EBACE Convention 2013
More Stories from EBACE 2013
Earlier this year Gestair (Booth 755) opened a new FBO facility in the former authorities pavilion at Madrid-Barajas airport, which is where all the Spanish capital’s business aviation traffic is now directed. Previously those flights had operated into Torrejón air base, but that operation has been closed down. Gestair, with 35 years experience providing business aviation services, won the initial five-year contract from AENA (Spanish airports and air navigation authority) to manage the Barajas executive terminal.
Jet Aviation Basel signed an agreement at EBACE with Custom Control Concepts (Booth 385) of Kent, Washington, to become the company’s exclusive authorized service center in Europe. Custom Control Concepts provides custom inflight entertainment equipment, lighting and cabin management systems to high-end jets and heads-of-state aircraft.
Eclipse Aerospace has arrived with an aircraft on static display for the first time at EBACE. The manufacturer is represented by its official European distributor, UK-based Aeris Aviation (based at Branscombe Airfield in Devon), which is offering demo flights in the Eclipse 500 very light jet during the show.
During an EBACE interview, Daher-Socata (Booth 1643) airplane division senior v-p Nicolas Chabbert told AIN that none of the company’s design engineers is currently working on its new twin project (NTX) that it has been considering since 2008. “The NTX project is in standby mode,” he said. At least, the Tarbes, France-based manufacturer of the single-engine TBM 850 turboprop knows where its main competitors stand. Pilatus has just unveiled a light twinjet, the PC-24, and Beechcraft now offers a turboprop-only lineup.
Bombardier has selected Lufthansa Technik’s nice HD cabin management and in-flight entertainment system for its upgraded Challenger 350, thus adding audio and video on-demand distribution to personal devices.
Lufthansa Technik said that its nice HD system has a flexible, open IP architecture, based on a wired and wireless broadband Ethernet network. The bottom line in the Challenger 350 will be that each passenger can watch individually chosen movies on an Apple, Android or Windows 8 device and also push content from the device to an embedded display.
According to charter broker Air Partner, Conklin & de Decker released research during EBACE 2013 indicating that the use of charter jet cards is on the rise in Europe. The report assesses the jet card products offered by NetJets Europe (Booth 7011) and Air Partner across six key criteria: accessible service areas; notice period; aircraft choice; pricing; flexibility; and quality assurance, service and safety.
Inflight Executive Jet Centre at Stansted Airport in London has appointed Steve Grimes as its new managing director. Grimes is assigned the mission of expanding business for Inflight’s FBO and its maintenance shop.
“I am looking forward to growing the business in both areas,” said Grimes, “which could mean expanding with new locations for both operations and maintenance.” Inflight also said its growth strategy includes expanding into aircraft completions and interior refurbishment.
Doha, Qatar-based charter operator Rizon Jet has announced that it has received FAA Part 129 certification for foreign air carriers, thus permitting unrestricted commercial operations into and within the U.S. Rizon Jet CEO Hassan Al-Mousawi noted that applying for the certification was a response to “an increasing customer demand for transatlantic flights.” Rizon Jet has additional operating bases in the Middle East and the UK.
JetNet iQ director Rolland Vincent is “very optimistic” about the outlook for business aviation in Europe as well as the rest of the world, he said yesterday at EBACE. Over the next 10 years, the company is calling for deliveries of 9,317 business jets worth $257 billion. In 2022, the projected business jet fleet would thus reach 25,937, a 36-percent increase from the 19,016 jets flying today.
This week China’s Metrojet , a leading operator and maintenance provider in Asia, has announcedhas signed a partnership agreement with The Leather Institute of Red Bank, New Jersey. Under the agreement The Leather Institute will provide its aircraft interior care and leather component refinishing services at Metrojet’s facilities.
Oxford Airport, located at Kidlington (just north of the “Dreaming Spires” of the famous university town), has continued to experience growth in business aviation traffic. An 11-percent increase in business traffic during 2012, up from 6,913 movements in 2011 to 7,761, has also contributed to a 13-percent rise in jet fuel sales. This traffic increase has cemented Oxford’s position as the London region’s fifth busiest business destination and the fastest growing.
Created in 2012 by industry veterans Cass Anderson and Jeff Habib, Intercontinental Aircraft Group (IAG) is a New York City-based consultancy service that provides third-party advice for business jet acquisitions and operations. IAG can provide aircraft needs assessment, mission-profile analysis, financial comparison and optimization, aircraft technical comparison, market analysis, aircraft valuation and contract negotiation.
DeliSky, the Swiss international inflight catering service provider, announced that it has launched an iPad and iPhone App to augment its unique online catering order system, which is available at more than 120 airports worldwide. The company provides catering from dozens of carefully vetted sources, including high-end restaurants and caterers.
Denton, Texas-based Odyssey Aerospace Components is excited to bring samples of its VVIP 747-8 interior cabinetry to EBACE 2013. At Booth 1027 attendees can closely examine the quality of the company’s business jet custom cabinetry. “Back in Texas we are in the middle of many design reviews [on the 747-8] and the results are positive,” said Trey Bryson, president of Odyssey Aerospace Components.
Montreal, Canada-based Innotech Aviation (Booth 1115) announced here at EBACE 2013 the successful installation and certification of a dual Ku/SatTV system on a Bombardier Global jet. Called the I-Ku Diamond system, the installation offers Global operators simultaneous operation of satellite TV, Ku-band satellite high-speed broadband service, voice over IP and other office-in-the-sky applications. Speeds average 1.5 Mbps with options to select even faster speeds.
Acropolis Aviation, a UK-based charter operator offering an Airbus ACJ319 for charter, is exhibiting for the first time at EBACE. Sharing stand 1047 with Avinode, Acropolis Aviation is highlighting its new Arabic and Russian brochures. “These new brochures will ensure we can connect with these growing markets in a clear and direct way,” said CEO Jonathan Bousfield. Acropolis has also entered the social media sphere with a new Twitter account.
Universal Weather and Aviation (Booth 363) announced here that it has started working with anti-bribery consultancy Trace to help mitigate its clients’ risk of bribery and corruption violations.
Bombardier is offering an avionics block upgrade for its Challenger 300 in response to interest by operators in the Pro Line 21 Advanced system that comes standard in the new Challenger 350, the company announced here yesterday. Bombardier plans to introduce the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 retrofit as service bulletins during this year’s third quarter.
The IBA group has announced that Jet Intel, its market data intelligence division, is to release its first annual business jet asset report. The report provides market value trends and forecasts. A sample can be seen but the full report will be available June 7 for £1,500 ($2,300).
Fargo Jet Center (Booth 327) welcomed news yesterday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reinstated 24-hour customs clearance at its base in Fargo, North Dakota, following service disruptions resulting from automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.
