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.
Has the ascent finally begun? The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reports that during the first half of 2013 the industry shipped 1,014 new aircraft new aircraft, an increase of nearly 9% over the same period a year earlier. Total billing of $10.4 billion was up a whopping 26%, the first since 2008 that airplane revenues exceeded $10 billion at the halfway mark. Deliveries and dollars were up in all categories with the notable exception of business jets, whose numbers slipped from 295 in 2012, to 283 this year, and revenue dropped by 4%.
Air Tractor recently delivered its 3,000th aircraft, a PT6A-34AG powered model 502B ag plane, to Agropecuaria Maggi Ltda., of Brazil. The operator has three other AT-502Bs for spraying crops of soybeans, cotton and corn. Last year the Olney, Tex., manufacturer produced a record 180 aircraft, all PT6-powered, which are used in ag work, fire fighting, narcotic crop eradication, fuel-hauling, fighting locust plagues, military strike/reconnaissance, and cleaning up oil spills in coastal waters. Air Tractors operate in 30 countries. For more information: www.airtractor.com
