MRO provider West Star Aviation officially opened the newest hangar at its East Alton, Illinois facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday.

Construction on the $20 million Hangar 67 development began in June 2023. It adds 75,700 sq ft to the company’s operations at St. Louis Regional Airport (KALN), including 40,000 sq ft of dedicated hangar space and 35,700 sq ft of support space. Among its enhancements, it will feature a new design center.

The expansion increases West Star’s hangar and shop space at KALN to 425,000 sq ft, plus 125,000 sq ft of support space, and is expected to add up to 80 new jobs. In conjunction with West Star’s hangar expansion, St. Louis Regional Airport also completed a 56,000-sq-ft apron expansion.

East Alton is one of the company’s six full-service locations in the U.S., along with Grand Junction, Colorado; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Millville, New Jersey; Perryville, Missouri; and Statesville, North Carolina. Including its six satellite locations, West Star has 1.5 million sq ft of hangar space system-wide.

“The completion of Hangar 67 represents another significant moment in West Star Aviation’s vision for the future,” said company CEO Stephen Maiden. “This new facility not only enhances our service capabilities but also exemplifies our ongoing commitment to growth and innovation to ensure we are prepared to meet the needs of our valued customers.”

Used available business jet inventories continued to climb this month, up 20% year over year (YOY) and 4% from July, according to the most recent report from analyst Jefferies. Citing its own and Amstat data, Jefferies added that the inventory of younger aircraft, those less than seven years out of production, has jumped 23% YOY but at a still low level of 3.9%.

Overall, 1,259 business jets have been for sale this month, equating to 5.2% of the total fleet. This compares with 1,051 for sale in August 2023, and the percentage of the available fleet is up from the one-year average of 4.6%. That increase crosses all aircraft sizes with midsize jets up 23%, heavies by 19%, and light jets by 18%, YOY.

By manufacturer, Embraer units for sale have remained flat YOY at 39 with 3.3% of the fleet available. Bombardier inventory, meanwhile, has increased by 13% to 69 aircraft, representing 3.9% of the total fleet. Gulfstream inventories also have grown by 27% to 90 units with 4% of the fleet available versus 3.2% a year ago.

Textron Aviation’s available Cessna Citation fleet is up to 141, a 33% YOY increase. Available aircraft represent 4.1% of the active Citation jet fleet. Dassault further has seen inventories climb by 28% YOY to represent 4.4% of the active fleet.

Gogo Business Aviation and Canada’s Skyservice Business Aviation have partnered on the development of supplemental type certificates (STCs) for installation of Gogo 5G equipment on six aircraft models. The STCs are from both the FAA and Transport Canada Civil Aviation. Gogo is also expanding its Canada coverage and now has nine 5G air-to-ground (ATG) tower sites in the country, with about 150 in the U.S.

Customers that choose Gogo’s Avance L5 ATG system and have two MB13 phased-array antennas installed will be able to swap the L5 equipment for the 5G LX5 line replaceable unit. The 5G service is expected to become available in the second quarter of 2025.

Under the partnership, Skyservice—a Gogo dealer—has already developed Transport Canada STCs for the Gulfstream G280, Embraer Legacy 450/500, Cessna Citation CJ3/CJ3+, and Bombardier Challenger 300/350 and 604/605, and it is working on the Citation X. FAA validation is pending for the G280, Legacy 450/500, and Citation CJ3/3+, while it has been received for the Challenger 300/350 and 604/605.

Discounts are available (up to $50,000) for Avance upgrades and provisioning for Gogo 5G. Skyservice is also booking slots for upgrades from Gogo’s legacy ATG 1000 through 5000 systems to Avance since the legacy systems will no longer work after the transition to LTE technology in early 2026.

Around 150 skilled workers are taking strike action over a pay dispute with the UK subsidiary of aircraft systems manufacturer Eaton. The six-day strike is set to start on Thursday and will also disrupt manufacturing on August 30 and on September 16, 20, 27, and 30.

Eaton’s factory at Fareham in the south of England makes systems and equipment for multiple commercial and military aircraft, as well as for business jets such as Gulfstream’s G500 and G600 models. In the aerospace sector, the facility specializes in items such as fuel indicators and gauges.

Unite, the union representing the striking workers, said its members have rejected a deal that would see pay increase by 10.5% over three years, starting this year with a 4% raise. It said the highest annual salary for skilled workers in Fareham is £32,500 ($42,800) and that this is less than average UK wages of £35,700.

Eaton insists that its pay offer is competitive with comparable aerospace manufacturing jobs in the UK, taking into account base pay and total compensation. It said the deal amounts to a 12.5% increase and that it looks forward to receiving formal proposals from Unite.

“We recognize employees’ right to take industrial action and have contingencies in place to maintain operations and customer service, and are intent on resolving this as quickly as possible,” a company spokesperson told AIN.

Germany’s Aero-Dienst and Texas-based Turbine Engine Specialists (TES) have launched a transatlantic partnership to support Honeywell engines and auxiliary power units (APUs). The alliance announced today will expand support in Europe for business jets equipped with TFE731 and HTF7000 series engines, as well as the GTCP36-100/150 and RE100/220 series APUs.

Repair requests will be directed to whichever of the authorized Honeywell service centers can provide support promptly. For Dallas-based TES, the arrangement with Nuremberg-based Aero-Dienst is a foundation for expanding its presence in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market.

When TES receives an AOG support request from an operator with an aircraft in Europe, it will now assign this work to Aero-Dienst, which also has facilities at Vienna and Klagenfurt in Austria. Similarly, TES will provide troubleshooting support for Europe-based aircraft traveling in the U.S.

Under the new agreement, Aero-Dienst will conduct ongoing major periodic inspections that are not covered by Honeywell’s Maintenance Service Plan, and TES will handle inspections that are covered by this plan. The Texan company will also conduct more extensive overhauls and repairs to APUs for which it holds approvals.

The two companies have been working together for some time. Since 2021, Aero-Dienst has already done the majority of post-loan inspections on 36-100 and 36-150 APUs that TES loaned to EMEA aircraft operators from its Honeywell APU rental bank.

The UK government is canceling plans for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other senior ministers to travel in a leased helicopter operated by the Royal Air Force. Defense secretary John Healey has determined that the new Labour administration will not renew a five-year contract when it expires at the end of this year.

In 2023, former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak overruled Ben Wallace, the defense secretary at the time, who had sought to scrap a contract under which Leonardo’s UK distributor Sloane Helicopters provided a pair of AW109 rotorcraft to be flown by RAF pilots and based at Northolt airfield in west London. The contract, worth up to £40 million ($52.9 million), was subsequently put out to tender for planned renewal at the end of 2024, but the Ministry of Defence confirmed on Tuesday that this will not be signed.

Starmer’s government is poised to implement significant cuts to public spending. During the recent UK general election campaign, his Labour Party strongly criticized Sunak and other Conservative leaders for traveling by helicopter for short trips they argued could have been made more cost-effectively by train.

For international flights by government leaders, the Royal Air Force’s 32 Squadron operates a VIP-equipped Airbus A330 Voyager aircraft. Senior members of the royal family have access to chartered jets operated by Luxaviation UK under an agreement signed in 2009.

The final set of Enstrom Helicopter maintenance training courses for the year will be held at the company’s Menominee, Michigan headquarters in September. Mechanics and pilots are welcome to sign up for the piston course starting September 23 and turbine course September 30.

The $1,400 price covers both piston and turbine courses, and each lasts for five days, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Topics covered include proper inspection procedures, routine maintenance, airframe and rotor system troubleshooting, main rotor tracking, and tail rotor balance procedures, according to Enstrom. Students will use special tools and hands-on display models during the courses. 

Mechanics holding inspection authorization (IA) will get credit for IA renewal. Students who complete the class “can return for a refresher course as often as they like for no additional cost” when seats are available, the company said. Enrollment is limited to 10 students per class, and students are responsible for their own lodging, transportation, and meals.

Enstrom’s model lineup includes the turbine-powered 480B and piston-engine F28F and 280FX.