ABACE

Textron Aviation’s two joint ventures in Shijiazhuang and Zhuhai will both be busier this year following orders from Greater China for three Citation XLS+ aircraft for the China Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Inspection Center, and a Cessna Grand Caravan EX in VIP configuration for Xihua General Aviation.

Gulfstream Aerospace expects to win type certificates for two new business jet types – the G500 and G600 – and putting both into service in 2018. It’s never done two at a time before.

Shanghai Hawker Pacific has completed construction of a 4,500-sq-meter second hangar to support business aviation at Hongqiao International Airport—and its first use is to house this year’s ABACE show.

Swiss-based Jet Aviation will acquire Australia’s Hawker Pacific in a $250 million deal that will combine their business aircraft services in China, Southest Asia, Australia and the Middle East, the two companies announced on April 11.

There are too many aircraft management companies in the Greater China market, which has led to intense competition, but Sino Jet president and founder Jenny Lau predicts the market will consolidate. Lau is also chairperson of the Asian Business Aviation Association.

A teaming of Lufthansa Technik and Ameco on VIP business jets is expected to be signed here today.

Hong Kong-based private jet operator Hongkong Jet is planning to expand its maintenance services to operators in mainland China.

For the first time, Chinese buyers imported more used business jets than new ones last year.

HondaJet opened its first sales, service and customer support center in China in January, choosing the new business jet terminal at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou, as its base.

The first business jet version of a Boeing 737 MAX is about to fly from the factory, marking the beginning of a journey to be outfitted as a BBJ MAX 8.

Vnukovo-3, the only Russian FBO exhibiting at ABACE, is preparing for peak hours during this summer when Russia will host the FIFA 2018 World Cup.

Business is brisk at Comlux, the Swiss-based VIP aircraft management, operating and charter company that also has a U.S. completions and maintenance center in Indianapolis.

Already the world’s largest offshore aircraft registry with more than 835 aircraft on its books, the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority is fending off competition from a growing number of rivals by offering several enhancements.

Deer Jet became the first Chinese private jet operator to fly from China to the Antarctica in December, when one of its Gulfstream G650 business jets landed on the blue ice runway of Wolfs Fang airport.

Ameco still hasn’t outfitted a VVIP interior for a privately-owned business jet, though over the last few years it has been building the capability to do so.

A strategic partnership between ExecuJet Haite Aviation Services China Co. and Tianjin Binhai International Airport aims to cross-promote Execujet Haite’s maintenance services and the airport’s exclusive business aviation fixed base operation.

A powerhouse strategic agreement signed a year ago by two business aviation companies based on opposite sides of the world has come a long way in the last 12 months, says Patrick Hansen, CEO of Luxaviation.

The world’s two largest manufacturers of luxury jets are exactly even in their race to win over the wealthy elite in Greater China.

Refurbishing the interiors of business jets has become big business for completions and MRO specialist Flying Colours, which three years ago opened an Asia base in Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Service Center at Seletar Airport, Singapore.

Lufthansa Technik is the market leader in Greater China with around 30 VIP Airbus ACJ and Boeing BBJs delivered into the region since the mid 1980s.

The newest business aviation center to open in China is at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, where the first phase of an RMB 400 million ($63 million) complex containing a fixed base operator, hangarage and offices began operation in December.

ANA, Japan’s largest airline, plans to use HondaJets in Europe and the U.S. to feed its major transit hubs in those regions.

With more than 100 of the sleek, piston-engine Cirrus aircraft in the hands of customers in China, the company is now focusing on product support.

A newly established unit in HNA Group’s business aviation empire has received its air operator’s certificate from the civil aviation authority of Guernsey, a British dependency in the English Channel.

Since opening in Singapore, Flying Colours has increased its capacity across all its interiors service areas, which include preliminary inspections, repair work, modifications and refurbishments.