Corporate aircraft utilizing European airspace are being racked by new avionics and flight restrictions, but none seems so ominous as upcoming reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) requirements. Come November 1, 2001, vertical separation over the 31 member states of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) is scheduled to be reduced to 1,000 feet from as low as FL 290 in France to FL 410. What worries the business aviation community is not the reduction itself, but the equipment and certification requirements that go with it.
Over 200 delegates attended the Inmarsat Aeronautical Services Users Conference held in London from June 3-5. While the greater part of the content concentrated on the progress made by airliner-based Aero-H systems, there was news on the introduction of new spot-beam services-Aero-I for business aircraft and the enhanced Aero-H+ service-made available by the launch of Inmarsat-3 satellites.
Authorities for Cote D'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) continue their investigation of why a King Air 200 chartered by the United Nations crashed on approach to Lome-Abidjan Airport. The June accident was fatal to all seven persons aboard. The aircraft (S/N BB 815), was registered as ZS-MSL (South Africa). No further information was available at press time.
David A. Wyss, Chief Economist, Standard&Poor's DRI
Corporate aviation is flying one of the longest economic booms in history. The economy is in the best condition since the 1960s, as this 90-month expansion nears the length of the 1980s upturn, the second-longest in postwar history, and takes aim at the 106-month boom of the 1960s. Despite the headwinds from Asia, the economy should break the 1960s' record in February 2000.
The FBO chain has announced two staff changes: At the headquarters office, Gary Boekenkamp came aboard as the new senior vice president of marketing. He left a similar role at Dallas Airmotive, Signature's sister company. At Signature's Chicago O'Hare location, Paul Shira was named the new general manager.
Many recent, highly publicized aviation accidents have begged easy solution. Today-two years after the event-investigators continue to sort TWA Flight 800 wire bundles in Long Island looking for a culprit, and specialists in Washington continue to puzzle over air carrier upset accidents such as those at Colorado Springs and Pittsburgh. The lay media make much of these mysteries, and some of these accidents have become grist for conspiracy theorists.
The Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha has developed an aviation distance learning degree program that debuts August 24. Using the Internet, students will be able to earn a bachelor of general studies degree with an aviation concentration, intended to help them prepare for management positions. The tuition rate is $78.50 per credit hour. To graduate, students need 125 credit hours. Up to 64 credits can be transferred from community colleges or technical schools. Phone (402) 554-3424 or fax (402) 554-3781 for further information.
Anyone in corporate aviation knows the challenges of modern business: doing more with fewer resources, maximizing efficiency, closely monitoring and measuring performance. And while most people understand the fundamental reasons for the evolution of the industry, often it can feel like a squeeze.
Aerospace Lighting Corp. of Holbrook, N.Y. is the latest business jet cabin equipment supplier to be acquired by B/E Aerospace. The Wellington, Fla.-based firm, a major vendor to the airlines, began a serious expansion into the business jet market earlier this year with the acquisition of Aircraft Modular Products and Puritan-Bennett's Wemac business (May, page 14). "The corporate business jet market has growth rates even higher than our commercial transport product market," said B/E Chairman Amin J. Khoury.
Richard I. Bong Memorial Airport in Superior, Wis. officially welcomed its new 5,100-foot Runway 3/21 on July 3, culminating an almost 10-year struggle to get environmental approval to build a new, longer runway. The opening "also marks the beginning of the airport's important role in the growth of the area's economy," said the Wisconsin Bureau of Aeronautics.
There isn't any short-term leasing going on in the current market," Richard W. Ramsden, manager of national business aircraft finance at Bombardier Capital Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. told B/CA. "You see it when there is excess inventory [in the used market]." Clearly, that is not the current situation.
FlightSafety International simulators for the Cessna CitationJet in San Antonio and for the Learjet 55 in West Palm Beach received FAA Level C certification
Mission Air Support of Roanoke, Va. added the entire Gulfstream I parts inventory from Chrysler Pentastar to its stock of the "top 100" most commonly replaced items for G-Is through G-IVs
Our neighbors to the north published a primer this spring on why the United States should not adopt the sort of fee-based financing scheme that the Clinton administration keeps promoting. The new Nav Canada rate schedule due to go into effect on November 1 will establish just the sort of anti-aircraft, bureaucratic maze Bill Clinton and Al Gore want to inflict on the U.S. aviation community.
Universal Avionics Systems expects to complete construction of its new manufacturing plant in Tucson later this year. The addition more than doubles the size of the firm's current facility
Thwarted by more ramp construction delays, the opening of Executive JetPort at New Jersey's Trenton Airport has now been pushed to the end of this month. Originally, the FBO was to start providing line service and fueling in April (May, page 18 and June, page 20).
BMW Rolls-Royce is in a long-term program to reduce the weight of the BR710A2-120 turbofans that power the Bombardier Global Express by as much as 400 pounds. The engine manufacturer says some of the weight-reduction changes are expected to be retrofittable.
The International Business Aviation Council will re-establish a full-time office in Montreal. A new director is expected to be named by year-end. IBAC, formed in 1981 to represent business aviation associations from around the world, operated full-time in Montreal for many years, but funding and personnel issues forced the Montreal office to close and its activities to be minimized. The NBAA is one of nine IBAC member associations.
Northwest and Airlink partner Mesaba have agreed to double the regional's British Aerospace Avro RJ85 fleet, from 18 to 36 through August 2000. The announcement came shortly after Northwest's ALPA unit-threatening strike action over lack of a new contract-had asked that its pilots be allowed to fly any new regional jets.
