Business aircraft activity in the U.S. fell for the third consecutive month, with flying hours down slightly–by 0.4 percent–year-over-year last month, according to TraqPak data released on Friday by aviation services company Argus. As has been the trend for much of this year, Part 135 was the only operational category to experience a gain in flying activity, increasing 10.5 percent from a year ago and marking its seventh consecutive monthly increase. Part 91 activity was down 3.2 percent year-over-year, while fractional flying dropped by 10.6 percent, the Argus data shows.
Transport
May 14, 2013 - 3:13pm
Boeing on Tuesday morning officially delivered the first 787 since aviation authorities around the globe grounded the model nearly four months ago. Plans call for Dreamliner Line Number 83—an All Nippon Airways airplane—to take off from Boeing’s Everett, Washington, production site for Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon.
May 14, 2013 - 3:10pm
The first production iteration of the Bombardier Learjet 75 will make its debut next week at EBACE, one year after the company announced the Learjet 70 and 75–upgraded versions of the Learjet 40 and 45, respectively–at EBACE 2012. “This debut of the Learjet 75 marks another exciting year of innovation and we look forward to delivering the first one in the fourth quarter,” said Bombardier Business Aircraft president Steve Ridolfi. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer will also have a Challenger 300, Challenger 605 and Global 6000 on display alongside the new Learjet.
May 14, 2013 - 2:21pm
A new survey by the University of North Dakota Aviation Department suggests that young people are being turned off by the prospect of a career as an airline pilot. Just under one third of the 205 student respondents (32 percent) said they are now reconsidering their plans to become an airline pilot. A further 8 percent said that they have already abandoned this career path.
May 14, 2013 - 9:30am
Boeing and Turkish Airlines on Tuesday completed a firm order for forty 737 MAX 8s, ten 737 MAX 9s and twenty 737-800s, valued at $6.9 billion at list prices. The deal, originally announced as a commitment last month, includes options for another 25 MAX 8s and amounts to the largest Boeing order in Turkish Airlines’ history.
May 13, 2013 - 2:35pm
Pilots and controllers at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Memphis International (MEM) and Houston Intercontinental (HOU) may soon take part in operational testing of a new reduced-separation standard between aircraft departing on parallel runways during crosswind conditions. For the wake turbulence mitigation for departures (WTMD) procedure one of the aircraft must weigh more than 300,000 pounds (categorized as “heavy”) and weather conditions must remain at least basic VFR with a 1,000-foot ceiling and three statute miles visibility.
May 13, 2013 - 2:10pm
A U.S. District Court jury in Spokane, Wash., convicted commercial pilot Paul Roessler of flying an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol. Roessler was arrested following an April 2012 flight when air traffic controllers in the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center and Spokane Tower reported the pilot demonstrated some questionable behavior. In one incident, he failed to contact the center via radio during his flight and upon arrival in the terminal area lined up with the wrong runway.
May 13, 2013 - 1:55pm
Last summer the FAA demanded American Airlines pay $162.4 million for a number of maintenance violations at both American and its regional affiliate, American Eagle. On Thursday, the agency agreed to settle with American for $24.9 million to wipe the slate clean, based on the efforts the airline made to resolve the outstanding maintenance issues.
May 13, 2013 - 11:20am
Airlines are benefitting from growing capital market support for new aircraft financing, with this source of funding expected to account for as much as 15 percent of all transactions this year, according to Boeing Capital. A few years ago, capital markets accounted for barely 2 to 3 percent of aircraft financing.
May 13, 2013 - 11:15am
Sita is supporting the launch of datalink ATC service in Indonesian airspace. The Geneva-based company has an agreement with Indonesia’s air navigation service provider to provide an air-to-ground datalink infrastructure that will enable pilots and controllers to communicate in the Jakarta flight information region.
