While some manufacturers, including Bombardier, have treated São Paulo’s two business aviation events as an either/or choice in recent years, the Canadian OEM attended both the Catarina Aviation Show in May and LABACE this week. Its Challenger 3500 has featured at both shows as part of a Latin American demonstration tour, with the larger Global 8000 making its debut only at the Catarina event.

“Bombardier is uniquely positioned in the Brazilian market, and as our extensive Latin American tour will attest, we are very committed to this important region,” said Frank Vento, Bombardier’s v-p of sales for the U.S. and Latin America.

The Challenger 3500 flew into São Paulo Campo de Marte Airport (SBMT) on Monday from Catarina Airport (SBJH), with additional tour stops planned after LABACE in Asuncion, Paraguay; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Quito, Ecuador; Bogota, Colombia; and Panama City.

According to Bombardier, the Challenger 3500 offers the lowest direct operating costs in its category, along with a range of 3,400 nm and a top speed of Mach 0.83, allowing it to connect São Paulo with Bogota, Panama City, and Dakar, Senegal. With a landing distance of 2,710 feet, the super-midsize twinjet easily made it into SBMT, which has a 5,249-foot-long runway.

As Piper Aircraft celebrates its 90th anniversary, president and CEO John Calcagno announced the expansion of the company’s Vero Beach headquarters with a new service center. Meanwhile, Piper Industrial Manufacturing Co. (PIMCO) will help Robinson Helicopter with sheetmetal manufacturing for the in-development R88 helicopter, as well as partner with Aura Aero on its ERA 19-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner.

The new 33,000-sq-ft service center will add dedicated maintenance space but will also be used for new and preowned airplane deliveries. Along with seven indoor airplane bays, an 11,000-sq-ft outdoor service area will have four bays. Piper Aircraft plans to break ground on the new facility later this year, and it will open for business in late 2027.

In its collaboration with Robinson Helicopter, PIMCO is helping the helicopter manufacturer with sheetmetal forming, tooling design, and assembly processes. Both companies are also sharing best practices in aircraft design, manufacturing processes, and quality control systems, according to Piper Aircraft. 

“Collaborating with PIMCO to advance American manufacturing is an important step for Robinson Helicopter,” said Robinson president and CEO David Smith. “Their advanced and optimized metal-forming processes are dramatically shortening the development cycle for the R88, our largest workhorse aircraft.”

“This is more than a tooling contract; it is a strategic alignment of manufacturing excellence,” Calcagno added. 

Aircraft services group Aery Aviation has challenged the process through which the FAA seeks to impose a large civil penalty for alleged violations on flights from five to six years ago. In a statement, the company maintains that the agency lacks jurisdiction in the matter and also claims the FAA’s charges include significant factual inaccuracies.

On Dec. 21, 2025, the FAA filed a notice of proposed civil penalty against Aery for flights the agency alleges were conducted with unairworthy aircraft. The proposed penalty of $15,744,352.50, among the highest ever for a non-airline operator, covers 431 flights between July 2021 and April 2022.

The allegations relate to banner- and target-towing flights in Learjets for the U.S. Navy “without performing the required maintenance or maintaining the required documentation,” according to the FAA. Aery maintains these flights are exempt from FAA jurisdiction because they were public aircraft operations for the U.S. Navy. 

What struck Aery president Scott Beale as strange was that, in 2022, the FAA had raised questions about some Aery flights for a possible enforcement action. According to Aery, it responded to the 2022 issues and believed these were resolved because the FAA told the company that it didn’t need any more information. There was no further communication from the FAA for 38 months, according to Beale.

Global energy and commodity price data provider Argus Media has introduced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) emissions reduction indexes (ERIs), which enable aviation stakeholders to compare SAF economics with compliance and voluntary carbon market obligations.

The assessments and accompanying analytics provide an independent reference for SAF users to evaluate its regional competitiveness, aviation decarbonization costs, and the allocation of Scope 3 emissions reductions.

The ERIs normalize fuel prices on an energy equivalent basis using regional life cycle emissions assumptions and are published in U.S. dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. Published daily, the assessments also calculate U.S. dollars per tonne of fuel to provide transparency into the underlying SAF pricing delta and support comparison with Argus’ physical SAF benchmark prices.

Additionally, the company has rolled out an Excel-based calculator tool that uses the published ERIs as a reference point. It allows subscribers to create company-specific views of procurement, compliance, and decarbonization strategies.

“Our new ERI assessments help aviation industry market participants understand more clearly the relationships between fuel pricing and steadily increasing mandated and voluntary carbon markets obligations,” said Argus Media chairman and CEO Adrian Binks. “Together with the calculator, they offer a transparent and independent means of establishing the cost of emissions reduction and help participants decide how to allocate SAF costs and environmental attributes between buyers and sellers, including Scope 3 emissions reduction agreements.”

The Garmin G5000 transforms the Citation 560XL with large high-resolution touchscreen displays, modern graphical flight planning, and an integrated flight deck architecture designed for today's operating environment. Learn how the upgrade improves pilot workflow, enhances situational awareness, and brings the aircraft in line with modern cockpit expectations. View the complete guide to the Garmin G5000 upgrade.

Bombardier kicked off its fourth annual Flight Attendant Safety Summit today in Montreal, focusing on elevating cabin safety and operational excellence. Expanded to two days this year, the event is featuring a range of educational seminars, presentations, and other gatherings that will provide training in areas such as safety leadership, evacuation training, security realities, and medical emergency know-how, among others.

Presented in collaboration with Bombardier’s Safety Standdown, the seminar is free for all flight attendants and aviation professionals—including managers, directors, CEOs, and pilots—regardless of their aircraft type.

“This dynamic seminar brings together flight attendants, safety professionals, and industry leaders who share a common goal: strengthening the standards, knowledge, and collaboration that keep our passengers and crews safe,” said Chris Milligan, v-p of preowned aircraft services and flight operations for Bombardier.

Some of the presentations include “ICAO Initiatives in Advancing Cabin and Passenger Safety” by Darlene Maclachlan, ​a human factors technical officer at ICAO; ​“From Take-Off to Touchdown: Children on Board” by ​​Georgi Hester​, an early years consultant at Norland; ​​“Bombardier Instructors Masterclass in Cabin Safety​” by ​​Lynnette McCoubrey, Bombardier’s chief of cabin safety and training; and ​​“Behind the Smile: The Safety Power of Flight Attendants​” by ​​Melanie Folcik Barillaro​, a senior aviation accident investigator with the FAA.

Leonardo’s AW09 is a step closer to entry into service after EASA granted type certification for the Safran Helicopter Engines Arriel 2K that powers the light-single helicopter.

According to Safran, the 1,000-shp-class engine has dual-channel Fadec and an engine auxiliary control box that reduces pilot workload. A two-stage compressor comprising one axial and one centrifugal stage “delivers high compressor efficiency in a particularly compact package,” the French manufacturer said, while the “annular combustion chamber ensures clean and efficient fuel combustion.”

Safran has manufactured more than 15,500 Arriel engines for 40 different helicopter types, and these have amassed more than 66 million flight hours. Bench testing of the Arriel 2K started in 2022, and it first flew on the AW09 in March 2023. It has logged more than 4,100 test hours and 600 in flight.

“The certification of the Arriel 2K marks another defining step towards the entry into service of the AW09,” Safran Helicopter Engines CEO Cédric Goubet commented. “All the teams at Safran Helicopter Engines are ready to support Leonardo and its customers in bringing this brand-new helicopter into service.”

Advanced air mobility infrastructure group UrbanV has launched an alliance with local Brazilian partners to develop a network of an initial five vertiports to support eVTOL air taxi services in the São Paulo area. The Italian company announced the agreement with PAX Aeroportos, Helicenter/Ponte Aérea, and GL Events today at the LABACE business aviation show at São Paulo Campo de Marte Airport (SBMT). 

According to UrbanV, the planned vertiport sites will be at SBMT, Alphaville Heliport (SJIW), World Trade Center Hotel Sheraton Heliport (SDWT), the São Paulo Expo, and Santos Convention Center. The Rome-based group said it has support from local authorities in the São Paulo area and from electric energy supplier ENGIE, which will help with installation of charging equipment for the electric aircraft.

At LABACE, UrbanV infrastructure design specialist Leonardo Gafforio told AIN that energy supply infrastructure is the hardest challenge in establishing the vertiports since this will require constructing new substations. Business development manager Ermanno Forastiere said development costs for the facilities will vary on a site-by-site basis and that it is also considering sites such as the Alphaville suburb, the port of Santos, and the Sheraton Hotel in São Paulo.

“For urban mobility, São Paulo is the leading global market,” Forastiere said. “With the world’s largest helicopter fleet, the market is already here.”

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a case where the state of Alaska sought to confiscate a Cessna U206D belonging to charter pilot Kenneth Jouppi. The case stems from a planned April 3, 2012 Ken Air flight from Fairbanks to Beaver, and some luggage that contained beer, which was a prohibited item in Beaver.

Before takeoff, an Alaska state trooper searched the 206 and found three cases of beer, including a six-pack in a paper bag. According to attorney James Crowson, who is not involved in the case, the jury in Jouppi’s trial ruled that he saw the six-pack and thus knew that alcohol was being transported to Beaver. Jouppi was convicted and sentenced to a $1,500 fine and three days in jail, and his airplane became the subject of a long-running effort by the state to confiscate it.

Jouppi appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled in April 2025 that the confiscation was upheld. The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is intended to determine whether the airplane forfeiture violates the excessive fines clause of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, according to Crowson. 

“If the Supreme Court rules that the forfeiture is not proportionate,” he said, “then the [Alaska] statute is unconstitutional, and the legislature has to come up with new language.”