Sabreliner Corporation’s business leaned heavily on military contracts that disappeared during sequestration, forcing the company into default on its bank loan and leading to the bank’s sale of the company to an investment firm. Sabreliner announced last week that its primary debt holder sold the company after it lost half of its business during last year’s sequestration budget cutting and was unable to make its debt payment.

Jet card sales continue to strengthen, reaching their highest point since the economic downturn began, both Sentient Jet and its new affiliate company Flexjet report. Key metrics in 2013 rose to levels “not seen since 2008,” Sentient says. The company, which has more than 4,000 clients, sold more than 32,000 jet card hours in 2013, which amounts to the equivalent of more than 1,300 25-Hour Jet Cards. This pushed the company’s revenue to more than $150 million on the year. Sentient sold more than 1,200 25-Hour Jet Cards in 2012.

The Triumph Group has sold its Wichita business aircraft aerostructures business, Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, back to its original owner, Jim Lee. Lee, who founded the business in 1989, continued to steer the company as president after he sold it to the Triumph Group in 2000. Lee is rebranding the company to its original name, Lee Aerospace. “The opportunity to reacquire the company presented itself late last year. We are excited to once again be a locally-owned and operated company,” Lee says.

The city of Santa Monica, Calif., is urging a U.S. District Court to reject FAA’s motion to dismiss the city’s lawsuit over control of Santa Monica Airport (SMO), saying the agency should not be allowed to hold the airport hostage over an unfounded assertion that the city acted too late.

Bell Helicopter won initial Canadian and Brazilian approvals for a new variant of its 429 helicopter with retractable wheeled landing gear. Bell 429WLG certification comes three months after Bell announced the latest variant to the business aviation market at the National Business Aviation Association annual convention in Las Vegas.

The number of used business jets available for sale has dipped to the lowest levels since the business aircraft market downturn began and finished well below the 20-year average last year, according to business aviation market analyst Amstat.

Patrick Ky was appointed executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in September 2013. He is the second person to head this organization, which was formed in 2003 to develop a single civil aviation regulatory system for the European Union's member states.

The cliff-hanger Boeing machinists' vote that cleared the way for 777X production in Washington state in the first few days of 2014 was crucial to the company's commercial future, says Boeing chairman and CEO, Jim McNerney. “We are exiting a period where every few years we had a dramatic event and entering a period of 10 years of stability. Having said that, the vote was close. There were emotions on both sides of the equation but eventually everyone centered on this huge business opportunity we had with the 777X and we came together.”