Jet Aviation Singapore is now a Honeywell-authorized TFE731 maintenance service center. Jet also says that its Private Fleet of charter aircraft based in Teterboro; Burbank, Calif.; and Zurich all have been equipped with DVD players, a DVD movie library and Sony noise-canceling headsets.
Rolls-Royce has signed engine sales and maintenance deals with Continental Express worth as much as $1.19 billion over the next 10 years. Under the terms of one agreement, Rolls-Royce will supply engines to the carrier for 75 Embraer RJ-145s and 25 Embraer RJ-135s. Continental Express also has tapped the engine manufacturer to provide fixed-fee maintenance for the carrier's 200 ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 aircraft currently in operation and on order. Rolls-Royce also will supply an unspecified number of spare engines under the maintenance contract.
Nav Canada and Air Canada have completed early tests of a Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) system over the North Atlantic. CPDLC is designed to replace certain voice communications between pilots and air traffic controllers with digital messaging. Nav Canada says benefits of the system include reduced pilot and controller workload, as well as an improvement over unreliable HF radio communication systems currently in use over the North Atlantic.
Bombardier Aerospace (Montreal) -- Stephen McNally joins as director of the manufacturer's new Business Aviation Services center in Dallas. Also at Bombardier Business Aviation Services, Bert Moas is promoted to regional manager for Mexico and Latin America, Mark Neihaus joins as manager of engine service sales and Walter Cram joins as manager of sales and support at Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services in Berlin, Germany.
One thing FOARC members could agree on easily was that elements of FAR Part 135 are woefully antiquated. A case-in-point is the ``60 percent'' rule, which requires Part 135 operators to be able to land within the first 60 percent of the available runway at their destination, adding a 40-percent margin to landing distance. The rule rests on the ``state of the art'' in the 1930s and 1940s, which in many respects wasn't very advanced.
New Piper Aircraft announced three new California-based dealers: Northern California Piper in Palo Alto, Cutter Aviation in Santa Monica and Southern California Piper in San Diego.
KaiserAir of Oakland recently hosted more than 40 private jets during the NBAA All-Star 2000 festivities at the nearby Network Associates Colisseum. Founded in 1946, KaiserAir manages 14 business jets for San Francisco Bay-area corporations and private owners. Additional information is available at www.kaiserair.com.
Spring may be in the air, but Brad Nelson, Airport Operations Manager at Jefferson County Airport in Colorado is already planning for next winter. The airport has acquired four new, high-speed runway ``brooms'' and a military surplus snowblower, enabling crews to attack snowfalls directly. In the past, crews had to wait for accumulations of an inch or greater before efficient removal operations could begin. ``We noticed braking actions improving from poor to good while testing the brooms on the ramp area,'' Nelson says.
Comair's Cincinnati hub will become all-jet as of December 1. Comair President Randy Rademacher says ``customers have told us they prefer jet service over turboprops and we have listened.'' Comair retains a number of Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops, but is steadily expanding its fleet of Canadair Regional Jets.
Rockwell Collins (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) -- The manufacturer has appointed 20-year company veteran John-Paul Besong vice president for business electronics.
TAG Aviation (White Plains, N.Y.) -- Ron Silverman is the new director of client services. Leonard Dalton has been promoted to vice president of maintenance operations and standards.
The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) has released its annual Directory of State Aviation Officials. The directory includes contact names and numbers for all U.S. state government aviation officials, as well as NASAO officials and committee members, FAA headquarters and regional officials, and aviation associations. Cost of the directory is $40 for a bound copy or $80 for a directory including updates throughout the year. Order forms are available at www.nasao.org/publications.
Bob Hoover has been grounded again -- this time by his insurance company. Hoover canceled his 2000 air show schedule after being unable to obtain sufficient insurance coverage and may donate his aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution. His promoters stress that Hoover is in excellent physical and mental health.
Executive Jet Chairman and CEO Richard Santulli is scheduled to speak at the opening day of the Aviation Services and Suppliers SuperShow (AS3) in Tampa on May 9. It is a rare public address for Santulli and his first appearance at an industry function since the Fractional Ownership Advisory Rulemaking Committee (FOARC) sent its recommendations to the FAA.
Midcoast Aviation (Cahokia, Ill.) -- Steve Burke has been promoted to director of materials, purchasing and Mark Berg to manager of turbine engine services.
FAA efforts to modernize the U.S. air traffic control system have achieved only ``limited success,'' the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) recently testified before the Senate Budget Committee. Cost overruns, delays and performance problems have caused modernization programs to fall short of expectations, a situation made worse by overly ambitious schedules, inadequate planning and lack of effective oversight, the GAO said.
Avfuel Corp., which claims to be the nation's leading independent supplier of aviation fuels and services, has added two FBOs to its nationwide dealer network: DB Aviation at Waukegan Regional Airport in Waukegan, Ill.; and TICO Executive Aviation at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titus- ville, Fla.
Airbus Industrie (Herndon, Va.) -- Retiring President and COO Nick Tomassetti will remain as president and CEO of AINA Holdings. Henri Courpron succeeds Tomassetti to head the manufacturer's North American operations, while Paul O. Mason becomes vice president of sales and marketing.
CHC Helicopter is selling some of its non-offshore operations to newly formed British International Ltd. Included in the deal are CHC's passenger service in Penzance, England; Cardiff, Wales-based Veritair; and Plymouth, England and Falklands operations for the U.K. Ministry of Defence. Twelve of CHC's 350 helicopters will be sold in the transaction, including eight Sikorsky S61s and two Eurocopter AS365N2s.
The FAA and France's DGAC have awarded Category III certification to Dassault Falcon 900EXs equipped with the Flight Dynamics HGS-2850 Head-up Guidance System. Dassault says three-quarters of 900EX operators have ordered the system, which originally was offered on the Falcon 2000. Dassault pilots and government officials flew more than 1,000 simulated and actual approaches to receive certification.
Air Midwest was awarded the FAA's Diamond Award in recognition of its maintenance training program. Wichita-based Air Midwest recently extended its mechanics' labor contract by an additional 15 months; the current agreement was not scheduled for re-negotiation until December. The airline is a Mesa Air Group subsidiary, and operates as a US Airways Express feeder.
Mercury Air Group says it will record a pretax charge of around $2.7 million in its fiscal third quarter, due to Tower Air's February 29 bankruptcy filing. Mercury plans to continue to supply the New York-based carrier, but only on a prepaid basis. Jet fuel prices have risen steadily over the past year, increasing airlines' operating expenses.
Lockheed Martin spin-off L-3 Communications has agreed to acquire Honeywell's TCAS business for $255 million. Once the acquisition is complete, L-3 will create a joint venture with Thomson-CSF subsidiary Sextant, which will acquire a 30-percent interest in the new company. The U.S. Department of Justice required Honeywell to sell the TCAS business as a condition of its merger with AlliedSignal in 1999. L-3 expects to consummate the acquisition later this year following approvals from U.S. and European regulators.
