The business-aviation market will continue to track upward over the next five years, although billings may decrease or remain flat, according to market analysts.
The FAA has certified Blackhawk Modifications Inc.’s XP140 engine upgrade for Cessna 208A and 208B Caravans. The upgrade’s 867-shp P&WC PT6A-140 engine provides up to a 44% increase in available horsepower over a stock aircraft and is designed to replace the original 600/675-shp engine in non-G1000-equipped Caravans.
Lektro, which is now celebrating its 70th year in business, is introducing a hybrid electric tug capable of running on electricity only or with a fuel-versatile diesel engine for use where there is limited or no charging infrastructure.
Activity has picked up at Inairvation as it wins supersonic business jet designer Aerion as its first customer for integrated cabins, and names three partners to offer complete integrated cabin retrofits for Bombardier Global Express/5000/6000 aircraft.
Highlighting its presence at this year’s convention, Elliott Aviation is introducing the 400E, a fully modified business jet it describes as “the next generation of Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XP upgrade.”
True capitalists are always looking for new ways to expand business, and with the tropical chill there now warming, U.S. business leaders – and the aircraft that carry them – are pointing south to Cuba, that Communist white-beach bastion, and market, seemingly frozen in time.
Wheels Up predicts a 50% boost in revenue next year and an 80% increase in revenue flight hours. The company has been in operation only for 837 days, "really proving that anything can happen in America."
Rockwell Collins (Booths C8807 and C9232) will unveil several new products and services at NBAA to enhance the operations of the business aircraft operators. Craig Olson, VP and general manager of business and regional systems and Dave Poltorak, VP, business aviation for information management services, explained the new offerings. “Today, we’re the only company to have it all – the onboard systems, the connectivity solutions, and expertise in the back office,” said Olson. “We’re uniquely positioned in the market.”
Canada-based precision engineering company MSB Design is showcasing its Hi-Lo conference tables here at NBAA. The tables were specifically designed for the Gulfstream G500 and G600 and will be offered as an initial specification option.
In a flat market for new aircraft, the best place to focus your resources is on the aftermarket, believes Craig Olson, Rockwell Collins’ vice president and general manager for business and regional aviation.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America is launching two new safety-focused programs in the first quarter of 2016 – the next version of the MU-2 icing video and certification of a new angle-of-attack system for the turboprop twin.
Embraer’s Lineage 1000E was showing off its extended range last Saturday, flying nonstop from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport to Las Vegas, departing with a reduced fuel load to meet the Teterboro weight restriction of 100,000 lb.
Jack Pelton has a new job. And this one, unlike his volunteer position as EAA chairman, comes with a salary. The Experimental Aircraft Association’s board of directors tapped him to become CEO at its Nov. 6 meeting, a position he will assume in addition to the duties he has had as chairman since October 2012. “The search committee didn’t want another change in leadership” after the turmoil EAA experienced in October 2012 when the board axed Rod Hightower.
Is there a new Gulfstream in the works, even as the company works full speed ahead to bring the 500 and 600 to fruition? Yes, says Jetcraft, a leading consultancy in international business aircraft sales, marketing and ownership strategies. It describes a void in a market segment where Gulfstream previously offered the G350 (a scaled-down Gulfstream 450) that likely points to an incoming new model.
Satcom Direct is here at NBAA with plenty of news, part of it a brand relaunch. To represent “a growing and evolving company and offerings” there is both a new logo and a new brand identity, which simply will be SD. To illustrate its expansion beyond satcom-based services, it will begin using the label “SD Global Connectivity.” “Updating our visual identity and adding a new descriptor ‘Global Connectivity’ more clearly reflects our mission and what we do as a company,” explained director of marketing Jana Rucker.
AMAC is one of the busier cabin completion, refurbishment and MRO centers with three completion projects currently under way as well as three refurbishments.
Commuter Air Technology is taking orders – and offering show discounts – for its new CAT 350ME, a maximum-endurance King Air that can travel coast-to-coast or across the Atlantic nonstop with enhanced payload capabilities to boot.
Corporate Angel Network’s 49,000th and 49,001st cancer patients departed Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Oct. 27 for Angleton, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Aboard the flight operated by The Dow Chemical Co. were 54-year-old prostate cancer patient Richard Gremillion Jr., and his 74-year-old father, Richard Sr., who is being treated for the same condition. “After successful surgery in 2011, a recurrence appeared in January 2015,” said Richard Jr. “Chemo started in June and required frequent trips.
Over the next 10 years, Honeywell Aerospace is forecasting demand for up to 9,200 new business jet deliveries at a value of $270 billion, a decline of 3% to 5% in value over its 2014 forecast.
The famous mangled quotation attributed to the late New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra might apply to the tepid state of the FBO industry for this year and last. And yet, there are signs that this service industry is improving slowly but steadily in some quarters.
A new Hartzell Propeller five-blade, carbon-fiber, swept-tip prop will maximize performance of the 1,300-strong Pilatus PC-12 fleet and provide the foundation for a more far-reaching upgrade announced on the eve of this year’s show.
