The Weekly of Business Aviation

Business and general aviation worldwide avionics sales rose 13% in the first quarter of 2019 to $724 million, up from $640 million a year ago.

Piper Aircraft Co., owned by the government of Brunei, has become entangled in controversy amid a global outcry related to Islamic Brunei’s brutal sex laws.

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will consider Stephen Dickson’s nomination for FAA administrator May 15, paving the way for the agency to receive its first confirmed leader since January 2018.

Airbus’s Vahana eVTOL demo has completed its first full transitions between vertical and forward flight, tilting its tandem wings fully down and cruising at 90 kt.

Startup XTI Aircraft has completed the first series of test flights of a 65% scale proof-of-concept prototype of its TriFan 600 ducted-fan VTOL business aircraft.

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm three nominees to the Export-Import Bank’s board of directors.

With two major aerostructures businesses—Triumph Group’s and Bombardier’s—being shopped out for new owners, is there suddenly too much of the same “product” in the marketplace?

The FAA “cannot confirm the legality” of using tech designed to detect small UAS, the agency says in updated guidance sent to U.S. airports.

Collins Aerospace Systems has unveiled an upgraded, open-architecture autopilot system for unmanned aircraft systems.

In April, 71% of the U.S.-registered turbine-powered business aircraft fleet have reached compliancy with the FAA’s Jan. 1, 2020 mandate for ADS-B equipage, according to a new report by FlightAware.

Airbus Helicopter’s CityAirbus urban air mobility demonstrator has made its milestone first hops into the air in Germany.

U-Haul International has taken delivery of the first of two Pilatus PC-24 jets.

C&L Aviation Services is scheduled to provide ADS-B upgrades to the JetSuiteX fleet of several dozen ERJ 135/145 aircraft.

The Australian government has taken delivery of the first of three large-cabin Falcon 7X trijets from Dassault Aviation.

PrivateFly has launched “City Pairs” pricing, providing fixed, discounted rates for destination pairings in Europe this summer on the Nextant 400XTi aircraft.

Diamond Aircraft delivered the 400th Diamond DA40NG built in Austria as it celebrated the 20th anniversary of the aircraft prototype’s first flight.

Delta Private Jets has selected golf professional Greg Norman to be its brand ambassador for 2019.

Westjet Encore and its pilots on May 2 ratified their first-ever collective agreement, with 92% of eligible pilots voting for the contract.

The FAA predicts the active general aviation fleet will hold steady over the next 20 years with 211,800 aircraft in 2039, compared to 212,885 in 2018.

Shearwater Aero Capital is striving to raise up to $100 million to support its growth after turning in a record 2018, the company said.

Paul Dollman has been appointed a non-executive director of Air Partner.

View the Monthly Program Profile: Dassault Falcon 2000EX/LX/LXS/S chart in PDF format.

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The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc., Model BD-100-1A10 Challenger 300 airplanes.