Regional-aircraft manufacturers face the prospect of increased financial risk in coming years, despite having been able to reduce sales costs since the mid-1990s, according to Moody’s Investor Service. As the economic recession continues, the New York-based credit research agency said such companies might not escape global requirements for more financial assistance to operators. They also face g more

As receivers of bankrupt regional jet manufacturer Fairchild Dornier awaited a takeover bid from a partnership led by Russian conglomerate Basic Element last month, another group of investors that hopes to prove more palatable to aircraft program stakeholders and the German  government suddenly surfaced. Swiss-registered Aviation Finance Consulting (AFC) wants to inject E200 million ($195 mil more

As one French regional airline bites the dust, another is ready to take its place, operated by the company’s former pilots. R-Lines has been placed into “legal observation,” which means it will almost certainly be declared bankrupt at the beginning of next month following its failure to meet its debt obligations.

According to one of R-Lines’ 93 employees, two-thirds of them pilo more

Big Sky Airlines will operate as a subsidiary of Mesaba Holdings by year-end if the Billings, Mont.-based Fairchild Metro III operator meets “certain labor conditions” set by its would-be parent company from Minneapolis. The proposed merger would create a new division within Mesaba Holdings, flying under an operating certificate and labor contracts separate from Mesaba Aviation. According to M more

Based on feedback it has received from pilots and operators, the FAA is said to be preparing a number of amendments to an earlier Advisory Circular (AC 120-76) stipulating how so-called electronic flight bags (EFBs) may be used in the cockpit. According to those who attended a meeting hosted by FAA officials in Alexandria, Va., last month, the agency plans to introduce the amendments to the AC in more

Houston-based Frost Navratil Technical Solutions, maker of the ApproachView family of class-2 EFBs, has introduced a remote touchscreen display for use with the company’s P600 computer or a laptop. The new 8.4-in.-diagonal TD-840 display, said the company, is more compact than other EFBs that combine their displays with internal computer hardware. Frost also claims the TD-840 is twice as bright more

The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) successfully passed a critical 60-day test that prime contractor Raytheon said proves the reliability of the signals for ILS-like approach procedures to thousands of airports not served by precision instrument approaches. WAAS could be approved for IFR operations as early as next summer–a proposal that has the support of AOPA–in spite of a current imple more

The FAA is preparing publication of the first LPV (lateral precision with vertical guidance) approaches, a new type of precision approach procedure designed specifically for WAAS. The hallmarks of LPV are lower landing minimums than Lnav/Vnav (250 ft and three-quarters of a mile visibility) and signals that are compatible only with IFR-approved WAAS receivers. LPV approaches will provide a substan more

Phoenix-based Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) has been named the standard TCAS supplier for Dassault’s in-development Falcon 7X, a 5,700-nm trijet, which the French firm plans to fly for the first time in 2005. Owned jointly by L-3 Communications of New York and Thales of Paris, ACSS builds a number of surveillance products that Honeywell was forced to divest after its m more

Having secured solid footing in GA markets, Garmin announced it is introducing a new 16-watt com version of its GNC 420, GNS 430 and GNS 530 moving-map navcoms, now designated as “A” models. The new configuration will allow the units to transmit and receive at higher altitudes, a feature Garmin expects to entice more buyers from the corporate ranks. Garmin’s moving-map family has proved popu more