DON FAZIO has joined Baseops International’s sales team. Fazio will be based in Teterboro, N.J., and work with clients in the eastern U.S. He has more than 25 years of aviation experience, including as a dispatcher at American International Group’s flight department.
Market intelligence provider Jetnet LLC has launched Jetnet iQ, a new forecasting and premium advisory service for the business aviation market. The members-only service has three parts: Jetnet iQ Reports, Jetnet iQ Summits, and Jetnet iQ Consulting. Reports offers quarterly state-of-the-industry analyses, voice-of-the-customer insights, and detailed one- to five-year demand forecasts. Summits offers networking opportunities for members to learn about emerging developments and interact with other thought leaders in the industry.
Susan O’Malley—the first female president of a professional sports franchise (Washington Sports and Entertainment)—and National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen will deliver the keynote speeches at NBAA’s annual Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference Feb. 9-11 in Savannah, Ga. O’Malley will focus on themes of leadership and thriving in a tough business world and will share anecdotes and lessons learned as a pioneering woman in business.
Embraer delivered 100 of its Phenom 100 very light jets in 2010, seven more than in 2009 and more than any other business jet. The company, meanwhile, closed out 2010 with 246 jets delivered, 144 of them executive jets or corporate shuttles. The firm order backlog at year’s end was $15.6 billion, 2% higher than the backlog on Sept. 30. The other 44 executive jet deliveries in 2010 comprised 26 Phenom 300 light jets, 10 Legacy 600/650 aircraft and eight Lineage 1000/shuttles.
Premier Aviation was selected to be the supplier of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services at Windsor International Airport in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. Construction of a new 143,000-sq.-ft. facility is to begin this year, and the complex is to open in early 2012. The facility will provide services for Bombardier CRJs, Q400s and Airbus aircraft. Premier expects the new operation will create about 200 jobs in the first two years and as many as 300 over the next seven years.
Gulfstream Aerospace has purchased a 253,000-sq.-ft. facility next to its Research and Development Center as part of a $500 million, seven-year expansion plan announced in November that is expected to create up to 1,000 new positions. The plan includes new facilities at the northwest quadrant of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, renovation of existing facilities on the main campus, and expanding office and lab facilities at the Research and Development Center.
FAIRCHILD/M7 AEROSPACE SA26-AT and -T; SA226-AT, -T, -T(B) and -TC; SA227-AC, -AT, -BC, -CC, -DC and -TT airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-0014; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-066-AD; Amendment 39-16577; AD 2011-02-04] – Repetitively inspect the cockpit heated windshields for damage and replace any damaged windshields, per the instructions of M7 Aerospace Service Bulletins 26-56-001, 226-56-011, 227-56-012 and CC7-56-009 (all dated Dec. 1, 2010).
The city of Santa Monica, Calif., Jan. 21 lost its long battle with FAA over the city’s effort to prevent large business jets from landing at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the city’s petition. The court ruled that FAA was not being “arbitrary and capricious” when it said SMO’s ban would make the airport unavailable on “fair and reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination, to all types, kinds and classes of aeronautical use.”
Despite signs of order recovery in the turboprop market, ATR expects another year of treading water this year before deliveries and revenue experience a step change in 2012. Revenue is expected to jump to $1.8 billion from the current level of around $1.35 billion, in part based on the strength of $2.4 billion in new orders (80 firm and 33 options) that the turboprop maker booked in 2010, says CEO Filippo Bagnato.
Bell Helicopter has launched the Magellan program to develop an unspecified new product as part of an effort to revitalize its commercial rotorcraft business. The news is contained in a memo released by Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, which develops and assembles the company’s commercial helicopters in Mirabel, Quebec. Bell previously has talked of following the all-new Model 429 light-turbine twin by launching a new medium twin to supersede the Model 412 and potentially compete with the AgustaWestland AW139 and Eurocopter EC175.
PILATUS PC-6 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0622; Directorate Identifier 2009-CE-034-AD; Amendment 39-16570; AD 2009-18-03 R1] – Inspect the upper wing-strut fittings and the spherical bearings, per the instructions of Pilatus PC-6 Service Bulletin No. 57-005, Rev. No. 2 (dated May 19, 2008. If any cracks are found in the upper wing-strut fitting, or if the spherical bearing is not in conformity, replace the cracked strut fitting or the nonconforming bearing before further flight.
Piper Aircraft has appointed Cutter Piper Sales, Carlsbad, Calif., as its dealer for new aircraft sales in Southern California. Cutter Piper Sales is a division of Phoenix-based Cutter Aviation, which has been Piper’s dealer in the southwest U.S.
Cessna Aircraft has named Van Bortel Aircraft as an authorized sales representative for the Caravan. The authorization expands the existing affiliation with Van Bortel, a long-time Cessna sales and service representative. Based at Arlington Municipal Airport in Arlington, Texas, Van Bortel will sell Caravans to customers in Texas and New Mexico.
Reports of lasers pointed at aircraft nearly doubled in 2010 to more than 2,800, FAA says, adding that this total is the highest number of laser events recorded since the agency began keeping track in 2005. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) recorded the most number of laser events, with 102 reports. The greater Los Angeles area accounted for a total of 201 reports. Chicago O’Hare International Airport followed LAX with 98 reports. Since FAA began keeping track, laser event reports have increased from 300 in 2005, to 1,527 in 2009 and 2,836 in 2010.
GEOFF HILL was named director of communications and editor of Avionics News for the Aircraft Electronics Association. Hill previously has managed communications, media relations and marketing for the University of Missouri-Kansas City intercollegiate athletic department, and has served as a public relations assistant for the Kansas City Royals baseball organization. Most recently, he spent the past seven years as director of sales for Paradise Park Inc., a family entertainment center in Lee’s Summit, Mo.
FAA maintains that its decision to grant American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to build an apron for a new fixed-base operation at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) is consistent with existing law and past practices.
West Star Aviation’s facility in Dallas notes a marked increase in Embraer Phenom activity as the Brazilian plane maker continues to spool up deliveries of the very light jet Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 light jet. West Star has been a service center for Embraer Phenoms since 2006, and in October 2008, the Dallas center was named exclusive maintenance provider for the Phenom 100 initial pilot-training program. West Star Aviation has performed maintenance on 25 different Phenom 100s, just more than 10% of the entire fleet.
Sales of pre-owned business jets increased in 2010, compared with 2009 and 2008, according to a report from AircraftPost.com. “Taking a random sampling of medium and long-range aircraft, the number of transactions was up an average 30% over 2008, although selling prices dropped an average of 56%,” the report says. “One reason for the increase in transactions could be the result of prices going from ridiculously high levels to a level that makes sense again.” Affordability is an attractive metric right now, the report adds.
RASTISLAV “RUSTY” VALKO was promoted to chief operations officer for Angel MedFlight Worldwide Air Ambulance. Valko will oversee company-wide operations. He was hired by Angel MedFlight in February 2009 as information technology manager and subsequently was promoted to chief information officer.
Embraer’s Phenom 300 has received Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency, FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency certifications to use Garmin’s Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT). SVT recreates a visual topographic landscape from the system’s terrain-alerting database via sophisticated graphics modeling, which simulates what the pilot would see with the naked eye in broad daylight.
SHORT BROTHERS SD3 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0225; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-203-AD; Amendment 39-16525; AD 2010-24-06] – Revise the “Airworthiness Limitations” section of the “Instructions for Continued Airworthiness” by incorporating new fuel-system maintenance tasks into the aircraft’s manuals. This new AD, which supersedes an existing directive (AD 2006-12-18) and was prompted by an MCAI issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency, is intended to reduce the probability of ignition sources within the fuel system.
Signature Flight Support has promoted three of its executives to key leadership roles. Joe Gibney, a 12-year Signature employee who most recently was vice president of sales, was named vice president and managing director—Europe, Middle East and Africa. Gibney will be based at Signature’s London Luton facility. Alicia Rodites, who joined Signature in October 2008 as director of revenue management, was appointed vice president of revenue management. Rodites, who is based in Orlando, Fla., also has served as director of financial reporting and accounting for BBA Aviation.
