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Unsurprisingly, considering the wave of further bad economic news from the sunnier parts of the Eurozone, chartered business jet departures from southern European cities dropped far more steeply over this part winter than in northern Europe. New charter data prepared by online charter portal Avinode exclusively for AIN shows departures out of southern Europe dipping below 10,000 in January 2013. This was almost 1,000 below the total for the same period last year and a big drop from the almost 20,000 departures seen in July 2012.

Just prior to EBACE, Hangar8 received the documents that secured a landmark dispensation from the Cayman Islands aircraft registry, allowing Hangar8 to operate Cayman-registered aircraft under its UK AOC, as long as the aircraft type itself is already covered by the AOC. This allows Caymans aircraft to be chartered out, and also to be operated under public transport regulations, which are exempt from VAT and minerals tax.

Cabin MRO, completions and refurbishment giant Lufthansa Technik (Booth 1031) is expanding its innovation engineering capability at its base in Hamburg, Germany. This year, according to Andrew Muirhead, who runs the Innovation Business Unit, the 55-person core team will be boosted by seven additional posts, and further staff positions will be required in 2014 and 2015.

Of all the new products it is has on display at EBACE this year, New Berlin, Wisconsin-based Emteq (Booth 1557) expects the most buzz to be around its eConnect advancements. Since eConnect was introduced in the fourth quarter of 2011, Emteq has continued to update the cabin electronics control system, ensuring it not only will serve as a current top-line CMS/IFE system but can also adapt to future needs.