The Weekly of Business Aviation

The European Space Agency and UK air navigation service provider NATS are exploring whether 5G cellular communications technology could help to provide a resilient positioning capability for uncrewed air systems.

European engineering services company Akka Technologies has unveiled its concept for a zero-emission regional aircraft.

Aircraft finance and asset management company Amedeo has entered a strategic partnership with Aura Aero that includes a letter of intent to purchase 200 of the French startup’s planned 19-seat ERA hybrid-electric regional aircraft.

The U.S. Forestry Service has retired its Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopters used for the aerial supervision of firefighting operations.

Backed by Chinese electric car maker XPeng, startup HT Aero has reached agreement to raise more than $500 million to develop an integrated flying and driving vehicle.

A central tenet of Uber’s Elevate vision for urban aerial ride sharing was that this is commercial air transport—aircraft owned by airlines and flown by professional pilots plying between vertiports.

GE Digital has signed a memo of understanding with Flapz to provide personalized data about each flight under a program called Safety Insight for Business Jets.

Used business aircraft prices have increased 20% to 30% due to historically low inventory and a backlog of new aircraft orders, an International Aircraft Dealers Association survey of its dealers shows.

With investors including Alaska Air Group, UP.Partners has closed a $230 million early stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting companies enabling future mobility.

Germany’s Volocopter has partnered with Austrian commercial vehicle manufacturer Schwarzmuller to develop a mobile takeoff and landing platform for the VoloDrone electric unmanned cargo aircraft.

Viasat’s new service plan structure can be customized for where an aircraft typically operates and the amount of data it requires.

Reliable Robotics has raised an additional $100 million in funding to continue development of its remotely operated aircraft system for cargo and passenger aircraft.

With low used aircraft inventory and rising flight hours in the business jet industry, it’s a good time to be in business.

The King Air installation adds an additional 6-8 ft. of wingspan.

Southeast Aerospace announced partnership with Garmin International to develop IVSI and ESI units in Part 25 aircraft.

China’s AutoFlight debuted its planned V1500M electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi at Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai at the end of September.

Fuel-cell developer and green-hydrogen producer Plug Power has announced partnerships with both Airbus and startup Airflow to bring zero-emission hydrogen propulsion to aviation.

Leidos is offering the Bombardier Challenger 650 as a fleet replacement or contractor-operator service for the U.S. Army’s RC-12X Guardrail Common Sensor.

A new partnership will use actual flight data to tailor aircrew simulator training using Corporate Flight Operations Quality Assurance.

The first announced application for EP Systems’ EPiC lithium-ion battery module, the eDA40 is designed for use as an electric circuit trainer.

Volocopter and logistics company DB Schenker conducted the first public demonstration of the VoloDrone heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg on Oct. 12.

Blackhawk said its upgrades are designed to “increase the performance, speed, usability and reliability of high-performance turboprop aircraft for a lower cost than buying new.”

Bombardier kicked off NBAA-BACE with the announcement of the launch customer for the Challenger 3500.

Airbus Corporate Helicopters has weathered the pandemic with stable sales, and expects to surpass its 2020 performance this year.

Jaunt Air Mobility, specialist in electric vertical takeoff and and hybrid-electric aircraft, has agreed to merge with AIRO Group.