While business aviation flights in the U.S. and Canada have remained flat to down overall this year, Part 135 activity continues to gain strength with improvements every month this year, according to the most recent data by aviation safety expert and industry analyst Argus International. Part 135 flights jumped 17.8% in July compared with July 2012. That follows a 12% improvement in June and a 10.7% increase in May. In fact, charter-activity gains have been in the double digits every month this year except March, which was up 9.3%, and February, up 5.5%.
ANDREW BRADLEY was promoted to president of global sales for Avjet Corp. Bradley has served with the company since 1997, and most recently was senior vice president, global sales. He will remain based at Avjet’s Washington, D.C. office.
Avantair is under order to liquidate after the fractional ownership provider failed to meet a deadline to respond to the involuntary petition for Chapter 7 liquidation that the company’s creditors filed in July. Avantair creditors, led by Soldier Creek Ranch, on July 25 filed the involuntary petition for Chapter 7 liquidation and sought the appointment of an interim trustee. The court granted the request for an emergency trustee and gave Avantair until Aug. 6 to respond to the petition. But U.S.
LEO MENDOZA was appointed regional sales leader for StandardAero’s Latin American Airlines and Fleets business. Mendoza brings a background in management and aviation sales with companies including Pratt & Whitney and MTU. He also managed the supply chain for Avensa Airlines in Caracas, Venezuela.
FlightSafety International has received European Aviation Safety Agency approval for more than 140 of its Part 147 maintenance courses, meeting the latest requirements under the EASA Training Needs Analysis regulation 1149/2011. The courses were aligned with the latest standards not only of EASA, but also the Civil Aviation Authority of Australia and Civil Aviation Administration of China and Transport Canada.
BBA Aviation is seeing pockets of growth in business and general aviation flight operations in North America, but overall traffic has remained flat, and is even down a little in Europe. “In terms of North America, interestingly we continue to see signs, positive signs of recovery, both in terms of macroeconomic indicators … and some of the underlying business confidence indicators,” says Simon Pryce, CEO of Signature Flight Support parent BBA Aviation.
JOHN YOUNG joined Kansas Aircraft Corp. as vice president, jet sales. Young has 23 years of sales, marketing and engineering experience with Cessna Aircraft and Honeywell. He most recently was regional vice president, Citation sales. He originally joined Cessna in 1990 as an engineer, where he was involved in the initial design work on the wing of the Citation X, and later held roles with Honeywell Aerospace before rejoining Cessna.
Pilatus has at least one fractional operation eyeing its new PC-24 twin jet for its fleet – its longtime and largest PC-12 customer, PlaneSense. The Portsmouth, N.H.-based fractional provider was hoping to become an eager buyer of the stillborn Grob SPn. The reason for that interest, says PlaneSense founder, President and CEO George Antoniadis, was the Grob twin’s large cabin, good economy and ability to fly into small and unimproved strips – attributes that mirror those of the PC-12.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model EC135 and MBB-BK 117 C-2 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2013-0555; Directorate Identifier 2010-SW-047-AD] – proposes to require inspecting the flight-control bearings repetitively, replacing any loose bearing with an airworthy flight-control bearing, and installing bushings and washers. This proposed AD is prompted by the discovery during a routine inspection of loose flight control bearings because of incorrect installation.
Executive Jet Management (EJM), among the nation’s largest charter and management companies, is undergoing a management shake-up with three of its top executives believed to have recently departed the company. Among those departing is President Robert Garrymore, who had served with EJM and its affiliate company NetJets since 1998. Garrymore became president of EJM in 2009. Others include Ronald Silverman, senior vice president of aircraft management, and Jim Lewis, senior vice president of aircraft maintenance, sales and acquisitions.
A strong showing by Gulfstream and Bombardier helped propel first-half general aviation billings to their highest levels since 2008, but the continued sluggishness at the light end of the jet market kept down business shipments overall, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s (GAMA) first-half shipment report. But at the same time, the piston market – usually a leading indicator of market recovery – is showing signs of a rebound.
The White House has renominated both Deborah Hersman and Christopher Hart to new terms as members of the National Transportation Safety Board. In addition, the White House has also nominated Hersman to a third two-year term as chairman. Hersman was first nominated to the board in 2004 and has served as chairman since 2009. The latest nomination would extend her term on the board through Dec. 31, 2018. Hersman was thought to be a leading candidate to succeed Ray LaHood as Transportation Secretary and had key lawmakers endorsing that move.
Signature Flight Support’s planned acquisition of Jet Systems, a rival FBO at Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, N.Y., could signal the start of further consolidations at HPN. There’s been speculation among airport tenants about such developments, fueled in part by a proposal before the County Board of Legislators to assign the lease for Panorama Flight Service, an independent FBO, to Landmark Aviation, which, like Signature, already has a base at HPN. That would leave Westair, a Million Air branded operation, as the third remaining operation.
AGUSTA Model AB139 and AW139 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0886; Directorate Identifier 2008-SW-067-AD] – revises an earlier notice of proposed AD covering affected helicopters with a certain wire strike protection system (WSPS) top cable cutter assembly installed. The existing proposal would require reworking or replacing the top cable cutter assembly to increase clearance between the WSPS and the main rotor (M/R) blades. The proposal was prompted by a report of inflight contact between the top cable-cutter assembly and two M/R blades.
LUIZ SANDLER was appointed regional vice president of sales for South America for Gulfstream Aerospace. Sandler will be responsible for Gulfstream sales in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay. He joins Gulfstream from International Jet Traders, Gulfstream’s sale representative for Brazil. He also has marketing and sales experience with Embraer.
Bell Helicopter delivered its first 407GX to a customer in Poland. The helicopter, delivered by Bell’s representative in the country, JB Investments, is the first of two to be delivered in Poland this month. Nearly 100 407GXs have been delivered to date. The GX model incorporates the Garmin G1000H flight deck that includes a Helicopter Terrain Avoidance Warning System, Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology and Traffic Information Systems.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE AS350B, BA, B1, B2, B3, D, AS355E, F, F1, F2, and N helicopters. [Docket No. FAA-2013-0354; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-072-AD] – proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires inspecting to determine whether a cross-member is installed at station X 2165 and doublers at X 2325 and Y 269, and installing them if they are missing. Since FAA issued that AD, it was decided that the applicability of the AD should be limited to those helicopters with collective-to-yaw control coupling.
BRIAN ROHLOFF was named vice president of quality for Cessna Aircraft. A 16-year Cessna veteran, Rohloff previously had been business leader for the Mustang and M2 business jets. He has also served as value stream manager for the CJ4, senior product director for the XLS+ and Citation X and product director for paint operations.
Daher-Socata is encouraged by an uptick in orders for its TBM 850 single turboprop, selling out all but one delivery slot this year and building a backlog to 39 aircraft. The company credits the improved results in part to its “Elite” version of the 850, which incorporates a tailored cabin with flexible seating arrangements, and the incorporation of the L-3 Avionics Trilogy ES-2000 electronic standby instrument.
Hangar Ten Aviation Services is expanding its complex at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City (MKC) with an a new 11,000-sq.-ft. multi-use hangar. The new facility, which will join Hangar Ten’s existing 55,000-sq.-ft. hangar, will house aircraft the size of a Citation X, along with adjoining offices. The hangar comes as Hangar Ten has seen an increase in transient traffic in fuel volume over the past three years.
Fractional sales continue to rebound this year for some major operators, even as flight operations are still lagging. Bombardier’s Flexjet is reporting 96% growth in new fractional and jet card business combined in the first half of the year. Sales of fractional shares alone were up 112%, while jet card sales grew 68%. Rival NetJets, meanwhile, helped boost the bottom line of parent company Berkshire Hathaway.
