News

The June 9 episode involving a failed transponder aboard a Beech King Air carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) into DCA on a waiver has had a broad impact on general and business aviation in the Washington, D.C., airspace. And it ain’t over yet. Since widely acknowledged communications failures resulted in a panic evacuation of […]

If any TSA-watchers remain unconvinced that aviation security and national politics are hopelessly intertwined, last week’s comments by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson to the Washington Aero Club should set you straight. At that luncheon, Hutchinson told attendees that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) would not be reopened to general aviation […]

Cessna Aircraft Company announced June 22 that the companys new Orlando, Fla., Citation Service Center is open for business. The new facility began serving customers the previous day. According to Cessna, the new service center is a significant upgrade to the company’s previous facilities, boasting some 155,000 square feet, versus the 47,275-square-foot operation it replaces. […]

Less than a year after its introduction of the Falcon 900EX, Dassault celebrated its June 22 FAA certification for the Falcon 2000EX EASy. Introduction of the non-EASy equipped Falcon 2000EX took place in March 2003, while the EASy flight deck made its debut late last year on Dassault’s flagship trijet. In the past year and […]

And the big get bigger. NetJets, widely considered the largest fractional-ownership operation in the world, is buying another 40 aircraft from the Raytheon Aircraft Company — a mix of 20 Hawker 800XP mid-size jets and 20 Hawker 400XP light jets — in a deal announced Monday. Total value of the contract will exceed $300 million, […]

Its been a good month for Bombardier Aerospace. On June 22, the company announced that Transport Canada had awarded the certification papers for Bombardier’s Learjet 40, six months after the light jet entered corporate service last January. Earlier, on June 17, Bombardier received FAA approval to install the Honeywell TFE731-20BR engine in the Learjet 45 […]

It’s been a while — the 1980s, to be exact — since any major action by Congress or the IRS to address what some perceive as abuses of business aircraft by the businesspeople who ride in the back. Our third example harks back to Reagan-era tax-reform legislation, which gave the industry terms like “personal use” […]

Vern Raburn apparently knew what he was doing when he chose Albuquerque, N.M., as the site for his then-new company, Eclipse Aviation, giving rise to our second example. Still in the process of getting its first aircraft through the FAA’s certification process, Eclipse recently was the beneficiary of substantial largesse from the city it calls […]

Face facts: Taxes are both the bane and benefit of purchasing and operating a business aircraft, no matter its size. Whether levied at the federal, state or local levels — or figured into the cost of operation through existing excise taxes — taxes are as much a factor in a company’s decision to operate its […]

…the next issue of AVweb‘s BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on June 30.