Atlanta-based fractional, management, and jet card company Volato has laid the groundwork to go public through a proposed business combination with Proof Acquisition Corp. I (PACI), the companies announced this morning. Plans call for Volato and PACI, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), to complete the transaction later this year. The respective boards of both companies have approved the proposed transaction, which is still subject to PACI stockholder approval and other closing conditions.

Once the transaction is completed, the combined entity expects to trade under the symbol SOAR but retain Volato as the corporate operating brand with company CEO and co-founder Matt Liotta leading the organization.

The companies anticipate a pro forma enterprise value of $261.1 million from the transaction. Current Volato owners would retain approximately 63.5 percent of the ownership. Volato, which in July completed a separate $10 million Series A funding round led by the Proof family of venture funds, said the business combination proceeds will enable it to continue its growth, better serve customers, and accelerate its strategic plan. 

Founded in 2021, Volato has grown quickly, posting nearly $100 million in revenue in 2022 and amassing a fleet of 18 HondaJets with another 23 on order. Including managed and leased aircraft, Volato’s fleet numbers 25, and it further has four Gulfstream G280s on order for delivery next year.

Leonardo broke ground last week on a $65 million, 113,000-sq-ft helicopter maintenance facility at Whiting Aviation Park in Milton, Florida. The complex will provide major component repair and overhaul and transmission testing and repair along with tooling and a full-sized paint booth. The property will also incorporate a warehouse for spare parts as well as four large hangar bays and a dynamic test bench.

Leonardo is developing the facility in cooperation with Santa Rosa County, Space Florida, Triumph Gulf Coast, and the state of Florida. It is intended to primarily support the U.S. Navy’s growing fleet of TH-73A “Thrasher” training helicopters (a militarized version of the AW119 turbine single) that are based at the adjacent Naval Air Station Whiting Field (NASWF). The maintenance facility, which is expected to open at the end of 2024, will also support commercial customers operating throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

The Whiting Aviation Park occupies 267 acres of industrially zoned land owned by Santa Rosa County, and tenants will enjoy a limited-access use agreement between Santa Rosa County and the U.S. Navy, allowing them to have access to NASWF’s 6,000-foot runway and air traffic control services.

Flexjet has continued to expand its maintenance capabilities with the purchase of Canadian MRO provider Flying Colours. The move follows Flexjet’s acquisition earlier this year of affiliated company Constant Aviation and gives it addtional fleet repair facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Flexjet’s maintenance network now includes 12 primary facilities and 30 AOG teams./p>

Based in Peterborough, Ontario, and with a facility at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Missouri, Flying Colours offers a full range of MRO services as well as newly enhanced aircraft completions and refurbishment capabilities. At Peterborough, the company recently opened a 61,000-sq-ft completions hangar, one of the largest in the industry, allowing it to handle multiple projects simultaneously, while its new 40,000-sq-ft paint hangar can accommodate aircraft up to the size of airliners.

The 250 Flying Colours employees will join Flexjet, including president and CEO John Gillespie, who will oversee completions strategy within the company’s global network.

“Unlike other companies in our space that rely on third-party providers for their MRO needs, Flexjet now fully controls its maintenance and product support needs, and this aligns with our strategic vision of differentiating ourselves from the competition at every level and in every way,” said Flexjet chairman Kenn Ricci. “We’re thrilled to welcome the talented Flying Colours team to Flexjet with their 40-plus-year history of excellence as a global leader in aircraft completions.”/p>

Gulfstream’s G550 fleet recently notched a major milestone with the type achieving its one millionth flight. The long-range twinjet entered service in 2003 and served as the top of the Savannah, Georgia airframer’s line until the certification of the G650 in 2012. While production of the large-cabin G550 ceased in 2021, more than 600 remain in service, with the fleet tallying 2.6 million flight hours and counting.

“Two decades after the aircraft entered service, the G550 continues to achieve in-service milestones and add to its impressive list of accolades as evidenced by this one-millionth landing,” said Mark Burns, the OEM’s president. “This is a testament to the quality of the G550 and the technology that Gulfstream introduced on this aircraft, which paved the way for our next-generation fleet.”

The G550 marked the debut of Gulfstream’s enhanced vision system—now known as enhanced flight vision system or EFVS—an advancement that helped the company receive the 2003 Collier Trophy from the National Aeronautic Association. Gulfstream was the first OEM to gain FAA approval for EFVS use on touchdown and takeoff. The system has since been available on all subsequent Gulfstream, models including the soon-to-be certified G700.

Veryon has unveiled its Work Center, a unified aircraft service center management solution for business aviation operators. Work Center pulls together invoicing, pricing profiles, logbook generation, tracking of costs and labor, and the core product of its founding company (formerly ATP and previously Aircraft Technical Publishers), real-time maintenance and airworthiness information. 

San Francisco-based Veryon developed Work Center in-house, and the new solution is part of the Veryon Tracking platform. It includes maintenance tracking, flight operations, inventory management, and technical publications.

ParkerGale acquired ATP in 2015 and, since then, ATP/Veryon has bought additional companies in the maintenance software and services space, such as CaseBank Technologies, a provider of defect analysis and troubleshooting products, and maintenance tracking company Flightdocs. Veryon now serves 25 percent of the commercial aviation fleet, more than 100 manufacturers, 7,500 customers, and 75,000 technicians.

“We built the platform from scratch, specifically for business aviation operators, with one goal in mind: maximizing aircraft uptime,” said Kent Pickard, Veryon v-p of product management. “While most service center offerings were designed for stand-alone MROs, Work Center is purpose-built for aircraft operators so they can focus more on improving their operations, growing their business and ensuring accurate department billing, and a streamlined aircraft return-to-service process.”

Several high-profile incidents involving runway incursions at U.S. airports in the first half of this year have prompted the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch another audit to evaluate the FAA’s incursion prevention and mitigation efforts. Runway incursions have been the subject of nine separate GAO audits over the last 22 years.

Since January 2023, there has been a series of incidents where aircraft have come “dangerously close to each other on runways, including at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and Boston Logan International Airport,” said the GAO. The FAA has classified these incursions as serious category A and B events.

In response, the FAA has taken a number of actions intended to prevent and mitigate incursions, such as forming a safety review team focusing on runway safety efforts; holding a runway safety summit with aviation industry stakeholders; re-examining data for similar serious incursions to identify trends; and awarding more than $100 million in grants to 12 airports to reduce incursions.

The GAO audit will assess the effectiveness of those responses, as well as the FAA’s other processes for analyzing data, identifying risks associated with incursions, and continuing efforts for preventing and mitigating incursions.

Florida-based aircraft charter provider Elite Jets has expanded its Part 145 maintenance capabilities with the addition of the Embraer Phenom 300 and Legacy 500 to its service approvals.

Operating from a private terminal at Naples Airport, Elite Jets owns a quartet of Phenom 300s, a single Legacy 500, and a Bell 407 helicopter.

In addition to its own maintenance needs, the company now has FAA authorization to work on those Embraer models for other private jet companies and owners.

Elite—which also manages and operates a long-range Gulfstream G550—holds an Argus Platinum rating and recently earned Wingman status from fellow industry safety auditor Wyvern. Following FAA approval of a trans-Pacific tabletop safety exercise, it is permitted to expand its long-haul flight operations around the globe.

“This pair of recent FAA approvals now provides Elite Jets with true worldwide operations and an expanded industry footprint,” explained executive v-p Stephen Myers. “We look forward to offering our clients even more opportunities to travel the world while also collaborating with additional industry partners and private aircraft owners.”

MRO provider Summit Aviation says it has registered its apprenticeship standards and completed an apprentice agreement with Delaware’s Department of Labor. According to Summit, it is the first company to take these steps with the state of Delaware to establish a registered apprenticeship program for aviation maintenance technicians.

The apprenticeship program aims to bolster Delaware’s aviation workforce by providing hands-on training and professional development for aspiring engineers and maintenance technicians in the region. 

“Our foray into the aviation industry is another example of our registered apprenticeship program finding opportunities to place Delawareans in different spaces, particularly those in underrepresented communities,” said Delaware Labor Secretary Karryl Hubbard. “We know the aviation industry pays high wages for skilled workers. This innovation helps Delaware compete as we develop the next generation of aviation workers.”

Summit Aviation v-p and general manager Ralph Kunz said the program “will provide valuable career opportunities and professional development for individuals who are passionate about aviation and eager to contribute to this dynamic industry.”

The Middletown, Delaware-based company has already appointed its first apprentice, Abigail Holloway, a recent graduate from Bohemia Manor High School. As part of the program, Holloway will complete the Registered Related Technical Instruction program at the Polytech School of Aviation Maintenance in Woodside, Delaware.