Business Aviation

Elit’Avia has enhanced its traditional charter operations by offering repatriation, medical staff transportation and specialized cargo flight services to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Million Air White Plains has donated 8,000 respiratory masks and 1,100 KN95 face masks to White Plains Hospital in New York, it said.

Tamarack Aerospace is offering winglet installations, typically costing $42,000, at no charge in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Clay Lacy Aviation has added aircraft cleaning and disinfecting services at its maintenance centers and through its mobile response teams.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, the Arsenal of Democracy has partnered with the WWII 7th Commemoration Committee to produce an online video tribute called Victory in Europe–VE Day 75 Years Later.

AviationManuals has published a White Paper to help fixed base operators manage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Returnjet.com, is allowing charter brokers and private jet operators to test its live search and booking site without charge during the oronavirus crisis.

ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia, received FAA certification to perform line maintenance on Falcon 900 models, including the Falcon 900EX, 900EX EASy, 900DX and 900LX.

Items of interest to professionals in the business aviation industry.

NetJets has cut a quarter of its staff at two divisions and revised downward the number of aircraft it plans to accept in 2020 as the company restructures its business in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Textron Aviation posted a drop in deliveries, profit and revenue during the first quarter of 2020 as deliveries were delayed and demand declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a December plant accident that disrupted composite production.

Newly published FAA guidance on standardized training for charter and air taxi pilots is being lauded by industry stakeholders as a safety benefit that has the added bonus of streamlining administrative procedures.

The FAA, responding to urgent calls from business and general aviation stakeholders, has provided relief from a number of licensing and training requirements that threatened to ground operators unable to perform normally routine renewals due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

TEXTRON AVIATION earned $3m on $872m revenues in 1Q20 vs $106m on $1.1b in 1Q19, and delivered 39 aircraft (23 jets and 16 commercial turboprops) vs

Bombardier is recalling most of its Canadian-based workforce and expects 11,000 employees to return to work over the next few weeks.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has issued a state-by-state guide to help pilots navigate the latest requirements on general aviation flying under mandatory stay-at-home orders in a variety of states and territories.

The U.S. Air Force has expanded its interest in emerging electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to encompass vehicles able to carry one-two people or more than 500 lb. of cargo.

Gulfstream Aerospace business jet deliveries declined in the first quarter of 2020 due to travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, while constraints in its supply chain are affecting production.

PILATUS AIRCRAFT has delivered a PC-24 air ambulance to NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH SAR (71 degrees north latitiude).

GENERAL DYNAMICS AEROSPACE earned $240m on $1.7b sales in 1Q20 vs $328m on $2.2b in 1Q19; book-to-bill ratio was 1.10 vs 1.42 a year ago. GULFSTREAM

Sweden’s Saab has delivered the first GlobalEye swing-role surveillance platform to the United Arab Emirates Air Force.

Manufacturers of high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS)–stratospheric balloons and unmanned aircraft–are touting a multibillion-dollar market opportunity in telecommunications, Earth observation and weather prediction.

Fielding a technology that can expand the use of additive manufacturing in parts production, startup Velo3D has secured $28 million in Series D funding, taking total financing raised so far to $138 million.

Verizon portfolio company Skyward has added a “Live Flights” feature to its aviation management platform that enables users to monitor drone flights in near real time from their offices or wherever they have internet connectivity.

France has begun the first phase of developing an unmanned aircraft systems traffic management architecture called “Hubspace” that it plans to deploy by 2023 to manage drone traffic nationwide.