Aviation will take a higher profile on Capitol Hill this year as the U.S. Congress returns to FAA reauthorization season. But unlike in the past, lawmakers are kicking off the reauthorization debate this year without user fees or air traffic control privatization taking center stage. That does not mean that the user-fee issue—which has been around for decades and remained contentious as well as a stumbling block to passage of past reauthorization bills—will not resurrect this go-around. But for now, lawmakers are optimistic that they will be able to reach an accord and approve a reauthorization bill this year.
A reauthorization bill provides funding levels and operating authority for the FAA and typically serves as a vehicle to address a range of aviation issues. The last such bill was approved in 2018 and authorizes the FAA through the end of Fiscal Year 2023 (September 30).
Few aircraft change lives and history and become touchstones of popular culture. One that has done all that is the Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, which over the last seven decades has been produced in multiple variants, including the Model 412EPI.
As you’d expect, the helicopter’s design has evolved over the years. It has grown longer, heavier, more powerful, and able to carry more fuel. The original single-engine design morphed into a twin. The two-bladed main rotor system was replaced by a four-bladed one. The analog instruments were superseded by digital ones with flat-panel displays. The nomenclature designations changed, from 204 to 205, 212, 214, and today’s 412.
As determined as my boss, AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber, was to win, there was absolutely no way he was going to beat me in a race between the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall and Henderson Executive Airport (KHND).
That’s because he was driving a rented, late-model Ford Escape and I was flying in Blade Urban Air Mobility’s (UAM) Airbus EC130 operated by local outfit Maverick Helicopters. Since Tuesday and in partnership with NBAA, Blade has been operating helicopter shuttles for NBAA-BACE attendees between the convention center and static display for $99 one way. NBAA and Blade are pitching the shuttle flights as a demonstration of what UAM can offer.
Standard Aviation, an FBO at St. Thomas Cyril E. King Airport (TIST), began in 2015, but once its permanent facility opened in October 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, things really took off. General manager Sabina Rosario recalled the surreal ribbon cutting, with the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands in attendance, seats spread 20 feet apart, and everyone wearing a Standard Aviation face mask.
Since then, the facility has emerged as one of the preeminent FBOs in the region, logging more than 3,500 movements in 2022. The location’s peak season normally stretches from November through May, with many customers coming either to their second homes on-island, or their home off-island in the form of a yacht.
The United Arab Emirates’ Strategic Development Fund is investing $3 million in Mayman Aerospace’s plans to bring the remotely piloted Speeder VTOL aircraft to market. The capital injection announced on February 22 is the latest investment in the advanced air mobility sector by the venture capital arm of the Tawazun Council, which oversees the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund.
The full-scale P2 turbine-powered model, which Mayman refers to as an air utility vehicle, is expected to have a 1,000-pound payload. The company believes it will be able to fly up to 400 miles at over 500 mph and be used for a variety of applications, including cargo deliveries and military logistics. The California-based start-up said that the new funding from the UAE will support the Speeder’s ongoing flight test campaign as it aims for FAA type certification in 2024, and also wider product development of new versions of the vehicle aimed initially at military applications.
Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau has accepted Volocopter’s request to process its application to type certify its two-seat VoloCity eVTOL concurrently with EASA. The German manufacturer is also working on type certification with the FAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
Volocopter’s announcement on Tuesday was the third indicator this week of Japan’s intent to include advanced air mobility services in its future public transportation strategy. On the same day, Tokyo-based SkyDrive confirmed that its SD-05 vehicle will participate in the Smart Mobility Expo as part of the Future Society Showcase Project Exhibitions during the Expo 2025 event in Osaka. Last week, China’s EHang conducted what it said was the first passenger-carrying eVTOL demonstration flight in Japan with its two-seat, EH216 autonomous aerial vehicle.
Qantas Group has become the latest airline to confirm it is facing supply-chain and aircraft delivery delays. During its first-half results presentation on Thursday, the carrier acknowledged that the later-than-scheduled arrival of new narrowbody jets from Airbus has forced it to turn to the second-hand and wet-lease market to help restore fleet capacity back to pre-Covid levels and meet surging demand. CEO Alan Joyce told reporters the company has been able to effectively limit the manufacturing delays to “less than six months” with Airbus.
The Australian flag carrier has a large order for 299 next-generation A220 and A320neo family aircraft—half of which are firm orders and half are purchase right options—after combining an existing order of 109 A320s (plus purchase rights) for its budget carrier Jetstar with a new firm order, placed in May 2022, for 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220-300s, to start the renewal of Qantas’s narrowbody fleet. Last year’s order also included an additional 94 purchase right options spread across A320 and A220 families, with flexibility on delivery timing (over 10-plus years) and aircraft type.
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