BBA Aviation is seeing pockets of growth in business and general aviation flight operations in North America, but overall traffic has remained flat, and is even down a little in Europe. “In terms of North America, interestingly we continue to see signs, positive signs of recovery, both in terms of macroeconomic indicators … and some of the underlying business confidence indicators,” says Simon Pryce, CEO of Signature Flight Support parent BBA Aviation.

Pilatus has at least one fractional operation eyeing its new PC-24 twin jet for its fleet – its longtime and largest PC-12 customer, PlaneSense. The Portsmouth, N.H.-based fractional provider was hoping to become an eager buyer of the stillborn Grob SPn. The reason for that interest, says PlaneSense founder, President and CEO George Antoniadis, was the Grob twin’s large cabin, good economy and ability to fly into small and unimproved strips – attributes that mirror those of the PC-12.

A strong showing by Gulfstream and Bombardier helped propel first-half general aviation billings to their highest levels since 2008, but the continued sluggishness at the light end of the jet market kept down business shipments overall, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s (GAMA) first-half shipment report. But at the same time, the piston market – usually a leading indicator of market recovery – is showing signs of a rebound.

Pilatus is establishing a new joint venture company in Chongqing

Signature Flight Support is remaining on the acquisition trail, picking up the Jet Systems facility at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y. for $38.5 million, a move that strengthens its position on a key business aviation airport.

Purdue University is expanding biofuel research to very light jets, teaming with Embraer and Honeywell on a project involving a Jet A/camelina-based blend.

The investigation of the July 6 crash of an Asiana 777 at San Francisco International Airport is still in the early stages, but already it has the aviation world talking once again about issues around cockpit automation and pilots' airmanship skills.

Etihad Airways was about to add another airline to its growing portfolio of affiliates last week with the signing of an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in JAT Airways, the national carrier of Serbia. The airline is expected to be renamed Air Serbia.