General Dynamics, parent company of Gulfstream Aerospace, released its first-quarter 2016 numbers on April 27 with mixed results for the Savannah, Georgia-based plane maker.
Airbus Helicopters plans to add two maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies to its support service in China to provide a better geographic spread for the growing fleet of its products in the country.
Chinese business aviation support company Shanghai Hawker Pacific expects to complete construction of its second hangar at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport next year, doubling the area available for maintaining and parking aircraft.
Today’s FOQA and ASAP voluntary reporting programs owe their origins to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) operated on behalf of the FAA by NASA. The ASRS was conceived by the FAA and NTSB in the wake of the TWA Flight 514 CFIT accident in Virginia while on approach to Dulles International Airport in 1974 with the loss of all 92 souls on board.
HNA Group is setting up a freight airline in partnership with the Tianjin city government, with a business plan based partly on taking over transfer business currently using congested Beijing Capital International Airport.
If you haven’t yet seen the video of Yves Rossy and Vince Reffet flying formation alongside an Emirates Airbus A380 at 4,000 ft. over Dubai on Oct. 13, 2015, stop reading this now and go immediately to here. This extraordinary aerial ballet will make your day.
It seems to me the time is ripe for business aviation’s next great idea. Supersonic travel? By-the-seat charter? Uber aviation? Drones? I’ve not a clue. However, it is likely to have two characteristics — it will increase aircraft utilization, and worry those who fail to see the opportunity.
Key Air has added a Bombardier Learjet 45XR to its managed fleet of charter aircraft, the fourth aircraft to join Key Air’s Part 135 certificate in the first quarter of this year.
C&L Aviation, based in Florida, has introduced SevenJet Private Travel, a shared ownership and charter flight company that operates six Piaggio Avanti twin-engine aircraft.
Embraer Commercial Aviation released today, during the Marrakech Air Show, in Morocco, its market outlook for Africa, which forecasts that the region will take delivery of 240 new jets in the 70 to 130-seat segment over the next 20 years.
Aircraft Bluebook At-a-Glance has reviewed the current market status of the Gulfstream G200 business jet. Research for this study was obtained in part from Aircraft Bluebook, Aircraft Bluebook’s Historical Value Reference, the FAA’s registry website and various trade services.
There are two maintenance questions that are posed to me again and again: First, “Are Mandatory Service Bulletins really mandatory?” and its counterpart: “When the manufacturer updates the maintenance program, do I have to comply with the changes?”
Pan Am orders 25 Boeing 747s for $525 million. The company plans to introduce the 490-passenger Boeing 747 in late 1969. Modified Aero Commanders: Extensive restyling and modifying of Aero commander aircraft are offered now by BACC. Modifications include stylized nacelle fairing, and landing gears doors. Soon to be available will be exhaust system for reduced cabin noise and pilot front entrance door. Kits are available.
The new business aircraft market continued to fly into troubled skies in 2015, with piston engine aircraft deliveries dropping 6.5%, turboprops down 7.6%, and turbofan aircraft shipments flat at 1.6% growth, compared to 2014, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association
For an aircraft to be listed in the Purchase Planning Handbook, a production conforming article must have flown by May 1 of this year. The dimensions, weights and performance characteristics of each model listed are representative of the current production aircraft being built or for which a type certificate application has been filed. The basic operating weights we publish should be representative of actual production turboprop and turbofan aircraft because we ask manufacturers to supply us with the average weights of the last 10 commercial aircraft that have been delivered.
Six years ago, the $7 million Embraer Phenom 300 entered service, instantly redefining the value proposition in the light-jet segment. Excluding its shorter lavatory, the dimensions of the main passenger seating area compare favorably with the Learjet 70, including maximum height because of Phenom 300’s 4-in. dropped aisle. Its 66-cu.-ft. aft baggage compartment is the largest in the light-jet class and there is another 10 cu. ft. of luggage storage split between the nose compartment and lavatory. Its runway performance is closely matched to Citation CJ4.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Gulfstream Aerospace has won FAA approval to install mandated avionics upgrades, called Future Air Navigation System (FANS) 1/A+, on Gulfstream GIV-SP aircraft. FANS 1/A+ uses automation and satellite-based technology to improve aviation communication, surveillance and traffic management. The active fleet of GIV-SP aircraft totals 325. “Like our solution for GV aircraft, this system was developed by Gulfstream and Honeywell to fully integrate the GIV-SP flight deck,” says Derek Zimmerman, Gulfstream Product Support president.
The BCA Purchase Planning Handbook includes specifications for single-engine piston, multiengine piston, single-engine turboprops, multiengine turboprops and jets. Jets are separated by weight class with a separate category for ultralong-range jets.
More data have been generated, collected and processed by the human race in the last 36 months than during the previous 3,000 years. Further, every day of every month the worldwide flood of information on every conceivable subject increases exponentially.
The Air Charter Safety Foundation is a partisan of using data to make aviation safer. ACSF was spawned by the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) in 2007 to enhance safety in business and general aviation charter operations. One of its first accomplishments was to develop a common safety audit standard for the air charter industry.
Private aviation can be seen as a tiny, exclusive niche, unrelated to travel as a whole. But in fact it is influenced and impacted by many of the same themes as the wider industry – and is now more accessible than ever, as a complementary travel solution.
