Business Aviation

Thrush Aircraft has filed for bankruptcy and is in the process of reorganizing to continue operations. The Albany, Georgia-based company filed the paperwork Sept. 5 and laid off 113 employees. The company is a well-known producer of turboprop aerial application aircraft and recently jumped into the single-engine air tanker (SEAT) market with a model that […]

Bombardier’s Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets have been awarded their Transport Canada type certifications, according to a company announcement on Tuesday. Bombardier says it expects FAA and EASA certifications to follow shortly. Flight testing of the aircraft was completed at Bombardier’s Wichita, Kansas, test center and both models are scheduled to enter service […]

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation announced plans to establish a center in Montreal, Canada, last week. The company, which also opened U.S. headquarters in Renton, Washington, in May, says the move will help it “prepare for the next phase of its global growth” as it looks toward beginning deliveries of the first of its new SpaceJet family […]

Textron Aviation announced today that the Cessna Citation Longitude “super-midsize” jet has received its FAA type certificate. In a probably excusable bit of hyperbole, Textron Aviation’s President and CEO Ron Draper proclaimed that “the Longitude revolution starts now.” The Longitude received its provisional TC in late 2018. According to Cessna, the Longitude test fleet amassed […]

Airbus expects the worldwide passenger and freighter aircraft fleet to more than double in the next twenty years, the company said in its Global Market Forecast (GMF) for 2019-2038. The 2019 annual report, titled “Cities, Airports & Aircraft,” forecasts a need for 39,210 new aircraft—25,000 to support a projected annual air traffic growth of 4.3 […]

Textron Aviation is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the inaugural flight of the Cessna Citation 500 business jet this week. The Citation 500, then called the Fanjet 500, was launched in October 1968. The prototype flew for the first time on September 15, 1969, at Cessna’s facility in Wichita, Kansas, and the aircraft received its […]

Gulfstream held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility last Friday. The facility, called the Gulfstream East Campus, is located at the company’s headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, on the east side of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV). According to Gulfstream, it undertook the project in order […]

Boeing is still looking to return the 737 MAX to service by the end of the year, according to statements made by Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg at an investment conference in Laguna Niguel, California, on Wednesday. The aircraft was grounded last March in the wake of the crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March […]

French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation announced the appointment of Thierry Betbeze as CEO of its subsidiary, Dassault Falcon Jet (DFJ), on Wednesday. DFJ, which is headquartered in Teterboro, New Jersey, oversees the marketing, sales and support of Falcon business jets in the Americas. Betbeze is replacing DFJ CEO Jean Rosanvallon, who is stepping down after […]

Sierra Nevada Corporation subsidiary 328 Support Services GmbH (328SSG) announced on Wednesday that it has formed new aircraft original equipment manufacturer (OEM) DRA GmbH to build an upgraded version of the Dornier 328 twin-engine turboprop, called the D328NEU. To that end, 328SSG and U.S.-based Sierra Nevada Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with German federal […]