Ahead of its planned market entry later this year, Bombardier’s Challenger 3500 super-midsize jet has earned “Best of the Best” recognition in the 2022 Red Dot Product Design category. The international Red Dot Award is presented to companies annually for distinguished product design, communication design, and design concepts. The Challenger 3500 garnered the Best of the Best honor in the “Trains and Planes” category. Last year, the Dassault Falcon 6X won this award.
Red Dot Award founder and CEO Peter Zec said the Best of the Best is “synonymous with ground-breaking design par excellence. Only a very small percentage of competition winners were awarded this special title.”
Bombardier unveiled the Challenger 3500 on September 14, bringing the Challenger 300/350 family in line with the Global nomenclature. The newest member of the family is fitted with some high-end features found on Bombardier’s flagship Global 7500, incorporates new equipment such as an autothrottle, and folds in sustainability from design to materials. It also is bringing to market the first voice-controlled cabin to manage lighting, temperature, and entertainment systems.
“The Challenger platform has always delivered impressive performance, consistent reliability, and a smooth ride, and I’m thrilled that the new interior design and technological features elevating the aircraft’s cabin experience have been acknowledged by this prestigious award,” said Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel.
The Russia-Ukraine war is having a debilitating effect on aviation in the region, according to the latest weekly flight statistics from WingX Advance. Total fixed-wing activity in this region has dropped by 43 percent year-over-year in the first part of April, while business aircraft flights there are down 90 percent versus pre-pandemic levels. Most of the activity in this region is domestic within Russia, using privately-owned aircraft, with charter flights virtually nonexistent.
The war is dampening the record levels of business jet activity in Europe, which before the conflict was 14 percent above pre-pandemic 2019 January-to-date numbers. The UK, Spain, and Switzerland are all more than 20 percent above the April 2019 totals, but Germany has seen the most impact from the conflict with activity declining 13 percent month-to-date versus a year ago.
“As the Ukraine crisis deepens, record business jet demand in Europe is slowing, with demand in Germany falling back from recent highs, now back below pre-pandemic levels,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “Small and midsize jets are doing an increasing share of activity, with larger jets more exposed to fading demand from Russian customers.”
Meanwhile, North American business aircraft activity is still experiencing records, up 25 percent from April 2019 and five times the activity in April 2020. Koe noted the ultra-long-range jet segment is now seeing the strongest rebound in North America.
First-time buyers helped push demand for preowned business aircraft to new heights in the first quarter, according to aviation asset evaluation specialist Asset Insight. As a result, available inventory continued to erode to an all-time low of 3.1 percent of the in-service fleet.
Asset Insight’s latest AI2 Market Report finds that quarter-over-quarter demand climbed by 6.2 percent. This answered the question of some industry insiders late in 2021 about whether demand would ease after the typical year-end buying rush.
Demand increased across all cabin sizes and was double the Asset Insight rating from a year ago—out of a scale of five, the first-quarter demand rating was 4.68 versus 2.27 a year earlier. Large jet demand came in the highest, at 4.87.
Inventory continues to fall and is now 60 percent below the June 2020 peak, according to the report, which notes that young, low-time aircraft are selling quickly and often without a listing. Asking prices also are up more than 14 percent year-over-year.
“Two years ago, as we headed into the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody foresaw the frenetic buying environment we continue to experience,” said Asset Insight president Tony Kioussis. “Buyers are obtaining their ask prices, if not more, and owners of high-quality, low-time, recent-model aircraft may not even have to list their asset to secure a sale.”
Cutter Aviation is the latest service provider to join the Fly Louie Alliance Preferred FBO network. Fly Louie aims to bring economy of scale savings to the independent charter market and other private aviation businesses, including access to savings programs through wholesale business opportunities. Its network currently includes more than 80 partners nationwide, with its members able to receive special fuel rates with the Fly Louie Avfuel card.
Through its agreement with Cutter, alliance members will be eligible for discounted fuel pricing at Cutter's facilities at New Mexico’s Albuquerque International Sunport, as well as its Phoenix locations at Sky Harbor International and Deer Valley airports.
“We’re honored to be part of the Fly Louie Preferred FBO network and excited for the exposure to the 250 private charter operators in the alliance,” said Will Cutter, president and CEO of the family-owned company that operates six FBOs and will be celebrating its 95th anniversary next year. Cutter said he hopes to expand the program’s benefits to his company’s recently acquired facilities in Prescott, Arizona, and Georgetown, Texas.
Fly Louie CEO Julie Takeda added, “We look forward to expanding our footprint and growing with Cutter. Their locations represent key markets for our Alliance members, and we’ve received phenomenal feedback on the service they provide.”
Embry-Riddle Launches the Latest Evolution in Business Education
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s innovative approach to business education gives students a key competitive edge when it comes to advancing or enhancing their careers in aviation, aerospace and beyond. With groundbreaking, flexible programs delivered by expert faculty, students get the kind of real-world results that set them apart.
Eve Urban Air Mobility and Zanite Acquisition expect to complete their merger on May 9 and then float shares in the new Eve Holding entity on the New York Stock Exchange, the companies said today. Special purpose acquisition company Zanite filed today the required definitive proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for completion of the deal with the eVTOL aircraft developer.
Zanite’s board of directors has recommended that shareholders approve the combination with Eve, which is a subsidiary of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. This is expected to happen at a special meeting on May 6.
Late last month, Eve’s leadership team indicated that they expect the merger and Wall Street listing to raise nearly $600 million. The combined company will trade under the symbols EVEX and EVEXW. Embraer will be the majority shareholder in the new Eve Holding public company with just over an 80 percent stake.
Eve expects that its four-passenger eVTOL will enter service in 2026.
Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.
Leonardo booked orders for 23 helicopters worth $281 million in March. Orders include 15 AW139 intermediate twins, three AW169 light-intermediates, three AW109 GrandNew light twins, one AW119Kx single-engine, and one AW189 super-medium twin. Deliveries are scheduled for this year and next.
Orders include the three GrandNew light twins for Leonardo’s longtime distributor in the UK and Ireland, Sloane Helicopters; an AW169 in VIP configuration for Brazil’s Comexport; one AW139 for Turkish distributor Kaan Air; four VIP AW139s for three undisclosed operators in the U.S; one AW139 for Mexico’s Pegaso for offshore transport and search and rescue; and two AW169s for Germany’s HeliService for use on a wind farm program in Taiwan. These orders join those previously announced earlier in March at HAI Heli-Expo for four AW609s from a European operator and 16 AW139s from The Helicopter Company in Saudi Arabia.
Leonardo also announced the entry into service of two AW109 Trekkers by Italy’s Elilombarda for use in the offshore energy sector, two more Trekkers flying EMS missions for Greece’s National Center for Emergency Care, and the use of AW139s for shuttle service by Japan’s Toho Air linking the Izu islands in Tokyo beginning later this year.
UK-based private charter booking platform Mirai Flights has launched an environmentally-friendly program focusing on filling empty leg segments. The company, which made its debut early last year, said it has already saved more than 200 tonnes of CO2 through the booking of empty legs.
Mirai’s artificial intelligence-driven functionality informs users when there is an empty leg that meets their destination preferences and offers it to them with discounts of up to 70 percent of standard rates. The flights can then be booked in less than a minute.
In recognition of its need to expand its user base so that a wider audience is able to order empty-leg flights, the company is offering an incentive program for referrals, including a commission for business-to-business partners, €2,500 welcome bonus for new customers, and €500 reward for existing customers “bringing a friend” to the application.
“In 2022, we want our new Mirai app users to be more actively involved in offers for empty flights and fleet management optimization of connected airlines, which will help to reduce carbon emissions even further,” said Evgeny Chuprov, the company’s non-executive director. “I believe education is crucial in making greener choices regardless of the industry, so educating clients as well as the greater public about sustainability is Mirai’s long-term goal.”
Radek Wyrzykowski, who founded IMC Club, has launched the Pilot Proficiency Network (PPN), which, like IMC Club, is designed to help pilots improve IFR flying proficiency. With PPN, however, Wyrzykowski is opening local chapter meetings to any pilot, not just those with instrument ratings. IMC Club became part of the Experimental Aircraft Association in 2015.
The goal is to promote “organized hangar flying focused on building flying knowledge and skills,” according to PPN. Members will meet monthly and discuss real-life scenarios, including decision-making based on actual weather scenarios generated by the ClimaDrive weather simulator.
Wyrzykowski wants to encourage all kinds of pilots who could benefit from interacting with each other to join PPN. While regular membership with free access to ClimaDrive costs $49 per year, anyone can join and pay what they can afford, from $1 on up. “I want everybody to be able to participate,” he said, which is why he came up with the “make your own” membership level.
When he founded IMC Club, he said, “the original focus was primarily IFR-rated and experienced pilots. [With PPN] we want this program not only to have IFR pilots exchanging ideas but also non-IFR pilots exposed to IFR-rated pilots.”
As of mid-April, six PPN chapters had been formed, paying the one-time fee of $150 to launch a chapter. Membership dues are paid via the PPN website.
Bombardier Delivers Milestone Global 7500 to VistaJet
On March 29th, Bombardier celebrated its 100th Global 7500 delivery with its largest customer, VistaJet, which has taken 10 of the aircraft manufacturer’s flagship business jets so far. The delivery ceremony took place at Bombardier's Montreal Laurent Beaudoin Completion Centre, where the company outfits the aircraft after they’re flown from its Toronto assembly plant. Among an audience of Bombardier employees and special guests, French-Canadian singer-songwriter Gabriella Laberge kicked off the party before Bombardier communications v-p Eve Laurier hosted a fireside chat with VistaJet founder and chairman Thomas Flohr and Bombardier president and CEO Eric Martel.
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