSAULT FALCON JET has installed a new Teledyne Controls/EMS Technologies HSD-128 Satcom on a Falcon 900EX demonstrator aircraft, providing high-speed Internet access while in flight. The installation included the HSD-128 single-box High Speed Data unit integrated with EMS Technologies' AMT-650 High-Gain Antenna System. The installation will allow up to four users on the Internet simultaneously. Dassault Falcon Jet said the system provides digital geostationary satellite communications with 25 times the speed and efficiency of previous airborne Satcom systems.
RESEARCH into the use of ethanol as an alternative aviation fuel continues to progress, but extensive testing in a variety of aircraft engines must be accomplished before it can be widely accepted, proponents agreed during the Ethanol in Aviation Conference held late last month at the University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. UND Aerospace said the conference drew aviation, government, petroleum and ethanol representatives to discuss the benefits and limitations of ethanol-based fuels under development.
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK handed over a VIP Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet to a private customer in the Middle East. The aircraft, the seventh VIP Boeing 747 that Lufthansa Technik has completed, arrived at Lufthansa's facilities in Hamburg, Germany in January 2001 for outfitting with a customized interior. Lufthansa will begin work on its next VIP 747 in July for another Middle East customer. The German aviation services company will install an interior that includes sleeping quarters, a conference room and work areas. Plans call for the work to be completed by the end of 2003.
THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION signed a project document and management services agreement with Afghanistan to rebuild Kabul Airport and provide air traffic control. The $8.2 million (U.S.) project, funded by Afghanistan, is part of a larger ICAO initiative to restore the country's civil aviation system. Under the latest agreement, ICAO will manage the Kabul Airport project, including hiring and training of airport and ATC personnel and well as purchasing of equipment.
LARRY MOORE was named senior vice president of module centers and manufacturing operations at Pratt&Whitney. He was most recently vice president, operations excellence at Cummins Engine Company. Moore has 30 years of manufacturing and engineering experience and has held management positions at GM, Ford and Volkswagen.
BII, an aviation engine bearing inspection and overhaul company, completed a new inspection center in Singapore. The new facility will support aviation turbine operators and OEMs in Asia and handle out-sourcing for the inspection and repair of main and accessory bearings. The Singapore center will inspect, test and analyze aerospace bearings locally in five days and offer complete bearing reconditioning through its U.S.-based overhaul center in 21 days or less, Bii said.
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S rule requiring background checks of certain foreign nationals seeking flight training in the U.S. has received Office of Management and Budget approval and is expected to be released shortly. The rule, however, is expected to incorporate a number of changes that have been made since an industry briefing in April (BA, April 29/197). The changes are expected to split the rule into two parts -- one covering recurrent flight training and the other initial flight training.
The Lancair Company is selling a portion of the company's stock in return for cash that will allow the company to increase production of aircraft. Lancair, the Oregon-based manufacturer of Columbia 300 aircraft, signed an agreement with a New York-based equity fund for the sale. "The cash infusion will be used for working capital and additional tooling that will allow the company to increase production to a rate of one per day by the middle of 2003," Lancair said.
THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) has developed a new weather computer model that the agency said will improve the accuracy of short-range weather forecasts. NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., developed the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC20) model through a joint effort with FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program. The RUC20, covers a 20-kilometer grid, compared with the former 40-km grid, improving overall accuracy of weather data.
SKYWEST AIRLINES recently opened a new aircraft dispatch school in partnership with Sheffield School of Aeronautics. SheffieldWest, Skywest Campus will use SkyWest's regional airline dispatch software and its regional aircraft as part of the curriculum. "One major advantage of working together will be that our students will have a greater opportunity obtaining employment with a regional or non-major airline after completion of the course," said Michael Mumford, SkyWest director of flight control. The school is located at SkyWest's headquarters in St. George, Utah.
CORK COLBURN was named vice president-government relations at General Dynamics. He joined GD as director of government relations in 1992 and was most recently staff vice president for government relations. Colburn served for 24 years in the U.S. Army and is a retired colonel. BOB HOBBI was named vice president and general manager of MedAire's general aviation business group. He has more than 17 years of experience in the aerospace industry and most recently was director of aerospace at Honeywell.
MOMENTUM appears to be growing for the National Business Aviation Association/European Business Aviation Association annual European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE). One major original equipment manufacturer chose to display at EBACE instead of the Farnborough Air Show in July, NBAA President Jack Olcott confirmed. Others are indicating that they will skip next year's Paris Air Show and pour their resources into EBACE 2003, scheduled May 7-9 in Geneva, Switzerland, sources say.
MEDAIRE released a new computer-based medical training course, Altitude Physiology, designed to teach about the physical demands of flying at high altitude. The course contains lessons that cover the atmosphere, an overview of the circulatory and respiratory system, physical gas laws, key principles of hypoxia and its treatment, aviation oxygen system, effects of altitude and pressure changes, and stresses of flight, including spatial disorientation and decompression sickness.
AVIATION SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION petitioned FAA to extend a Designated Airworthiness Representative's (DAR's) authority to sign 8130-3 tags, providing domestic airworthiness approvals for parts held by accredited distributors. The DAR authority is slated to expire June 15. ASA said that accredited distributors depend heavily on DARs, and if their authority were to expire, "distributors will be left with billions of dollars worth of inventory they cannot sell.
Canadian regional aircraft-maker Bombardier Aerospace appears to be moving closer to buying Fairchild Dornier's 728 program. On the sidelines of the company's annual meeting last week, Bombardier CEO Robert Brown said, "There is a basis for commercial analysis" of the program. "In the short term, the chances are positive, but there is much work to do and we are far from a decision," he added. Brown also stressed that the commercial analysis was not a due diligence process. A final decision would be made "later this summer," he was quoted as saying.
AS THE CHARTER INDUSTRY grapples with new security rule mandates, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is continuing his quest to add more security requirements. Kohl drafted a measure to require pre-boarding screening for charter operators. He originally intended to offer the measure as an amendment to the comprehensive emergency funding bill that passed the Senate last week, but held off on action. Kohl, however, indicated that he is
