Associated Air Center (AAC) received a letter of intent from a customer in the Far East for a VIP completion of a new Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ). The aircraft will be the Dallas facility’s 16th ACJ since 2003. Earlier this year, AAC received a contract from a repeat customer for the completion of that customer’s second new Boeing Business Jet (BBJ). That aircraft, scheduled to arrive at AAC in late August, will become AAC’s 24th BBJ completion project since it was named an authorized BBJ service and completion center in 1998.
Columbus, Ohio-based fractional company NetJets is using the celebration of its 25th anniversary to launch a new advertising campaign that includes a new creative approach, messaging and logo for the company. The new branding comes as NetJets has undergone a series of changes, beginning with the installation of Chairman David Sokol, and plans to evolve into a leaner company that focuses on fewer aircraft models.
Business Jet Center (BJC), a fixed-base operation (FBO) at Oakland International Airport in California, capped off a record year in terms of fuel sales volume with its strongest January since its first full year of operation in 2004. Fuel sales volume increased 28.12% in 2010 compared with gallons sold in 2009. January 2011 fuel sales were up nearly 20% over January 2010, the FBO adds. BJC attributes the increase to several factors, including a greater market share, expanded hangar facilities, an increase in base customers and an increase in transient traffic.
DAN ARRICK was named regional manager for the Great Lakes in the U.S. for Duncan Aviation. Arrick joined Duncan in 1988, originally in the engine shop. He left the company briefly in 2006 to become operations manager in Orlando, Fla., with Pratt & Whitney, but returned to Michigan’s Duncan Aviation Battle Creek facility in 2008 as engine shop manager.
The Senate Commerce Committee last week announced the members of the aviation subcommittee. Chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the other Democrats on the subcommittee are Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Tom Udall (N.M.), Mark Warner (Va.), Mark Begich (Alaska) and ex officio member Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.).
Two issues will be key to changes in the business aviation landscape in the coming years, says London-based aviation consultancy Ascend. China, while a slow-growing market for business aircraft, also will become a source of supply and financing, it says. Second, manufacturers will produce more models in increasing numbers, the consultancy adds. “In 1990 there were six OEMs producing 18 models and delivering 250 aircraft per annum. In 2000 there were still six OEMs producing 19 models, but delivering 700 aircraft per annum,” it notes.
Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) last week opened a new 180,000-sq.-ft. facility in Chihuahua, Mexico that will handle sheet metal assembly for King Airs and Hawker jets, along with electrical assembly.
CAE, which has an independent aviation-training center already in place in India, inaugurated a new aerospace and defense center close to Bengaluru International Airport. In the 116,000-sq.-ft. complex, CAE will design and develop defense training systems and operate an engineering center of excellence, where visual databases and other software components for CAE’s simulators will be developed. The facility also houses CAE’s aviation training center.
Vero Beach, Fla.-based Piper Aircraft credits growth in international aircraft deliveries in 2010 with its improved financial outlook in numbers released last week. Exports accounted for more than half of the company’s volume by deliveries and dollars for the first time in its history. In 2010, Piper delivered 160 new aircraft, up more than 75% from the 90 shipped the previous year.
Constant Aviation, a Cleveland-based maintenance, repair and overhaul facility headquartered at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, has opened a new 15,000-sq.-ft. facility to repair and overhaul commercial and business aircraft sheet metal and bonded components. The capabilities also will cover a range of composite materials, including honeycomb, fiberglass, graphite, carbon and hybrids of all these materials.
Although it once castigated the airplanes built there as symbols of excess, the Obama administration seems to be adjusting its view of Wichita, and is sending its transportation chief there to help rally hard-hit general aviation manufacturers and their current and furloughed employees.
Jet Aviation St. Louis has earned AS9110 approval, recognizing the facility’s quality management system. The AS9100 standard applies directly to the aerospace industry and includes a process approach for managing quality systems and maintaining aircraft safety. Organizations that achieve AS9100 status are listed in the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS), an international database that publishes all aerospace quality certifications. Jet Aviation St. Louis provides aircraft maintenance, modification and completion services.
Landmark Aviation has increased its fixed-base operation network to 47 locations with the acquisition of the assets of Odyssey Aviation. The acquisition includes facilities in Cincinnati (LUK); Columbus, Ohio (CMH); Chicago (MDW); Asheville, N.C. (AVL); Charleston, S.C. (CHS); Lafayette, La. (LFT); and New Orleans (NEW). Landmark says the acquisition complements its existing network, as well as its growth strategy.
Although the industry’s public image problems have been improving, the effects of the negative publicity in late 2008 and 2009 still linger, says Dassault Falcon President and CEO John Rosanvallon. Many Fortune 500 companies are “slow to go back” to the aircraft market to renew their fleet, he says.
Private aviation company Avolus has ended its partnership with business jet operator Eurojet Romania, including a VIP terminal project at Baneasa Airport in Bucharest. U.K.-based Avolus says it will focus on growing its charter, aircraft management and aircraft sales and acquisitions divisions.
CAE received a contract from the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) for a comprehensive flight safety laboratory. The laboratory will incorporate the CAE Flightscape Insight software suite, which is used by air safety investigators and aircraft manufacturers. The software will provide AIB with the capability to analyze aircraft flight-data records, cockpit voice records, quick-access recorders and radar data.
While the FBO market still primarily comprises “mom-and-pop” facilities, the increase in private-equity investment will continue to evolve the industry, says Michael Scheeringa, president of Signature Flight Support. “Economic forces are still going to bring a lot of consolidation,” he notes. (See article on Page 4).
MERIC REESE has joined Executive AirShare as director of scheduling. Reese will manage fractional and managed aircraft and flight crew scheduling for Executive AirShare’s subsidiary, Executive Flight Services, which operates flights for both companies. He formerly was charter sales manager for Reynolds Jet Management in Cincinnati.
Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) is opposing a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that would require appointed members of airport boards to register as municipal advisers. ACI-NA says the SEC proposal injects an artificial distinction between appointed and elected board members. It further says the function of board members does not relate to the definition of municipal adviser as defined in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Board members provide broad advice on all airport issues, including finance.
40 Years Ago Feb. 15, 1971 – Part 25 certification rules were extended to include aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats, regardless of weight. 30 Years Ago Feb. 16, 1981 – Santa Monica, Calif., city council votes to evict most of the fixed-base operators from Santa Monica Municipal Airport. 20 Years Ago Feb. 4, 1991 – Morgan Stanley predicts that the ongoing recession will lead to a drop in U.S. general aviation aircraft billings, from the $2 billion reported in 1990 to $1.955 billion in 1991.
The Lindbergh Foundation has created the Aviation Green Alliance, designed to bring stakeholders together to address the industry’s environmental challenges. The aviation industry has done quite a bit of good work to address environmental issues, including reusable packaging, reducing carbon footprints, Lindbergh Foundation Chairman Larry Williams says.
A strong market for large-cabin business jets and VIP airliners led business and general aviation manufacturers to their third-highest ever annual billings in 2010, even as overall shipments fell 11.4%, as largely expected, and piston deliveries reached their lowest total since the early 1990s, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Business and general aviation manufacturers worldwide shipped 2,015 airplanes last year, down from 2,274 in 2009. Billings, however, actually increased 1.2% to $19.7 billion in 2010.
Timco Aerosystems in Greensboro, N.C., has produced its first group of FeatherWeight 3500 aircraft seats. Designed for commercial aircraft, the seats are 25% lighter than standard seats. Timco says the seats were produced using lean manufacturing techniques.
