After freezing the Falcon 6X design in May, Dassault now says its super-midsize jet program is well into the manufacturing phase and on track to complete assembly of the first aircraft by early next year. First flight is scheduled for 2021, with deliveries expected to start in 2022.
“Work is going full throttle at the Biarritz facility, where the aft section of the 6X fuselage is assembled,” the company said. “Later this fall, the complete fuselage will be delivered to Bordeaux-Mérignac for final assembly.”
Fuselage-panel production is at Dassault’s facility in Argenteuil, France, while wing-panel manufacturing is at Seclin. At some production sites, including final assembly in Mérignac and cabin completions in Little Rock, Arkansas, “engineers and manufacturing teams are currently working together in satellite plateaus anticipating work in subsequent production and testing phases,” the company said.
Meanwhile, the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW812D engine that will power the 6X has accumulated more than 1,000 hours on a P&WC test bench in Montreal using five development engines. “The PW812D engine program continues to achieve milestones in line with the initial program plan,” Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier said in May.
Senate Extends Terms of NTSB’s Sumwalt, Homendy
The Senate completed consideration of a flurry of nominations before heading toward the August break, including the reconfirmations of Robert Sumwalt as chairman of the NTSB and Jennifer Homendy as a member of the Board.
This comes in addition to the approval last month of Stephen Dickson as the next FAA Administrator and of a waiver that would enable Dan Elwell, who had been acting administrator, to return to the deputy administrator’s post. Nominations are handled in the Senate, but the House was required to also approve the waiver for Elwell.
Both Sumwalt and Homendy were approved by voice vote. Sumwalt, who was renominated in July to the chairman’s position, was approved for a three-year term. Meanwhile, the White House in January had renominated Homendy to a five-year term as a member of the NTSB. Her term has now been extended until Dec. 31, 2024.
The Senate, however, has not yet acted on the nomination of Textron Aviation executive Michael Graham to fulfill the remainder of the term at the NTSB in place of Earl Weener. In addition, the White House is vetting candidates for a final opening on the Board and is said to be looking at another possibility with a strong knowledge of both commercial and general aviation safety.
Lower Heavy Jet Ops Hampers Signature’s Revenue Growth
Signature Flight Support revenue overall slid 0.9 percent to $879.1 million in the first six months, reflecting lower fuel prices, negative foreign exchange movements, and a relatively flat market for business and general aviation (B&GA) movements, according to the FBO chain’s parent BBA Aviation.
In the U.S., business and general aviation movements inched up 0.3 percent in the first half, BBA Aviation noted, citing FAA data. While the overall revenue at Signature was down, its organic revenue was up 1 percent in the first six months, representing an “outperformance of 70 basis points,” BBA said.
Tempering the results, though, was a dip in heavy jet traffic in the Signature network, “which has limited our ability to outperform the overall U.S. B&GA market at our usual levels.” BBA also pointed to uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade tariffs, Gulf tensions, and the slowdown in China as reducing discretionary flying, “which has been most notable in our charter segment.”
A 4.7 percent first-half dip in European movements also took a toll, BBA Aviation said. “While Europe is a small part of Signature, this has clearly impacted overall performance, although encouragingly we saw a much-improved performance in June.” Signature’s profit slipped 2.6 percent in the first half to $156.4 million.
Global charter broker Air Charter Services (ACS) has expanded in Brazil with additional staff and larger office space, following what it said was a record year for the operation in São Paulo. “The new premises is almost twice the size of our last place and gives us enough space for the foreseeable future, with plenty of room for the next stage in our expansion plan—we have almost doubled the size of our team over the past 12 months and are looking to push on with further investment later in 2019,” said ACS Brazil CEO Ana Benavente.
Benavente called Brazil “a market on the rise” as it has the world’s eighth-largest economy, companies that are among the top 250 of Forbes’s “The World’s Largest Public Companies,” and 50 billionaires there. “We had a record year at ACS Brazil in 2018—we surpassed 2017’s figures with more than two months of the year remaining,” Benavente added. “We had an especially busy period in June and July last year as we chartered for four of the five South American nations taking part in the FIFA World Cup.”
Last year’s growth was spread among private, commercial, and cargo charters, she said.
Austrian Firm Selected For Challenger, Global Radomes
Austria-based FACC has been awarded a contract to supply the radomes for Bombardier Business Aircraft’s family of Globals and Challengers and paves the way for a more diverse portfolio of work. “The contract positions FACC as an important supplier on some of the industry’s leading aircraft, offering FACC additional opportunities in the aerostructures business segment,” the company said.
Under the life-of-program contract for Challengers and Globals, production deliveries are planned to begin in 2020. It builds on aerostructures assemblies and cabin interiors FACC already supplies to the Canadian airframer for the Challenger 350 and Global 7500, including wing-to-body fairings, rudders, bypass ducts, cabin linings, and cabinets.
“We are proud to have been awarded this new contract, which matches perfectly with our strategy to widen our product portfolio,” said Stefan Schamberger, FACC director of programs and sales aerostructures. “It offers us the opportunity to broaden our relationship with Bombardier as one of its suppliers.”
California FBO Changes Ownership, Name
Major changes are coming to Sky Trek Aviation, the lone service provider at California’s Modesto City-County Airport. The FBO has changed ownership for the first time in more than three decades, with the business purchased by long-time customers Matt Bosco and Dan Kimmel. They have also changed its name to Modesto Jet Center and have hired John Earl—who spent the last 20 years with San Francisco-area Pacific States Aviation, most recently as director—as its new general manager.
The new ownership plans to refurbish the Avfuel-branded facility’s 1,500-sq-ft terminal, which includes a lobby, pilot lounge with snooze room, 10-seat conference room, and staff offices. Mather Aviation, which has had a long-standing relationship with the new owners, will operate the company’s Part 145 maintenance and avionics division. The complex offers more than 60,000 sq ft of hangar space and can accommodate aircraft up to a Gulfstream G450.
“Our team is excited to come in and give the facility a fresh look to enhance the already exceptional customer experience,” said Kimmel. “We have extensive plans for the facility upgrade, which will go hand-in-hand with the brand refresh.”
Study Sees Growth Ahead for Bizav Aircraft Finance
A new study by corporate aviation financier Shearwater Aero Capital shows that three-quarters of the aircraft transaction experts they surveyed believe that demand for aircraft financing will increase over the next three years, as aircraft buyers look to use less of their cash and take advantage of competitive rates in the marketplace. In response to that potential growing demand for financing, 64 percent of those surveyed believe more funding will be made available to the sector over the next year.
Where that additional financing will come from is a matter of dispute. Forty percent expect more specialist lenders will enter the market, 28 percent believe the existing specialist lenders will increase their portfolios, while 23 percent believe traditional lenders will increase their exposure in the business aircraft arena.
Yet nearly one-third of those surveyed said they believe most, if not all, traditional lenders will withdraw from the market over the next three years to focus on mainstream lending in the face of growing specific regulatory and internal pressures.
Ruag Unveils Europe CPDLC Kit for Legacy 600/650
An affordable solution for controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) over the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) in Eurocontrol airspace has been developed for the Embraer Legacy 600/650 by Ruag MRO International, the Switzerland-based company announced today.
“Our ATN-assisted modification package is purpose-designed to be straightforward and economical, requiring downtime of five days for implementation,” said Ruag head of sales for business jets Christian Karl. “We believe this is a significant step towards making CPDLC technology accessible to a broad scope of Embraer Legacy operators, also in the Eurocontrol area.”
The solution is available as a kit and includes approved data and required equipment. But the kit does require Embraer’s Service Bulletin for future air navigation system (FANS) CPDLC. CPDLC reduces the requirement for voice messaging while improving the accuracy of communications, as well as offers optimum aircraft routing and other cumulative advantages for flight operations above FL285. “Installing this mod is similar to having a second SIM card on your mobile phone for receiving text messages in Europe,” Karl added. “Even if it is not mandated, it ensures you are best served, especially on busy routes or airports.”
Ruag’s business aircraft engineering and MRO unit at Munich-Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, performs the kit install.
Count on AIN for Full Coverage of LABACE
As ever, you can count on AIN for full coverage of LABACE 2019. Our team will publish three of our award-winning daily LABACE Convention News editions at the show on August 13, 14, and 15. We will also have comprehensive real-time reporting of all the top news at AINonline.com and in our daily e-newsletters. If you are an exhibiting company that wants to share news or propose pre-show interviews and briefings please contact show editor Ian Sheppard.
People in Aviation
The NTSB named Dana Schulze director of the Office of Aviation Safety. Schulze, who has served with the NTSB since 2002, had been deputy director of the Office of Aviation Safety since 2012 and also recently had been acting director.
FlightSafety International promoted Michael Burger to manager of its training center in Teterboro, New Jersey, taking over for Danny Robayo who recently became v-p. Burger joined FlightSafety in 2004 as an instructor at the Farnborough, UK center and has held positions of increasing responsibility, including assistant manager in Teterboro and EASA head of training. He will also continue in the EASA role.
RTCA named Brett Eastham v-p of business operations and secretary for the RTCA board of directors. Eastham spent the past five years as CFO and v-p of business development for the Flight Safety Foundation.
TAG Aviation named Joanne Goodall director of customer service for the UK. Initially working with cargo and commercial carriers, Goodall joined TAG in 2017 as a client relation manager and before that served with a Switzerland-based FBO and maintenance company.
West Star Aviation appointed Larry Marler technical sales manager at its facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Marler, who has served with West Star for a little more than three years, has 35 years of aviation experience, previously holding roles at Midcoast Aviation, Dassault Falcon Jet, and StandardAero.
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