NBAA salutes hero pilot Capt. 'Sully' Sullenberger for
opposing ATC privatization
The National Business Aviation Association has
welcomed strong opposition to proposals for privatizing the nation’s air traffic
control (ATC) system, recently expressed by Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger,
the pilot who performed a heroic emergency landing of a disabled US Airways
airplane on New York City’s Hudson River in 2009.
"My real issue, and I think for many people,
is that we have a wonderful and unique freedom in this country, this unfettered,
wonderful aviation system that anyone can participate in safely and
efficiently,” Sullenberger told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric.
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Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger |
“In most countries, it’s either too
restrictive or too expensive for an average person to fly, and the only way you
can go is on an airliner or a military flight,” continued Sullenberger. The
freedom to fly in the U.S. “is something that we need to protect and preserve.
So why in the world would we give the keys to the kingdom to the largest
airlines? Because they definitely have their own agenda - to lower their costs."
read more
GAMA thanks House Appropriators for supporting general
aviation
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association
(GAMA) has thanked the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for supporting the
general aviation industry in its fiscal year 2018 bill, through language
improving the aircraft certification process in the U.S. and funding for
alternative fuels.
“We are extremely pleased to see the Committee
put teeth into their direction to the FAA to better utilize the Organizational
Delegation Authority,” said GAMA President and CEO
Pete Bunce.
“GAMA has advocated for this for some time, and we appreciate the Committee’s
support in making this a reality, which will benefit the U.S. economy, aircraft
sales and create jobs.”
The Committee provided $1.3bn for aviation
safety overall, which is $11.2m above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and
$51.7m above the budget request.
read more
Hartzell names Civil Aviation
Flight University of China as Service & Support Center
Hartzell Propeller has appointed the Aircraft
Repair and Overhaul Plant of Civil Aviation Flight University of China (CAFUC)
as a Service and Support Center in the People's Republic of China.
CAFUC is located in Guanghan City in Sichuan
Province, China. It was founded in 1956 and established its Aircraft Repair and
Overhaul Plant two years later. CAFUC has a professional staff of 110 employees
who perform maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft, engines, propellers
and components.
"This latest appointment demonstrates Hartzell
Propeller's ongoing commitment to Chinese owners, operators, maintenance
facilities and the continued growth of general aviation in China," said
Weiqing (Max) Wang,
Hartzell Propeller Managing Director for China, based in Shanghai City. "CAFUC
is the second facility in China to be designated as a Service and Support Center,
which continues our goal of expanding our service and support network in China."
read more
US Department of Transportation announces $290m
infrastructure grants to 105 airports
The US Department of Transportation has
announced that the FAA will award $ 290.6m in airport infrastructure grants to
105 airports in 38 states across the United States as part of the FAA’s Airport
Improvement Program (AIP).
The airport grant program funds various types
of airport infrastructure projects, including runways, taxiways, and airport
signage, lighting, and markings which help to create thousands of jobs.
“AIP grants will allow airports to complete
critical airport infrastructure projects that will help maintain the safety of
the nation’s airports,” said FAA Administrator
Michael P. Huerta.
Full list of recipients
WAI welcomes Drone Pilots and Operators
Women in Aviation International has
reached out to the drone community, via
the Women and Drones organization (womenanddrones.com),
to encourage women involved with drone
operations to be part of WAI.
From now
until December 31 2017, Women and Drones
members are eligible for a discounted
membership in WAI of $40 per year. Women
who fly drones or operate UAS for
business entities can claim this
discount by using the promo code WID17
when signing up at
wai.org.
“Drones
are an important, emerging segment of
our industry,” says WAI President
Dr.
Peggy Chabrian.
“We welcome women from all aspects of
aviation and look forward to a
meaningful exchange of expertise and
information with them.“
Dr. Chabrian has
been named to the Women and Drones
Advisory Board.
read more
Sheltair CEO honored in Florida Hall of
Fame
Sheltair’s chairman, CEO, owner and
founder, Gerald M. Holland, has been
inducted into the Florida Aviation
Business Association Entrepreneurial
Excellence Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame honors those who make
significant contributions to Florida’s
bizav industry. The inductees have drawn
on their professionalism and integrity
to ensure the aviation industry will
flourish, inspiring others to make
aviation their passion.
Holland founded a Fort Lauderdale-based
real estate development and construction
firm in 1963 after serving in the
military. The firm and its subsequent
subsidiary companies moved into the
aviation industry with the formation of
Sheltair Aviation in 1988.
read more
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Matt Elliott
Aviation fuel products and services supplier,
Air BP, has announced the appointment of Matt Elliott as Chief Commercial
Officer, effective immediately.
Matt will be based at Air BP’s global
headquarters in Sunbury on Thames, UK. He will be responsible for Air BP’s
global sales and marketing strategy, global supply strategy and also lead Air
BP’s digital and low carbon commercial agenda. He reports directly to Air BP CEO,
Jon Platt.
Since joining BP as a Graduate in 1994, Matt
has held positions in sales, marketing and operations across the company’s fuels
businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the UK and USA. For the last five
years he has held the position of Managing Director, BP New Zealand where he has
been responsible for successfully leading all aspects of operations in the
country including the development and implementation of a sustainable winning
strategy. |
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Julie G. Duffy
Textron has announced the appointment of Julie
G. Duffy as executive vice president, Human Resources, effective immediately.
Duffy joined Textron in 1997 as a member of
the Corporate legal team and has since held litigation positions of increasing
responsibility. In 2009, she was promoted to executive counsel of Textron and
was named as vice president and deputy general counsel–litigation in 2011.
Prior to Textron, Duffy was a commercial and
employment litigation associate at Pillsbury Winthrop in Los Angeles. |
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First Legacy 500 assembled in Melbourne takes to the
skies
The first Legacy 500 midsize business jet
assembled at Embraer's industrial facilities in Melbourne, Florida has completed
its maiden flight, just eight months after its stablemate, the Legacy 450
mid-light jet.
The aircraft performed as expected and all
flight test procedures were successfully completed.
read more |
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Gama Aviation and Wheels Up fly 100,000th sector
Gama Aviation LLC, has announced a major
milestone in Wheels Up flight history with the occasion of its 100,000th flight
sector.
The sector was flown by N861UP, a King Air 350
flying from Jacksonville FL to Nashville TN on Wednesday 5th July.
This was not the only accomplishment in the
recent weeks. In quick succession from June 29th through July 2nd, Gama Aviation
completed over 400 flights for Wheels Up, including record-breaking numbers on
Saturday, July 1st when more than 100 passenger legs were flown. The week also
saw Wheels Up securing $90m in debt financing from KKR to purchase its next 17
King Air 350 aircraft.
read
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Seventh consecutive NetJets award for Teterboro's Meridian
Meridian Air Charter has been named the top
subcontract provider for NetJets in the Northeast region for the first and
second quarters of 2017.
The recent honors mark seven quarters in a row
that Meridian has earned this prestigious award. Meridian’s first award was
presented in Q3 of 2015, and has continued consecutively since then.
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American Aero FTW becomes first FBO in Texas to earn
rigorous Stage II IS-BAH certification
American Aero FTW, an FBO serving Meacham
International Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, continues to lead the way in private
aviation safety.
The FBO is the first in Texas, and one of only
a handful in the world, to earn the new rigorous Stage II safety and ground
handling certificate of registration from the International Business Aviation
Council (IBAC).
read more |
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Bas de Vos
Director of IFS Labs at IFS.
Using Blockchain to reinforce aviation asset management |
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lockchain
is one of the most discussed and intriguing technologies out there today. |
I will not go too deeply into the specifics of
how it works since that has been covered by many other sources; suffice to say
that it is a huge, global distributed ledger or database running on many devices
and open to anyone within the Blockchain.
In the Blockchain, information, or anything of
value can be stored. Its purpose is to ensure a 100 percent secure, verifiable
and traceable database protocol.
So far, most use cases have been focused on
the financial sector, including transaction management where costs are reduced
by keeping property ownership and records or using it to track high-value goods,
such as diamonds. There is, however, a huge untapped market in asset management
- specifically in the commercial aviation industry.
read more |
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This week . . .
Embraer flies the first
Legacy 500
built in its Florida facility; Pilots Olivier Froment and Tom Valette guide us
around the Dassault Falcon 7X
and Happy Design Studio unveils its 'Carboneum' livery on a
Global Express XRS.
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Swiss
ground-handling company, Cat Air Service,
has received IS-BAH accreditation for its
FBO at Zurich Airport.
The certification follows parent
company Air Service Basel's similar achievement last year at the EuroAirport in
Basel.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be receiving this
accreditation.” says Cat Air Service General Manager,
Robert Whitehead.
“We are still a fairly new and humble Swiss company compared to the global
network FBOs based at Zurich Airport. So, it’s a great achievement for us to be
officially recognized for our hard work and dedication to our customers and the
quality of the services we provide.”
www.cat-airservice.com |
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Bell 525 Relentless resumes flight testing
Bell Helicopter's model 525 Relentless
super-medium twin has resumed flight test activity after receiving experimental
certificate renewal from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The program was suspended in July 2016 when
the first prototype crashed during a test flight near the company’s facility in
eastern Texas, killing both pilots.
read more |
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Embraer delivered 24 executive jets
- 16 light and 8 large - during the second
quarter of 2017.
The
number of deliveries in the commercial market rose roughly 35% over the same
period last year with a total of 35 aircraft. With respect to executive jets,
the segment delivered five large jets more than in the second quarter of 2016,
although in total the company delivered two units less in 2Q17 compared to 2Q16.
On June 30, Embraer’s firm order backlog totaled USD 18.5bn. |
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Avinode passes half-million
charter requests in June |
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30% increase in charter
requests for eurozone
countries. |
Avinode,
the world’s leading online marketplace
for buying and selling air charter, is
announcing a record month in the
company’s history, surpassing half a
million charter requests for the first
time, in June 2017.
In June, Avinode recorded a total of
more than 532,000 charter requests
worldwide. The number of Avinode
requested flights in EMEAA increased by
27% versus June 2016, while in the US
alone, requests increased by 112% versus
June 2016.
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Oliver King |
Oliver
King,
Acting CEO, Avinode Group says: “Across
the business aviation industry,
operators are reporting a hike in
business for June 2017 versus last year
- great news for the industry."
read more
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Luxaviation UK enjoys
positive start to Summer 2017 |
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This Summer’s private jet hotspots
revealed. |
Luxaviation UK, the UK’s largest private
aviation charter operator and part of the Luxaviation Group, is celebrating a
positive start to the Summer period, with a 15% increase in bookings in June
alone, versus the same period last year.
The rise in early Summer bookings, a trend
being reported across the industry, is, according to Luxaviation UK, being
driven by an increase in travel to the Mediterranean’s summer hotspots, an
increase in demand for this summer’s music festivals and the need to avoid the
heightened delays and cancellations being experienced across commercial
airlines.
Patrick Margetson-Rushmore,
CEO, Luxaviation UK, says: “Our positive booking figures for June are a good
indication that the industry is stable and that customers in the UK continue to
value private aviation as a worthwhile investment. We all know that figures are
not as high as they were pre-recession, but we are confident that the summer
months will continue to bring solid growth for us."
read more
Airway routes could soon become extinct in Europe
By 2021, the European air traffic management
network will be almost fully route-free, offering operators more flight options
for city pairs and helping improve airspace performance in the pivotal areas of
capacity, efficiency and the environment, according to Eurocontrol’s latest
pronouncement on the advantages of the ongoing development of the European
Single Sky concept.
Eurocontrol said that free route airspace (FRA),
one of the key objectives of Single Sky, has already notched up a series of
steps for air traffic management (ATM) to meet that goal. These include moving
from route availability to airspace availability; replacing ATM systems that
that underpin FRA, a process that took place over the last 10 years; air
navigation service providers improving their quality of service at little or no
cost; and implementing most FRA initiatives to date years before the European
Commission’s deadline.
Operators “now have the choice of filing a
flight plan that best suits their own needs,” Eurocontrol said, “subject to
their capabilities and airspace capacity. Free route airspace is fully
systemized and the network manager operations center is there to regulate
airspace when needed” through air traffic flow control measures.
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Paula Kraft,
founder and President of Atlanta, GA-based
Tastefully
Yours Catering,
offers her definitive guide to inflight microwave cooking.
Cooking with a Microwave
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o any of you remember the days before the
microwave? |
We spent so much more time in the kitchen. We had to plan the meals well in advance in order to properly thaw foods
that were tucked away in the freezer.
My parents would buy a side of beef or pig and have the butcher prepare the meat for the family
so it was always ready to be pulled out of the freezer for dinner. Back then we pulled the meat
out at breakfast time and let it sit in the sink, thawing until dinner. Today I
wonder how none of us died from a food related illness . . . or even just got seriously sick!
As time has passed and the microwave has become a standard household item, learning to cook with it has been a 'trial and error' journey. Since my family never owned a microwave, I wasn’t able to pick up tricks and great recipes for microwave cooking, but my children and now grandchildren certainly have self-taught themselves in its great uses.
Let me
share the tips I have acquired over the years by working with flight crews. They'll help you when using a microwave to cook or reheat on board, and also provide food safety information and precautions to consider as you do so.
read more
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Trends reveal record low prices in Q2
pre-owned bizjet and turboprop
transactions
While the demand for pre-owned business
jet and turboprop aircraft remains
unchanged, record low prices are
enticing value-focused buyers to act,
according to Asset Insight’s Q2 2017
issue of its Asset Insight Market Report
(AI2 Market Report).
Turboprops and small jets lead the list
of aircraft in demand with this
Quarterly Market Report analyzing both
the value and maintenance exposure of 92
fixed-wing models and 1,881 aircraft
listed for sale. Other trends the
14-page Quarterly Market Report include:
"With
record low ask prices and excellent
maintenance quality, the pre-owned
business aircraft market in Q2 2017
offers great deals for buyers that are
motivated to purchase either business
jets or turboprop aircraft. The
available inventory, while posting a
notably smaller pricing decline, signals
that pricing is beginning to stabilize,
while market demand for all categories
of business jets and turboprops remains
steady," said
Tony
Kioussis,
president of Asset Insight, LLC.
read more
Vilnius International Airport closure
Vilnius International Airport (EYVI) is
closed until August 17th for runway
repairs.
The infrastructure and majority of
regular flights have been moved
temporarily to Kaunas (EYKA), however
due to slot limitations and restricted
parking hours, Kaunas will not be able
to accept all business aviation flights.
Local business aviation specialists,
Flight Consulting Group (FCG), recommend
Siauliai (186 km from Vilnius), Riga
(262 km) and Palanga (300 km) as
alternatives. FCG services around 70% of
all flights in the Baltics and is a
recognised authority in the region.
"We shall
take care of servicing flights at the
highest level possible, as well as
ensure the delivery of passengers to
Vilnius or Kaunas by car or helicopter.
We will do everything we can to minimise
the impact of airport closure on the
passengers and crew,” says FCG Control
Centre Manager,
Sergey
Starkov.
www.fcg.aero
Down-Route CEO Andy Hudson appointed to
AsBAA Board
Andy Hudson - CEO of expenses management
& hotel booking platform Down-Route, and
owner/founder of PJC Aviation - has been
appointed to the board of governors for
South East Asia of the industry body,
the Asian Business Aviation Association
(AsBAA).
AsBAA is a representative organisation
for business aviation in Asia with the
objective of promoting the benefits of
all aspects of the industry across the
continent and to help the companies, who
rely on business aviation aircraft,
succeed in the Asian market. Andy Hudson
has been a member of the organisation
since 2014 and has recently joined the
board of governors to provide his
experience and expertise to assist the
AsBAA achieve its goals.
read more
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First PC-24
is successfully married (and standing on its own feet!)
read |
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US
June flight activity rises
with the mercury
Download the full report |
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DFS and Deutsche Telekom cooperate on drone safety
read |
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Understanding Cholesterol.
Paula Kraft
explains
how simple changes in your diet can help reduce your cholesterol intake.
read |
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RUAG and Happy Design Studio unveil 'Carboneum' livery design
read |
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stories in our
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