Pratt & Whitney Canada yesterday received type certification from Transport Canada for its new PW535E engine for the Embraer Phenom 300 light business jet. “This is a remarkable milestone and comes 26 months after our first run of the PW535E engine,” said P&WC vice president for turbofan programs, John Wyzykowski. “The Phenom 300 program is progressing...
moreJPMorgan’s latest business jet monthly report, released yesterday, indicates that October was another month of modest improvement in aircraft demand and utilization. Further, pre-owned business jet inventories fell for the third straight month, “and the peak for this cycle now seems more firmly behind us, but they remain at very high absolute levels,” noted...
moreAirplane shipment numbers released today by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) starkly demonstrate the effect the economic downturn has had on the OEMs so far this year. During the first three quarters manufacturers delivered 615 business jets, a decline of nearly 38 percent from the 988 handed over during the same period in last year’s...
moreFormer deposit-holders for Eclipse 500 very light jets recently filed four lawsuits in New Mexico district courts alleging various wrongdoings by Eclipse Aviation executives before the company filed for bankruptcy one year ago. Named in the suits are former Eclipse Aviation leaders, including Vern Raburn, Roel Pieper, Peg Billson, Michael McConnell and Mark...
moreFor Cessna Mustang owner Jeff Greenberg, NBAA’s 62nd Annual Meeting & Convention just wasn’t long enough. Attracted to the event held last month in Orlando by NBAA’s more than 1,000 exhibitors and the Light Business Airplane Conference sessions, Greenberg said he really wished the show lasted one more day. On the first day, Greenberg tried to visit all the...
moreSluggish economy stalls new turboprops
The sluggish economy has stalled investment into new turboprop development, but updates of established models from legacy manufacturers are still coming to market pretty much on schedule. While overall sales of new turboprops are down, the decrease is nowhere near the 37-percent decline in new business jet sales....
moreCessna and Bell parent company Textron has tapped company president and COO Scott Donnelly to replace retiring Lewis Campbell as CEO, effective December 1. Campbell has been with Textron for the past 17 years, including the last 11 as CEO, following a lengthy career in the auto industry. He presided over the company during business aviation’s period of...
morePratt & Whitney Canada last month announced that it is cutting 410 jobs and closing its Longueuil plant near Montreal, citing the global slowdown in the aerospace market. It plans to eliminate 250 jobs by year-end and another 160 by the end of next year, when it shuts down the Longueuil facility.
moreBusiness aviation faces similar issues around the world that will require operators to cooperate across regional lines if the industry is to thrive, Cessna Aircraft chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton said last month at the 10th annual Regional Aviation Association of Australia Convention. “Every region of the world has its own issues to deal with and...
moreDeliveries of turbine-powered business airplanes will continue to fall through the end of next year before beginning a slow but steady recovery in 2011, according to a market forecast released by avionics maker Rockwell Collins. The outlook projects that around 600 turbine business airplanes will roll out of factories next year, with the market remaining...
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Looking ahead to an economic recovery, and to fulfilling its stated intention to become a major player in the business aviation industry, Embraer provided one of the surprises at the NBAA Convention last month by introducing a new business jet–the large-cabin Legacy 650.Embraer v-p of market intelligence Claudio Camelier told AIN that this latest addition...
moreAccording to a monthly business jet report issued by JPMorgan last month, the pre-owned market recovery continues though new jet demand is expected to lag. JPMorgan said used inventories fell 50 basis points in September, to 13.6 percent of the in-service fleet, the “second consecutive meaningful decline and further evidence that we are past the cyclical...
moreThe marketing hype surrounding very light jets (VLJs) has “largely subsided,” according to Brian Foley, president of business aviation consulting firm Brian Foley Associates, and the VLJ “has yet to prove that it’s anything more than a subcompact business jet. This is in contrast to a time when ‘revolutionary’ and ‘disruptive technology’ were industry...
moreA recent survey conducted by the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) about inconsistent FAA regulatory interpretations has yielded “troubling, yet expected,” results. NATA conducted the survey in response to numerous members’ reports of having experienced varying interpretations of FARs by the FAA’s regional aircraft certification (ACO) and...
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