News

US Helicopter, billed as the only certified scheduled helicopter service in the U.S., launched its inaugural flights on March 27, serving JFK International Airport (JFK) and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (JRB), at Wall Street, with Sikorsky S-76Bs. The operator has a dedicated gate at JFK, in the new American Airlines Terminal 9, and plans to […]

French airframer EADS Socata last week announced it promoted two of its executives to worldwide responsibilities. The company named Nicolas Chabbert as vice president of sales and marketing, reporting directly to EADS Socatas Chairman and CEO, Stphane Mayer, while Raphal Matre, previously deputy vice president of customer service, was promoted to the position of vice […]

Adam Aircraft last week named Rob Penrod as its vice president of manufacturing, as it continues to add staff and resources in efforts to bring its two main designs — the A500 piston twin and the A700 AdamJet — to full certification and market. Penrod joins the Adam Aircraft team from Bell Helicopter where, as […]

Piaggio Aero Industries S.p.A., manufacturer of the Avanti and Avanti II twin pusher turboprops, last week announced that Mubadala Development, a principal investment company wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, has acquired 35 percent of the Italian airframer’s equity. According to Piaggio, the transaction is based on the two companies’ “shared belief … […]

Saying it will add some 300 engineers to its design team, Embraer last week announced it has begun what it terms the “joint definition phase” (JDP) of its efforts to bring the Phenom 300 light business jet to market. The Phenom 300 is the first clean-sheet design of its category in over two decades, said […]

Just when you thought it was safe and secure to fly your bizjet, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) last week decided to let the air out of your tires. According to the TSA — which only rarely has been associated with false alarms — “On April 13, 2006, a message posted in Arabic on a […]

One of the business aviation industry’s most anticipated new-service launches in recent memory edged closer to becoming a reality this week. DayJet, the start-up “per-seat, on-demand” operation based on what many believe will be the coming horde of very light jets (VLJs), announced Monday its first regional service area would encompass Florida and the southeast […]

…the next issue of AVweb‘s BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on April 26. See you then…

It’s not every day a personal airplane gets a parking ticket. It’s especially rare when the aircraft in question is a Gulfstream bizjet. But that’s apparently what happened recently in Honduras, according to the Miami Herald newspaper. Back in February, a Gulfstream GII landed at the capital’s Toncontn airport outside Tegucigalpa shortly after 11:00 pm […]

Meanwhile, Pilatus announced three personnel changes of its own. Thomas Bosshard, since 2002 president & CEO of Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd. (PilBAL), based in Broomfield, Colo., has been named chief operating officer of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., Stans, Switzerland. He will relocate back to Switzerland to take over his new position. To replace him, Thomas Hunziker […]