News

Germany-based GROB Aerospace continues to develop its SPn Utility Jet after its public unveiling at this summer’s Paris Air Show and recently announced the prototype’s first flight, a 66-minute affair in which initial handling tests and system checks were performed. Capt. Gerard Guillaumaud and co-test pilot Tore Reimers commanded the aircraft, which now enters into […]

News reports coming from New Orleans, La., yesterday describing the damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina are painting a grim, bleak picture for one of America’s most dynamic cities and — most importantly — for her residents. Sadly, those same reports indicate the worst of the storm’s horrific damage is not yet known; it may be […]

…the next issue of AVweb‘s BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on Aug. 31. See you then…

Raytheon affiliate Flight Options, LLC, said last week that Raytheon Travel Air has purchased an additional $50 million of common equity of the company. The fractional operator also announced it was expanding its so-called “75/25” program, which allows customers to fly aboard two different types of aircraft in the Flight Options fleet after purchasing only […]

Canada-based Bombardier plans to build a new maintenance center in Moscow, Russia, to support what it calls a growing number of its jets operating in that country, said the Moscow Times. According to the newspaper, Bob Horner, Bombardier vice president for business aircraft sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, on Monday said, “The […]

Signature Flight Support last month announced it and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) have executed a ten-year ground lease allowing the FBO chain to continue operating at the Boston-Logan International Airport until 2016. Signature said that, as part of its obligation, it has begun designing a new 10,000-square-foot terminal facility, which is scheduled for completion […]

Jet Aviation, one of the world’s leading business aviation service companies, this week announced the Permira Funds has agreed to acquire the majority of its parent, Hirschmann-/Jet Aviation Group. Details about the transaction, including its size, were not disclosed. Jet Aviation, based in Zurich, was founded in 1967. Today, it boasts more than 3,500 personnel […]

Also at the recently concluded EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, Raytheon took the wraps off its latest turboprop offering, the Beechcraft King Air C90GT. The latest Beechcraft is an evolutionary development of the original short-body King Air featuring Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-135-A engines. According to Raytheon, the new powerplants help deliver a 25-knot max cruise speed […]

With all the hype, talk and status updates from Cessna, Eclipse and even Honda, Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation (SSAC) this week had to get in the game, announcing it had received the FAA’s Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) for its forthcoming SJ30-2 light (13,500 max gross takeoff weight) jet. According to Sino Swearingen, the occasion marks […]

As AVweb reported last week, Honda brought its experimental HondaJet to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh last month, flying the innovative VLJ in from its Greensboro, N.C., testing base. The real news came after the show, however, when Honda executives allowed that they just may offer a certificated version of the jet. Sticking to the “this is […]