Bombardier has named Innotech-Execaire an Authorized Service Facility for Global Express aircraft. Innotech's Montreal facility already provides factory service on Challenger business jets and its Vancouver operation is a factory-authorized Learjet service center.
Air Nostrum of Spain has signed a letter of intent to purchase nearly $1 billion worth of new Bombardier regional aircraft. The contract includes firm orders for 29 Dash 8-Q300 turboprops and 15 CRJ200 (LR) regional jets, and options for 40 additional aircraft of undetermined type. Valencia-based Air Nostrum ordered five firm and five optional CRJ200s in March 1998 and since has taken delivery of the first five and converted one option to a firm order. The four outstanding options were exercised with the latest order.
Mesaba Airlines has opened its 126,000-square-foot maintenance facility at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The new hangar will focus on performing heavy checks for Mesaba's fleet of 36 Avro RJ 85s, and will lead to the creation of around 150 jobs by the end of 2002, the airline says. Currently, Mesaba's RJ 85 C-checks are done in St. Johns, Newfoundland. The $12.4 million construction project was funded through a bond issued by the Kenton County (Kentucky) Airport Board.
Photograph: Eurocopter EC 120 Colibri Paul Brou Helicopters Manufacturers continue to hold the line on price and add new utility, offering operators a better value proposition; but operating challenges remain. The helicopter market continues to face significant challenges like erosion of infrastructure and limitations on access due to noise. At the same time, however, the industry continues to display remarkable resilience and tenacity.
StarShares, the TAG Aviation-owned fractional program operating Raytheon King Airs, plans to expand beyond its regional roots and go national. The company is hiring pilots for an Atlanta crew base and expects to add five new King Air 90s and 200s to an existing fleet of five King Airs by the end of the year. StarShares recently consolidated its flight operation and administrative offices at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. The flight department formerly was based in Danbury, Conn.
The FAA has issued a Letter to Airmen warning of flight restrictions over the Democratic National Convention this summer in Los Angeles. While specific limitations have not yet been released, the letter says access to airspace above the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles will be ``extremely limited and require positive identification and communications.'' The Democratic National Convention and temporary flight restrictions are scheduled to take place from August 14 to 17.
Flightserv.com has inaugurated public charter service utilizing business jets between Atlanta's Dekalb-Peachtree Airport and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. After a two-week introductory period with tickets priced at $499 each way, including ground transportation, flights between the two cities will cost about 10 percent more than the scheduled airlines' unrestricted first-class fare. The service will be flown by FAR Part 135 operators using light to midsize jets.
President Clinton has nominated seven people to the Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council. Nominees with direct aviation experience include GAMA President Ed Bolen, Air Wisconsin President and CEO Geoffrey T. Crowley, American Airlines executive Robert W. Baker, Boeing retiree Robert A. Davis and former ALPA President Jerome Randolph Babbitt. Other nominees are Debbie Branson, a Dallas attorney, and former DOT official Kendall W. Wilson, who now operates a high-tech finance company advising new businesses.
U.S. regional airlines carried more than 78 million passengers in 1999, a 10-percent increase over the previous year, according to statistics released by the Regional Airline Association (RAA). The top five airlines in terms of passengers carried were American Eagle with more than 11 million passengers, Comair with seven million, followed by Continental Express, SkyWest and Mesaba.
Stage 4 noise certification rules could be adopted by ICAO as early as 2003, predicted Bonnie A. Wilson, the senior director of airport facilities and services for the Airports Council International -- North America. Speaking at a noise symposium conducted at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y., in April, Wilson said the new, more-stringent noise standards would probably be accompanied by a Stage 3 non-addition rule and eventual phase-out of Stage 3 aircraft, a process that she estimated could take up to 12 years.
President Clinton signed AIR-21 - the long-awaited FAA reauthorization bill - into law on April 5, clearing the way for three years of unprecedented federal investment in America's aviation infrastructure. The bill will increase the nation's aviation endowment by $10 billion over current levels, bringing the total allocation to $40 billion between fiscal 2001 and 2003. Of this total, $33 billion will come from the Aviation Trust Fund, and $6.7 billion will be appropriated from the General Fund.
Flight Options, the Cleveland-based fractional operator, says all 35 Raytheon Beechjets and Cessna Citation IIs in its fleet have gone paperless and it will convert all remaining aircraft in its fleet by the end of the summer. Using Jeppesen's JeppView Electronic Flight Guides, the new system incorporates electronic airway manuals, flight planning software, terminal charts and checklists in a pen-based computer system. The operator says that JeppView will save the time and baggage space previously required for maintaining updated paper charts and manuals.
Galaxy Aviation (West Palm Beach, Fla.) -- Maureen Cole has been promoted to director of marketing and customer relations. Sandy Sabia is the FBO's new manager of marketing and customer relations. Mary Ellen Munson joins as marketing assistant at Galaxy Aviation of Stuart.
Edited by Paul RichfieldBy David Esler, in New Orleans Global Operations Update
Sydney Olympics -- If you're planning to attend the 2000 Olympics at Sydney in September and don't have prepaid hotel reservations, parking confirmation for your aircraft, and an arrival slot by now, you probably should plan on watching the Games on TV. As of this spring, most local hotel reservations had been filled (75 percent by the International Olympic Committee), and slot allocation at Sydney Interna-tional and nearby Bankstown Airport was well underway. Without a confirmed parking reservation, you don't get a slot.
Wenatchee, Wash.-based Pacific Aerospace and Electronics is developing the 428JET Center Fuselage Production System under the terms of a $4.4 million contract with Israel Aircraft Industries.
Gilles P. Ouimet, Pratt &Whitney Canada's President and COO, has been promoted to chief executive officer, succeeding L. David Caplan, who will remain with the engine giant as chairman until April 2001. As CEO, Ouimet says he intends to double the company's sales to $4 billion and increase market share to 34 percent over the next decade. The manufacturer claims it is well on the way towards achieving those goals, with 23 P&WC-powered aircraft scheduled to enter service by 2002.
Manufacturer, Model and Type Designation In some cases, the airplane manufacturer's name is abbreviated, but the company's full name and address can be found in the ``Airframe Suppliers Directory'' in the Handbook. The model name and the type designation also are included in this group. B/CA Equipped Price
Growth in the worldwide helicopter business is flat and commercial operators are growing increasingly wary of high labor and maintenance costs. According to the Helicopter Association International's (HAI) 1999 Survey of Operating Performance, 39 percent of operators did not show a profit in 1998, a figure unchanged from the previous year.
Keystone Helicopter Corp. will undertake completions for all new Sikorsky S-76 helicopters, under the terms of a new contract with the manufacturer. The helicopters formerly were completed at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility. ``This arrangement brings together the market presence of two very strong players,'' said Mike Moran, Sikorsky's vice president of commercial marketing and sales.
Cessna Aircraft (Wichita) -- Craig Estep has been promoted to vice president of aircraft completion and Cynthia Halsey is now vice president for interior design and engineering.
Edited by Paul RichfieldBy Mike Vines, in Amsterdam
Air France's answer to standardizing flight crew procedures is Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA), a flight-deck data feedback system it launched in 1974. Now operational on the airline's entire 210-aircraft fleet, the FOQA equipment collects and processes more than 500 optical disks per week. In 1998, 220,348 flight legs were analyzed.
Aviation consultant Conklin&de Decker has launched a series of seminars focusing on flight department financial and tax issues. Aviation tax expert Nel Saunders is organizing the seminars known as FACT (Financial Accounting Cost and Tax), which include panelists from operators, law, accounting and consulting firms specializing in aviation. Future FACT programs are planned for Washington, Minneapolis and Houston. Further information is available at www.conklindd.com.
Aviation Daily and BACK Aviation Solutions say that the World Fleet Forecast for 20- to 120-seat aircraft will be available on May 15. ``Our forecast focuses on both the dynamic 100-seat market plus the role of turboprops versus regional jets,'' says Stephen Munro, publisher of the Daily. The World Fleet Forecast is a four-part independent analysis of the regional aircraft market, with a global outlook and regional forecast for North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, e-mail [email protected], or call (800) 752-4959.
