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.
The founders of Marquis Jet have struck a potential $1.4 billion deal with Beechcraft to launch new “private membership” venture, Wheels Up, which will be anchored around a fleet of King Air 350i's. The agreement includes firm orders and maintenance for 35 aircraft, with options for up to 70 more. Deliveries will begin this year with the remaining firm orders to be delivered at a rate of 1-1.5 per month, running through 2015. The options would then continue over the next few years.
To no one's surprise, Richard Santulli is a major force in aviation once again. Before founding NetJets, the former Goldman Sachs wunderkind had begun RTS Helicopter Services, a leasing operation that grew to become among the largest such organizations in the world. RTS wound down as Santulli turned his focus to NetJets, but after severing relations with the fractional operation in 2009, the following year he founded Milestone Aviation Group.
The General Aviation Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives has topped the 200 member mark, or almost half the 435-seat chamber. The advocacy group is composed of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and as Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft and Pilots Association noted, “This level of bipartisan agreement is nearly unheard of in the modern political climate, and it is a true testament to the importance of general aviation.”
