The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil has certificated the Bell 429. This approval follows certification by FAA, Transport Canada and the European Aviation Safety Agency. Deliveries of the Bell 429 into Brazil will begin shortly.
RICHARD WALKER was appointed business development director for AXON Aviation Charter. He comes to the company from VistaJet, where he was senior vice president for program sales. Walker brings more than 20 years of aviation sector experience to AXON, including stints at British Airways operator Maersk Air, PrivatAir and Bombardier. He will be based at the company’s office at Leeds Bradford Airport in the U.K.
CHRIS ORPHANOU was named managing director of London Oxford Airport. Until January 2009, he was CEO at the U.K.’s Coventry Airport and most recently ran his own aviation and consultancy business, ADAM. He has more than 35 years of professional experience, including two decades in aviation, where he directed large-scale airport projects. Between 1988 and 1999 he worked as assistant airport director for London City Airport.
The Canadian Aviation Maintenance Council has changed its name to Canadian Council for Aviation & Aerospace (CCAA). The move was made to confirm its identity as the national sector council for the entire aviation and aerospace sector, not just for aviation maintenance. CCAA’s focus will remain on skills development and demographic issues for the Canadian aviation and aerospace industry.
Aircraft finance company SinglePoint, owned by private equity firm Acorn Growth Companies, has closed its first transaction, financing a Hawker 800 XP business jet. Acorn says the deal closed within a month of SinglePoint’s official launch. Acorn Growth Companies is a private equity firm that invests in aerospace and defense companies.
PILATUS PC-6 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-1011; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-047-AD; Amendment 39-16571; AD 2011-01-14] – Incorporate new maintenance requirements, including repetitive inspections of the wing strut fittings and the spherical bearings, into the FAA-accepted maintenance program. This AD, which supersedes an existing airworthiness directive (AD 2005-17-01), resulted from an MCAI issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency. FAA estimates that this new directive will affect 50 aircraft on the U.S. Registry and cost U.S.
The Senate surprised many Washington insiders last week by taking up consideration of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) two-year FAA reauthorization bill, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act (S.223), just days after the Commerce Committee Chairman introduced the legislation (BA, Jan. 31/10). The bill was positioned as a bipartisan jobs-creation bill, which cleared the path for consideration on the Senate floor while the legislative schedule is still light for the chamber.
FAA last week proposed to strengthen airport certification standards in Part 139, including new training requirements for personnel who access airport ramps and aprons, as well as mandates for pavement surface evaluations and a Surface Movement Guidance Control System (SMGCS) for low-visibility operations. The proposal would further clarify the applicability of Part 139 and strengthen language regarding fraudulent or false statements in a certification application.
EMBRAER EMB-500 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-0088; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-072-AD] – This proposed AD would require operators to replace both Angle of Attack (AOA) sensors and cover plates, per the instructions of Phenom Service Bulletin 500-27-0006 (dated Sept. 2, 2010) and 500-27-0006, Rev. 01 (dated Nov. 29, 2010). This proposal, which resulted from an MCAI originated by the aviation authority of Brazil, is designed to prevent moisture from accumulating and freezing in the gap between the AOA vane base assembly and the stationary ring of the sensor’s body.
Jean-Paul Ebanga has been appointed president and CEO of CFM International, the joint venture engine maker established by General Electric and Snecma. Ebanga comes to CFM from PowerJet, where he was chairman and CEO of the joint company set up between Snecma and NPO Saturn of Russia to develop the SaM146 engine for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner. Ebanga, who becomes the 10th president of 36-year-old CFM, is also the first to assume this role after having led another commercial engine company.
NetJets CEO David Sokol believes that after selling off 47 planes last year and 40 more this year, the company will have right-sized its fleet. “That’s why we have orders for airplanes starting in ’12. We will be needing new aircraft,” Sokol says. NetJets has orders for 125 Embraer Phenom 300s and is expected to make a decision on a large-cabin addition in three months (BA, Jan. 31/2). Sokol, however, notes they are looking for a new-generation fleet. Many of the orders that NetJets had canceled were for “last-generation” airplanes, he says.
Hawker Beechcraft has signed a memorandum of agreement with Kansas’s Salina Airport Authority to use its facility, airspace and civilian and military resources for training associated with the manufacturer’s Light Attack Aircraft. The U.S. Air Force plans to competitively award a contract within the next six months. If HBC’s Light Attack Aircraft is selected, pilot and maintenance training at Salina could begin in late 2012.
Ukrainian carrier Dniproavia plans to operate 10 Embraer 190 regional jets under a new deal worked out with the Brazilian aircraft maker. The aircraft will be operated on a lease basis, although the third party has not yet been identified. The agreement also covers options for five additional E-Jets, which could bring the total value of the deal to $600 million by list price. Embraer says Dniproavia and its partner, AeroSvit, will both operate the RJs. The deal makes Dniproavia the largest Eastern European Embraer operator, the manufacturer says.
Jet Aviation has launched an aircraft-on-ground (AOG) hotline service for Asia and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions to assist aircraft operators with emergency situations. Jet Aviation’s EMEA & Asia MRO division will field calls to the hotline numbers (+800 5387 8277 within Europe or +41 58 158 4848 from outside Europe) around the clock. The hotline service complements Jet Aviation’s existing AOG support in the U.S.
Air Partner team members arranged flights for more than 2,800 people who were trying to escape Egypt as the political unrest escalated last week. The company’s Emergency Planning and 24-hr. Operations teams, together with on-call broker specialists, pooled their resources to secure aircraft for preplanned evacuations and ad hoc charter. The teams also worked to negotiate flight slots, fuel, aircraft handling and visa permissions. Air Partner arranged travel on numerous flights to Dubai, the U.S. and Europe.
MARK VERDESCO was promoted to director of pre-owned aircraft sales for Dassault Falcon. He replaces Skip Flint, who retired in December. Verdesco will be responsible for all pre-owned aircraft activity in the Western Hemisphere, working to support Dassault’s direct sales teams on trade-ins and leases. He joined Dassault Falcon in 1989 as a technical marketing analyst and has served in a number of positions during his tenure at the company, most recently as manager of pre-owned aircraft sales.
Oklahoma, citing the importance of aviation and aerospace to the state’s heritage and economy, has laid out plans to lure aviation and aerospace businesses, even in the face of the aftereffects of the global recession. State officials from the Aeronautics Commission and the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute are traveling to shows worldwide, such as the National Business Aviation Association convention and MRO Americas, to convey that message.
Sabreliner is constructing a 27,000-sq.-ft. hangar in Perryville, Mo. to house an expanded stripping and painting operation that has the potential to create 400 new jobs after the facility is finished in late summer. The company says the stripping and painting process has been a bottleneck in its refurbishing operation, and expanding the facility will help it keep up with growing demand. In the past 18 months, the company has added 100 employees, including 25 since August.
BOMBARDIER Regional Jet Series 700, 701, 702, 705 and 900 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-0031; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-135-AD] – This proposed rule would require operators to conduct repetitive inspections for damage to and corrosion of the main landing gear piston axles, per the instructions of Bombardier Service Bulletin 670BA-32-023, Rev. C (dated Jan. 29, 2009).
REIMS AVIATION F406 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-0058; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-071-AD] – This proposed AD, which would supersede an existing directive (AD 2007-02-12), requires the same repetitive inspections for cracks in the rudder pulley bracket as the earlier AD, but adds aircraft serial no. F406-0091 to the applicability. Replacement of the existing rudder pulley bracket with a modified bracket is the terminating action to the repetitive inspections.
Jet Works Air Center (JWAC) has begun work on a 24-passenger VIP interior for an MD-87 under a multimillion dollar contract with a Mideast organization, the company says. The interior will include a contemporary cabin with a state-of-the-art inflight cabin entertainment system, including Wi-Fi and other communications capabilities. JWAC operates out of nearly 100,000-sq.-ft. of hangar space in Denton, Texas, about 35 miles northwest of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
NetJets added 100 net fractional share owners in 2010, and company CEO David Sokol is optimistic that the demand for fractional operations remains strong, particularly among corporations that want to keep flying privately. In an interview with Aviation Week editors William Garvey and Joseph C. Anselmo, Sokol notes that the fractional ownership provider lost 82 net share owners during the downturn in 2009, but since has made that back “and them some.” He also notes that corporations have been a driver of that growth.
An uptick in demand led Cessna to deliver 79 business jets in the fourth quarter of 2010 and a total of 179 for the year, and company executives are optimistic that they will deliver at least as many jets, if not a few more, in 2011. Cessna parent company Textron reported last week that Cessna revenues increased $105 million in the fourth quarter to $960 million, enabling the business jet maker to return to profitability after recording a loss in the third quarter. Cessna posted a $23 million fourth-quarter profit, but a $29 million loss for the year.
