Despite substantial opposition from Capitol Hill and industry alike, the White House is continuing its push for the $100 per flight air traffic control user fee. Widely expected, the proposal is one of two significant tax changes directed at business aircraft operations that the administration included in the fiscal 2015 budget request. The second, also widely expected, was a change in depreciation on “general aviation passenger aircraft.”
Nav Canada is close to completing the nationwide rollout of a controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) system that is among the most advanced uses of this technology in any domestic airspace. After deploying CPDLC to six out of seven of its domestic flight information regions (FIR) under a phased introduction, Nav Canada is progressively broadening the message sets to cover a greater range of operational needs. At the same time, the company is seeing a steady increase in airline usage and CPDLC equipage rates as carriers recognize its benefits.
Despite a relatively flat year in 2013, BBA Aviation is continuing to aggressively build up its Signature Flight Support business to position it to capitalize on the market as it gradually grows.
After being stuck in the pipeline for years, India's ambitious initiative to design and develop a regional transport aircraft program is showing some signs of life.
The U.S. is close to completing the nationwide deployment of a satellite-based navigation network, which will be by far the largest such system in the world and a key foundation for the NextGen initiative.
The city of Santa Monica, Calif., is continuing to explore all options to close Santa Monica Airport (SMO), including a possible new policy that would permit the city to lease airport property only to non-aviation entities such as art galleries and small shops.
Qantas's urgent need to slash costs to mitigate spiraling losses has sparked one of the largest shakeups in the airline's history. While Qantas is hoping it can cut its way back to profitability, potential political and structural changes could play key roles in assisting the carrier's turnarounds.
When Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab announced last December that Air India had been accepted as a future member of the group, some in the country thought this could signal the turning point that the beleaguered airline had been waiting for. However, the U.S. downgrade of India's aviation safety rating in January underscored just how bumpy the road to normalcy remains.
Temporary capacity restrictions at its Dubai hub will force Emirates to park 20 aircraft for 80 days this summer, a move which will curb the airline’s expansion to a significant extent. One of the airport’s two parallel runway will be out of service for much needed resurfacing work that limits the amount of movements possible during the period. Emirates Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori says the airline will ground mainly Airbus A330s and A340s as well as some Boeing 777s, but not A380s.
Codeshare partners Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Turkish Airlines (TA) will extend their links in what could be the first of new SIA partnerships. Singapore Airlines will offer SQ-coded flights on Turkish-operated flights into regional Turkey, as well as the carrier’s established destinations across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America. TK-coded flights will reciprocally be offered on SIA routes to non-specific “southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific” destinations, the airline said in a statement.
Japanese engineers have ground tested a turbojet in conditions equivalent to Mach 4, which they believe is the highest simulated speed at which a turbine engine has operated. The February round of tests was a step toward building an engine that, unlike ramjets, has the thrust and efficiency advantages of mechanical compression and the ability to propel an aircraft from takeoff to Mach 5.
Textron is hoping to close on its planned $1.4 billion acquisition of Beechcraft this month after receiving a key regulatory clearance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC agreed to an early termination of the requisite waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, paving the way for a first-quarter closing, Textron said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Right now, the majority of aviation development in India is like the tango; two steps forward, one back, stop and gaze at your partner, wait for applause, then repeat.
Fractional aircraft share sales strengthened in 2013 for NetJets, leading the fractional ownership provider to a 7.5% increase in revenues and a 7% improvement in earnings, NetJets parent Berkshire Hathaway reports. NetJets’ increase in revenues was slightly behind other businesses in Berkshire Hathaway’s “other service” group, which also includes FlightSafety International, TTI, Business Wire and Dairy Queen, among others. The businesses reported in that group collective contributed to a 10% increase in revenues to $9 billion in 2013.
Assad Kotaite, a Lebanese diplomat who served in key positions at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for more than three decades, died Feb. 27 of cancer in Montreal. He was 89.
A strong fourth quarter in which Dassault delivered nearly half of all the Falcons shipped in 2013 led the French airframer to a 17% improvement in sales for the year. Dassault Aviation will report its full 2013 results on March 13, but in an interim report the company credits a jump in Falcon sales along with its unmanned combat air vehicle program for the increase in yearlong sales to €4.593 billion ($6.321 billion).
The Council of the European Union (EU)—which represents the block’s 28 member states—endorsed a compromise package Friday to extend the “stop the clock” scope of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for commercial aviation for another four years. The vote follows the informal agreement reached March 4 by negotiators from the European Parliament (EP), the Council and the European Commission to limit the scope of the aviation ETS to flights within the European Economic Area (EEA), which covers the EU’s 28 members plus Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein.
Citing concerns of the potential ramifications on the safety of the national airspace system, FAA is appealing a National Transportation Safety Board administrative law judge’s decision to dismiss a proposed civil penalty for unauthorized use of an unmanned aircraft system. The law judge’s determination puts the penalty on hold while the agency appeals the case to the full NTSB.
