After pausing sales because of overwhelming demand for light jet fractional sales last summer, NetJets created a 25-hour lease program for individuals and businesses on a waiting list. With more aircraft and crews, the fractional provider opened the program a few months ago to those on the waiting list and is now expanding it more broadly.
NetJets' newest program guarantees access for 36 months to lease a NetJets aircraft—an Embraer Phenom 300E, Cessna Citation XLS, Citation Sovereign, or Bombardier Challenger 350—for 25 hours of flying time annually. Lease customers need only provide 24 hours' notice for the aircraft.
Terms of the program call for a minimum 36-month commitment and 320 days of guaranteed access, with 45 no-fly days and 45 peak period days in which NetJets can adjust departure times by three more or fewer hours. NetJets didn’t disclose specific costs for the program since they vary based on hours used. However, as an example, a 25-hour lease for a Phenom 300 would total about $250,000 per year.
The program is being made available after NetJets began a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year investment in more than 175 aircraft, 80 of which are scheduled to be delivered this year. NetJets also hired more than 630 additional pilots and workers in 2021 and expects to add more than 450 pilots this year.
AINsight: A Visual Approach Gone Bad
A visual approach is the first type of approach taught during primary flight training. A well-flown VFR traffic pattern in a light aircraft is benign. At each point, downwind, abeam the numbers, base leg, and turning final, student pilots are taught to fly the appropriate power setting, airspeed, and configuration, all leading to a nice stable uneventful approach and landing.
In a large turbine-powered aircraft, a visual approach is far less common or predictable. A past Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) study found that 41 percent of all approach and landing accidents began with a visual approach.
For a pilot, the primary goals of a visual approach are to be safe, legal, and try not to embarrass yourself. On occasion, the latter happens. If not properly planned and executed, a visual approach has the potential to lead to complete chaos on the flight deck.
Case in point, I will share a personal “experience” not only to show my vulnerabilities but to demonstrate that a pilot with nearly 40 years of flying experience will, on occasion, embarrass themself.
The “flight shaming” movement in Europe fizzled during the pandemic but could now be making a reprisal as France Transport Minister Clément Beaune has called for restrictions on the use of business jets. In a recent interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, he said, “We have to act to regulate flights on private jets. There can’t be a means of individual travel for comfort at a time when the president’s campaign [to reduce carbon footprints] requires everyone to make an effort.”
Rather than just focusing on France, Beaune said he will be pushing for actions to curb business jet use on the European level at a meeting of EU transport ministers in October. According to Beaune, potential measures could include higher taxes on business aircraft operations or even bans for flights to destinations that are sufficiently served by trains.
Meanwhile, French Green Party leader Julien Bayou called for a complete ban on business jets last week. However, French government spokesperson Olivier Véran said a total ban is not in the cards during an interview with France Inter radio earlier this week, but added that “restrictions on private jets would signal that the same rules apply to all.”
Business aviation departures in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 25.6 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, with gains driven by Southeast Asian countries, according to Global Sky Media’s second-quarter report. Formerly known as Asian Sky Media, Global Sky Media cited WingX traffic data that pointed to growth in activity in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand in particular.
Singapore, Global Sky Media added, experienced “exceptional growth,” up 267 percent year-over-year in May alone. However, at the same time, Greater China’s flight activity hit a record low.
Many countries in the region began loosening restrictions in April and May, and the region became more proactive in business development, all of which boosted regional business jet activity back to and, in some cases, beyond pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the promising market demands, Global Sky Media’s quarterly survey found the mood remains lower with China’s optimism at 60 percent. “We’ve seen another uptick in pessimism since Q1,” Global Sky Media reported. The Ukraine conflict and economic uncertainty both are playing into this, it added.
Even so, the survey also found respondents believe market demand will bounce back in the next six months. In addition, brokers believe the region remains a seller’s market for business aircraft.
Regional and business jet MRO provider C&L Aviation Group and Bangor International Airport (KBGR) will be hosting a “plane pull” on September 10 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine to raise money for the organization’s youth mentoring programs.
Up to 20 teams of eight to 10 people are expected to compete by pulling a jet aircraft 20 feet in the fastest time. The winning team will be awarded a trophy. Top fundraisers also will be awarded prizes for helping the organization to raise $40,000. To participate, each team must raise a minimum of $500.
“Bangor International Airport is proud to help host this event, which we hope will bring attention to the need for Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors in our area,” said KBGR director Tony Caruso. “It’s also a great opportunity for us to support a local organization while showcasing the airport and the great work our team does, as well as that of one of our largest tenants, C&L Aviation Group.”
The Russian business aviation industry is steadily recovering after the sharp drop in the first half of the year caused by sanctions and the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, according to Russian media reports and some local experts in the field of business aviation.
Russian Business Aviation Association data cites that the overall business aviation fleet of Russia at the beginning of 2022 was about 500 jets, of which up to 20 percent were leased. Due to the sanctions, most of the leased aircraft were returned, while the remaining were re-registered within the country. That allowed most of the business jet fleet to remain in Russia.
Alexei Butrimov, the general director of Russian business aviation operators BJet, told local media that business aviation has overcome a critical period and is steadily recovering. According to Butrimov, business jet flight activity in the region has about doubled since sanctions took effect. With a shortage of modern private aircraft in Russia, the demand for business aviation services has increased significantly. Despite the crisis, many local customers are ready to pay more for their business jet flights.
As most Western countries, including the U.S. and Canada, remain closed to Russians and their jets, business flights mainly have involved operations to Turkey, the UAE, Seychelles, Maldives, and Vietnam, among others.
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests the FAA should expand its efforts to address the growing problem of laser strikes on aircraft. Illuminating an aircraft with a laser device could distract or even injure a pilot and it is considered a federal crime, as well as an in-flight emergency. Prosecution is difficult but there have been some successes with fines up to $27,338 and prison sentences of up to 51 months.
According to the FAA, there were thousands of laser incidents reported by flight crewmembers between 2010 and 2021, with a peak of 9,723 last year. The FAA requests that the crewmembers involved complete a voluntary questionnaire, but the rate of response can be as low as 12 percent annually. While the agency said it investigates each situation, the GAO has found some discrepancies in the FAA’s quarterly reports to Congress.
Additionally, the FAA and law enforcement previously participated in an interagency working group on the subject, but it was disbanded in 2015. FAA officials have stated that they do not routinely request data on laser strikes from other agencies, a situation that hinders its accurate reporting to Congress, according to the GAO.
The GAO recommends that the FAA improve its efforts to gather and share laser strike data with law enforcement and reinstate the working group.
Leonardo and Boeing have delivered the first of four MH-139A Grey Wolf test helicopters to the U.S. Air Force as the service looks to replace its aging fleet of UH-1N Hueys. The delivery comes after the FAA issued the last supplemental type certificate necessary to complete U.S. Department of Defense Form 250 and formally commence aircraft acceptance. Boeing and the Air Force will now continue with additional developmental and initial operational testing to support the aircraft.
The MH-139A Grey Wolf is based on Leonardo’s AW139 intermediate twin helicopter that was certified in 2004. Its primary mission will be to protect intercontinental ballistic missile bases and transport U.S. government officials and security forces. Boeing was awarded a $2.4 billion contract in Sept. 2018 for up to 80 helicopters, training systems, and associated support equipment. Leonardo produces the helicopter at its FAA-certified Part 21 facility in northeast Philadelphia, while Boeing is responsible for military equipment procurement and installation, and post-delivery support of the aircraft.
“The Grey Wolf is a modern, versatile aircraft offering greater range, speed, and endurance than the UH-1N Huey it replaces,” said Mark Cherry, Boeing's v-p and general manager of vertical lift.
Photo of the Week
Vacant visionary jet.AIN photographer Barry Ambrose recently came across the prototype of the VisionAire Vantage single-engine jet at Hickory Regional Airport in North Carolina. Sadly, the all-composite airplane is covered with mold and clearly headed for further deterioration. We can’t help wondering, as Ambrose did, why the nearby Hickory Aviation Museum doesn’t take the jet under its wing. VisionAire founder Jim Rice passed away in 2017 and although the VisionAire website survives, the program appears to be as moribund as the prototype.
Keep them coming. If you’d like to submit an entry for Photo of the Week, email a high-resolution horizontal image (at least 2000 x 1200 pixels), along with your name, contact information, social media names, and info about it (including brief description, location, etc.) to photos@ainonline.com. Tail numbers can be removed upon request. Those submitting photos give AIN implied consent to publish them in its publications and social media channels.
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.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
