Airbus expects to start flight testing early next year of its Xwing future wing demonstrator, which will integrate and fly breakthrough wing technologies on a Cessna Citation VII platform in various flight conditions. Following these trials, the business jet will be fitted with a morphing wing that is planned to be flight tested in 2024, the company said last week.
The work on the “extra-performing wing” started in September 2021 and is part of the manufacturer’s Wing of Tomorrow program. According to Airbus, the demonstrator’s morphing wing will be compatible with any propulsion solution and aircraft configuration and would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to the company’s decarbonization roadmap.
Similar to how birds soar, the wing will be able to adapt its shape, span, and surface to increase flight efficiency. Various technology will be investigated to enable the active control of the wing, including gust sensors; pop-up spoilers or plates that are rapidly deflected perpendicular to airflow; multifunctional trailing edges that dynamically change wing surface in flight; and a semi-aeroelastic hinge.
The demonstrator is hosted within Airbus UpNext, an Airbus subsidiary created to fast-track future technologies by building demonstrators at speed and scale to evaluate, mature, and validate “potential new products and services that encompass radical technological breakthroughs,” according to the company.
CAE is adding a Global 6500 full-flight simulator (FFS) at the Emirates-CAE Flight Training (ECFT) Al Garhoud center in May, the training specialist announced during MEBAA 2022. The addition builds on the breadth of the center’s business aviation reach as CAE and Emirates celebrate the 20th anniversary of their ECFT partnership in Dubai.
“ECFT’s success is a testament to the strong partnership Emirates and CAE have developed over the past 20 years,” said CAE civil aviation group president Nick Leontidis. “With the deployment of the new Global 6500 FFS, we are securing ECFT’s reputation for delivering the most advanced business aviation training in the region.”
The relationship between Emirates and CAE spans 30 years, when the international operator acquired its first simulator, an Airbus A310-300/A300-600R, from the Montreal-based training specialist in 1992. By the end of that decade, Emirates had acquired six more simulators and ultimately formed a training partnership with CAE in 2002 to establish ECFT. A 12-bay center opened the following year. This turned into a formal joint venture in 2006 with the center providing training to airlines and business aviation operations in the region.
Since then, the joint venture has continued to expand as CAE and Emirates opened a second five-bay center in 2013. Today, the two centers house 19 simulators and train more than 12,000 pilots annually.
Embraer is seeing a notable pick up in activity in the Middle East as interest in business aviation expands across numerous sectors and for aircraft of all sizes, according to Stephen Friedrich, chief commercial officer for Embraer Executive Jets.
“We view this region as having significant potential,” Friedrich told AIN at the MEBAA Show last week. “It’s always been a consistent source of revenue and sales for us. But we really do view what's happening—as the economy continues to evolve—as being very positive for the use of business aviation assets. And we see that not just here in the Middle East, but also in the surrounding areas.”
The economic rebound from the pandemic is driven by an uptick in a range of businesses—including financial services, real estate, tourism, along with oil—and that in turn is changing the dynamic for business aviation. “In the past, there's been a lot of ultra-long-range aircraft that have been in demand here. There still is. But we're now seeing light, mid, and super-mid demand here,” he said.
The growth in business activity in the region was reflected in the return of the MEBAA Show. Friedrich said the event was “well attended with quality decision-makers. This has been a positive show.”
Next month, DC Aviation and G-OPS will open an FBO at France’s Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. The FBO will join DC Aviation’s other facilities in Dubai, Malta, Munich, and Moscow. The Germany-headquartered company also operates a fleet of 32 business aircraft and provides aircraft charter, management, maintenance, and handling services.
The Nice FBO is designed to minimize its carbon footprint, with efficient use of materials and low energy consumption using green energy. It will also accommodate eVTOLs and their electric and hydrogen energy needs. Inside the FBO, the spacious lounge has been designed by architects Collin + Radoske.
“We are looking forward to building a dependable and close-knit cooperation with the airport and our local partners to achieve the set goals—in terms of sustainability as well—while offering our customers facilities that meet our high standards with respect to quality, comfort, and discretion,” said DC Aviation CEO Michael Kuhn.
Dubai-based private aviation services company Empire Aviation Group (EAG) signed an agreement at MEBAA 2022 with the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) at Dubai South to develop a new, multi-purpose business aviation facility adjacent to the site’s VIP Terminal.
EAG will own, manage and operate the facility, which it will also fully finance, with work due to start next year and completion expected in 2024. The mixed-use facility will include EAG’s new global corporate headquarters, as well as operations control and CAMO for all group operations and a crew check-in and briefing area. The scheme also caters to premium office space for aviation and related companies, luxury retail food and beverage outlets, and a rooftop lounge for events and entertainment.
“Since 2007, Empire Aviation has been focusing on business aviation with a mission to increase corporate use of private jets for business travel and we have developed into a truly global business,” said EAG founder and managing director Paras Dhamecha. “The facility will meet the super high-quality standards expected in Dubai and support MBRAH’s vision to make Dubai the aviation capital of the world.”
MBRAH CEO Tahnoon Saif added, “This agreement reiterates our mandate to attract the top players in the industry to establish their presence at MBRAH and benefit from our ecosystem to connect with global markets.”
The Atlanta Police Department last week signed a $10 million purchase agreement for two MD 530F helicopters and will enroll its 2001 model year MD 500E in MD Helicopters’ FAA-approved E-to-F conversion program. The new-production MD 530Fs will be delivered next year and the MD 500E will go through a three-month conversion process after the 530Fs are operational.
All three aircraft will be equipped with a tactical mapping system, an IR-capable camera system, a searchlight, and a downlink system. The helicopters will also feature a higher 3,350-pound gross weight, increased cruise speed, improved flight characteristics in confined areas, and lower direct operating costs compared to the older aircraft.
Updated from the MD 500E, the MD 530F delivers increased performance via a more powerful Rolls-Royce RR250-C30 engine, upgraded main rotor gearbox, and improved tail rotor drive shaft. The E-to-F conversion program upgrades the MD 500E to an MD 530F by replacing the engine, gearbox, and drive shaft, as well as adding new main and tail rotor blades.
“The purchase of two new MD 530Fs and the upgrade of our MD 500E converting it to an MD 530F will standardize and modernize our fleet, reducing risk, improving safety, and increasing operational efficiency at a low operating cost,” said Sgt. Chris Newman of the Atlanta Police Department Aviation Unit.
WingX managing director Richard Koe updated MEBAA Show attendees on business jet traffic growth since November 2019, highlighting factors that have affected activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
“The pandemic created a record new peak in flight activity,” he said. While the MENA region accounted for only 1.3 percent of worldwide activity from November 2019 through November 2022, “it is growing quickly,” he added, up 10 percent over the period.
There are 426 business jets based in the MENA region, representing 1.4 percent of the global fleet. More than two-thirds of those are long-range jets, although deliveries of smaller jets have grown 15 to 20 percent. Sector lengths of MENA business jet trips have dropped on routes to Europe and grown for connections within the region.
Driving the growth in business jet activity in MENA is the drop in scheduled airline movements, which have yet to recover fully from the pandemic slowdown, Koe said. A surprising number is that business jet movements from Al Maktoum International Airport to MENA airports are up 200 percent since late 2019. One high-traffic destination affecting that number is Moscow.
Despite factors such as economic concerns and the dissipation of the Covid effect, WingX anticipates a compound annual growth rate of 15 to 20 percent for business aircraft flying in the MENA region for the next five years.
UAE-based flight planning and dispatch concern Skyplan Services opened a new flight dispatchers’ training school in Dubai this month. “We are launching Skyline Innovation Academy at Dubai Airport Free Zone [DAFZA],” Muhammad Sami, president and CEO of Skyplan Services, told AIN. “We just received our flight dispatch training organization approval from the General Authority for Civil Aviation [GCAA].”
Costs for its three-day recurrent flight dispatcher course include tuition and competency checks, with the inaugural course starting on December 12. The goal of the establishment is twofold: train new entrants for a flight dispatch career and also maintain the skills of existing professionals.
Skyplan was established in 1983 and is headquartered in Canada. Its core business is flight planning and contract flight dispatch. Dubai is its regional headquarters in the Middle East region. In the Middle East, flight dispatch training is largely organized through the airlines, and the entrance of private-sector players will provide additional bandwidth for training.
The company believes that its courses will be attractive to industry participants as far afield as the Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. Sami said Skyplan Services is also investigating the establishment of a sister academy in East Africa, possibly in Kenya.
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