Business & Commercial Aviation

In December, FAA issued its final rule on the new Part 23 which is intended to reduce the time and cost to certificate aircraft under 19,000 lb.

Take some time to put together a plan that offers the opportunity for you and your flight team to gain additional knowledge and continue to grow your operation’s safety culture.

For the business aviation community, at once both a broad but thin and rarefied sliver of society and the body politic, the way forward is rife with questions, opportunities and concerns.

David Sneed discusses the scope and operations of Delta Private Jets, which provides charter and jet card services to companies and individuals.

Beechcraft is promoting improved performance on its King Air 350HW and 350ER models by offering a more powerful version of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines and an increased gross weight option. The improvements are FAA and EASA certified and available as factory options on new aircraft.

New York's Westchester County has applied to the FAA to privatize its county-owned airport, marking the third time since 2000 that the Empire State or one of its counties has attempted such a spinoff under the federal agency’s troubled Airport Privatization Pilot Program (APPP). A preliminary application filed in November names Empire State Airport Holdings as the private company that would operate the Westchester County Airport under a 40-year lease, with the transfer taking place as early as March 2017.

Quintus Technologies has been selected by Gulfstream Aerospace to provide a high-pressure fluid cell press. The Flexform press will go to Gulfstream's Mexicali, Mexico, facility, which produces wiring harnesses, sheet metal components, subassemblies and machine parts, Quintus said. “The Flexform process requires only one rigid tool half; the other tool half is a flexible rubber diaphragm under uniform hydrostatic pressure,” the company says.

Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil has announced it will cease operating the Airbus H225/EC225 for offshore operations even if regulators clear the aircraft for such use. The decision comes after the April 30 loss of a Statoil-chartered H225 operated by CHC crashed as it was returning from an offshore platform, killing all 13 persons aboard. Unions say oil workers no longer had faith in the helicopter. The company says it will henceforth use the Sikorsky S-92 for its heavy helicopter requirements.

Constant Aviation has developed a ADS-B equipment solution for the Cessna Citation X. Constant Aviation, based in Cleveland, completed its first ADS-B upgrade on a Citation X, the company said. Its “solution” to meet the Jan. 1, 2020, mandate to equip differs from the manufacturer’s in that it does not require LPV capability as a prerequisite, which lowers the cost, the company said. If the work to upgrade is done concurrently with scheduled maintenance, the cost and downtime can be lower in many cases, it said.

Signature Flight Support's new state-of-the art FBO at London Luton Airport is open for business. The facility comprises a 4,500 sq. meters (48,000 sq. ft.) hangar, which became operational in 2014 and is capable of housing two BBJ or ACJ-sized aircraft, and a 7,000 sq. meters (75,000 sq. ft.) parking ramp with a dedicated ground service facility in addition to the legacy apron and a covered arrivals area. The new 1,572 sq. meters (17,000 sq.

Flying Colours Corp. has completed its first two installations of the Satcom Direct Router. The first was part of a Global 5000 cabin refurbishment package. The second was part of a new Global 5000 completion project for a private Middle Eastern owner. The aircraft is expected to return to Flying Colours in early 2017 for installation of a supplemental SD Wi-Fi hub to augment the performance of the existing SDR. It is the first time Flying Colours will have fitted the complete suite of SD router options into an aircraft.

Canada has selected the Airbus C295W twin turboprop as winner of its fixed-wing search and rescue competition, fully 12 years after the government originally called for a modern platform to replace six 40-year-old de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo turboprops. The $2.4 billion (Canadian) deal involves 16 aircraft and five years of in-service support, as well as an option for 15 years of additional service, which would raise the total value to $4.7 billion.

Increased business jet deliveries in North America and Western Europe during the third quarter helped offset declining shipments to emerging market regions, along with China and Latin America, according to a recent UBS market research report. Global business jet deliveries fell 5% during the third quarter compared to a year ago. Deliveries to North American customers rose 9%, while deliveries increased 13% in Western Europe during the quarter.

Elliott Aviation has completed its seventh retrofit of a Garmin G5000 in a Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XP. It was completed in a 1999 Beechjet 400A. Five of the upgrades were done at its Moline, Illinois facility and two at its Des Moines shop. The company says the retrofit can increase the useful load of the aircraft by 200+ lb. The program involves replacing all existing avionics including the autopilot with three 12 in landscape LCD displays that provide synthetic vision, electronic charts, WAAS/LPV, XM weather, engine indication and MFD range rings.

CAE and Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA) are expanding their commercial, business, and helicopter aviation training agreement to include the sale of two full-flight simulators (FFS) as well as CAE instructor-led training and courseware. The agreement centers on ADA’s new, eight-bay training center in Abu Dhabi.

Even before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump is shaking up the business world, taking credit for keeping UTC jobs in Indiana that might have gone to Mexico. “Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences,” Trump says. The parent company of Pratt & Whitney may have been motivated to stay to remain in a Trump administration’s good graces.

To help mark and celebrate its half-century in business, Jet Aviation has adopted a new logo, a stand-alone, circular monogram with the word JET to replace the deer head with which it has long been identified. “We wanted the new logo and branding initiative to visually reflect the strength and stability of our trusted brand name as we turn to face and welcome future opportunities,” explained Heinz Aebi, Jet’s senior vice president of Group Marketing and Communications.

The Polish Ministry of National Defense has signed a contract to buy two Gulfstream 550 aircraft for VIP transport, with delivery in 2017,

AeroBrigham, based in Decatur, Texas, has taken delivery of a Bell 407 configured for medical mission flights. It is the fourth aircraft on which the company has completed paint, interior, avionics and airframe improvements and performed maintenance and component overhauls. The work was done for Survival Flight, a Part 135 air medical transport provider. AeroBrigham will begin work on another 407 for Survival Flight before year-end.

Satcom Direct last month completed the acquisition of TrueNorth Avionics, a manufacturer of cabin communications systems, thereby expanding its service offering to VIP aircraft operators. Ottawa-based TrueNorth, which designs, develops and manufactures satcom systems, TrueNorth becomes a business unit within the Satcom Direct family of companies focused on avionics development.

Jet-A and avgas per-gallon fuel prices—December 2016

GI Aviation has earned an air operator's certificate from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority to enable the start of commercial flights with its fleet of Pilatus PC-12NG aircraft in the Gulf region. GI Aviation has been working to begin new entry-level service for business aviation in the region, which has been dominated by larger business jets. GI Aviation worked with Hendell Aviation in Finland to help it obtain the air operator’s certificate.

The Citation Mustang, introduced at the 2002 NBAA Convention by then-Cessna Chairman and CEO Russ Meyer, was marketed as a sure-thing alternative to the new class of very light jets (VLJs) that were all the rage at the turn of the 21st century.

StandardAero is offering global high-speed broadband connectivity for the business aviation market for Falcon aircraft. Working with Honeywell’s new JetWave Ka-band system, the cabin completion and MRO facility has completed an STC for the Falcon 900B, C and EX series, as well as for the Falcon 50 series. The new system was first fitted for a Falcon 900EX operator. Documentation has also been submitted for European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) validation.

Astronics Corp. has been selected as a supplier for Textron Aviation's new Cessna Denali single-engine turboprop. Astronics will supply an aircraft power system that features Astronics’ Corepower Induction Starter Generator System and Corepower Electronic Circuit Breaker Unit and the 28-Volt DC Empower In-Seat Power Supply. The Empower in-seat power systems allow passengers to simultaneously use and charge multiple personal electronic devices in the air. The Denali’s first flight is expected in 2018.