Jessica is Executive Editor of Business & Commercial Aviation magazine. She started as Editor of ShowNews Online, Aviation Week's on-site trade show daily published at the Paris Air Show, NBAA Annual Convention, Singapore Air Show and at other significant aerospace gatherings.
Jessica has worked in television production and management consulting. While not yet a licensed pilot, Ms. Salerno has received flight instruction and has soloed.
Directional Aviation Capital plans to operate Flexjet and Flight Options as two distinct entities. While the two fractional operations are competitors, Kenn Ricci, principal of Directional and Flight Options chairman, says the companies will serve different clientele with Flexjet promoted as the “premium brand,” maintaining a fleet of Bombardier aircraft. The company now operates some 88 aircraft, but more are on the way, anchored by an order for 25 Learjet 75s, 30 Learjet 85s, 20 Challenger 350s and 10 Challenger 605s valued at $1.8 billion.
The aviation community lost two more exemplary members over the summer. Paul Poberezny, the founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the creator of the world's largest general aviation air show — AirVenture — passed away at the age of 91 from cancer in Oshkosh, Wis., on Aug. 22. And John Marino, who spent nearly four decades as a FlightSafety International executive at the organization's academy in Vero Beach, Fla., in China, and in Washington, D.C., died on Aug. 16 following a long battle with cancer. He was 65.
GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems has joined the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, raising the trade association's total membership to 84. The unit is a division of GKN Aerospace, one of the world's largest independent first-tier suppliers to the global aviation industry with over 100 years of aerospace experience and 12,000 employees in more than 35 facilities worldwide. GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems designs and manufactures glass, acrylic and polycarbonate transparency systems and tests and certifies cockpit and passenger windows.
