Discounting, Debt, Deficits Plague Private Jet Programs, BJT: Q&A with Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran, From the Archives: Age Limits OK'd...

| July 29, 2023 Saturday Discounting, Debt, Deficits Plague Jet Programs Important parts of the Covid-fueled business aviation bounce have begun to fade. What began as a triple-play of bad news for three industry operators—Wheels Up, VistaJet, and Jet It—during 10 consecutive days in May might be a harbinger of things to come, according to industry analyst Brian Foley. “I do think that there's more to come. The common theme that I've seen is they're \[distressed fractional, membership, and subscription-model companies\] all losing money to begin with and never made a dime,” he told AIN. Read more BJT: Q&A with Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran Barbara Corcoran, who built a highly successful New York-based real estate sales business, is now best-known as one of the feisty stars of ABC-TV’s Shark Tank. She has appeared in all 14 seasons of the series and is about to tape a 15th. Since the beginning of this year alone, she has made 130 deals on the show, the largest being a $350,000 investment for 40 percent of a company. Such projects represent quite a jump for Corcoran, who grew up in Edgewater, New Jersey, the second of 10 children, and struggled in school, where she was a D student. Read more From the Archives: Age Limits OK'd for Part 91K, 135 Large fractional operations and charter operations now have the option of establishing a 70-year-old age ceiling for pilots under a little-noticed provision in the omnibus federal spending bill that was adopted in December 2022. The measure is not mandatory but provides the option of a 70-year-old age limit to Part 91K and 135 operators that logged at least 75,000 jet operations a year in 2019 or any subsequent year. This threshold is half the number of hours of an unsuccessful but similar measure offered in the 2018 FAA reauthorization package that had represented a carefully crafted compromise between NetJets and the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots. Read more Space Coast Exec Jet Center: Small FBO, but Not for Long Space Coast Executive Jet Center (SCEJC) is the prototypical mom-and-pop FBO, according to its owner, Carsten Petersen, who purchased the facility in 2021 with his wife, Wendy. One of two service providers at Florida’s Space Coast Regional Airport (KTIX), the company has occupied the same 1,500-sq-ft terminal since the late 1970s and has a staff of six full-time employees. “Titusville has been a sleepy little city for years, but it is growing now,” said Petersen. “There are about 6,000 housing units being built, and big companies are buying land.” Read more FutureFlight: Hydrogen Aircraft R&D Hub Opens in UK Cranfield Aerospace Solutions this week opened the refurbished research and development facility where it will advance its plans to bring hydrogen-powered regional airliners to market in 2026. The company is working with UK airframer Britten-Norman to produce carbon-free versions of its nine-passenger Islanders. Operating from a modernized hangar and office on the campus of Cranfield University, Cranfield is in the process of merging with Britten-Norman under an agreement announced in April. Completion of the legal process is pending, with the merger set to release the remaining tranche of £10 million ($13 million) in new funding from a consortium of investors called HydrogenOne Capital Growth. Read more BJT: 5 Cocktails You Can Drink Where They Were Created We'll drink to this! Here are five classic cocktails that you can enjoy in the places where they were invented. How about a Singapore sling in the hotel where a bartender first mixed it up? Or a mai tai at the San Francisco Trader Vic's where that cocktail was born? Read more Biz Leaders Voice Objections to ATC Privatization A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial endorsing the concept of privatizing air traffic control raised concerns among business leaders that the issue could gain traction once again. The WSJ editorial board wrote an editorial outlining the airline delays this summer and pointing to comments citing air traffic control (ATC) staffing as contributing to these issues. “This illustrates why the U.S. would benefit from spinning off air traffic control from the government, as countries such as Canada have done to salutary effect. Air traffic control could rely on user fees, instead of taxes, and not be hostage to special-interest politics,” the editorial board wrote. Read more Top Stories This Week on AINonline Delayed Beechcraft Denali Aircraft Could Have $7 Million Sticker Price New Hall Three Delivers More Space and Less Waste Dassault Aviation Sees Slowdown in First Half of 2023 Piper Aircraft Sees Record Demand Sen. Markey Calls for Higher Taxes on 'Fat Cat' Jets Spanish Protestors Damage Business Jet at Ibiza Airport   AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter. View email in browser. Advertise Manage subscription preferences AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.  |
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