Bombardier’s 7,700-nm Global 7500 has reached a new plateau: the 200th delivery to a customer. The airframer announced the milestone this morning, a marker reached just six years after the jet entered service in 2018.

Since then, the Global 7500 fleet has amassed 200,000 hours and logged a dispatch reliability of more than 99.8%. And as the fleet has grown, so too have the speed records for the Mach 0.925, four-zone model.

The Canadian manufacturer noted that the aircraft has accrued some 75 such city-pair records, and more are coming, according to David Strassburg, Bombardier demonstration pilot and safety manager for demo flight operations. “We're actually at more than that. So we're really doing quite well.”

These include an 8,225-nm flight in October 2019 from Sydney, Australia, to Detroit, Michigan, the longest flight ever recorded in business aviation, the company maintained. Some of the newer missions included Miami to São Paulo, Tokyo to Los Angeles, Jeddah to London, and Los Angeles to Auckland.

Many of them were done on demo flights from one city to another, providing the ability to demonstrate speed and the quality of the flight in the aircraft to potential buyers.

“That's been really satisfying to do that,” he said. “We were showing them that we can demonstrate world-class record-setting performance in the end-case scenario that you want to use this aircraft.”

The International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) has announced that Louis C. Seno, Jr. will assume the role of executive director on Jan. 1, 2025. Seno will succeed Wayne Starling, who has led the organization since October 2018. This transition follows a comprehensive search process led by the IADA board and chair Phil Winters, with support from behavioral search firm The Mettis Group.

Seno brings extensive experience in the aviation industry to the role. Currently serving as chairman emeritus and special advisor to the board of Jet Support Services, Inc. (JSSI), Seno’s career includes leadership roles at Boeing Capital Corporation and GE Capital Solutions. He is a general aviation pilot with more than 7,000 hours of flight time and has received the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, recognizing more than 50 years of aviation expertise.

Under Starling’s leadership, IADA expanded its influence and established itself as a leader in the business aircraft resale industry. Starling, who received the IADA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, will continue in an advisory role to support the transition through April 2025.

Seno expressed his commitment to advancing IADA’s mission, stating, “I am honored to be taking the helm of such a dynamic and effective organization and am looking forward to working with Wayne on the transition.”

In addition to his role at JSSI, Seno serves on multiple boards, including the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Two environmental protestors who spraypainted a Cessna Citation CJ1+ parked at Sylt Airport in northern Germany in June 2023 have been jailed by a district court judge. According to a December 8 report in Die Welt newspaper, an unnamed 24-year-old woman was sentenced to seven months in prison for joint damage and trespassing, along with a 22-year-old woman, who received a six-month sentence.

Fines of €2,100 ($2,218) and €1,600, respectively, were imposed on another pair of protestors from the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) group. These unnamed defendants were aged 62 and 44, and all four sentences were in line with those sought by the public prosecutor.

Niebüll district court judge Larissa Herzog acquitted a 29-year-old defendant on the grounds that he was at the protest as a photojournalist.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the protestors caused at least €1 million in damage to the private jet and a further €3,700 in damage when they cut the airport security fence. Eight days later, the same defendants were alleged to have dug holes in a nearby golf course in Sylt/Hörnum and planted a tree and flowers there.

Photos showing the Citation after it was sprayed showed paint covering most of the wings and fuselage, and paint also got into the jet’s turbofan engines. Police did not confirm who owned the aircraft.

For the fourth straight year, the FAA has announced a wave of funding for the upgrade, design, and building of airport control towers. The agency has again awarded $20 million in infrastructure grants as part of the Biden Administration’s Investing in America agenda, with the recipients consisting of smaller and regional airports in 15 states across the country.

“Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden-Harris Administration is supporting every part of our aviation system—including airports in small communities that drive local economies and help people get where they need to go,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With today’s announcement, 20 more airports will have the resources they need to upgrade operations and make travel safer and more efficient.”

This year’s FAA Contract Tower Program grants ranged in value from $200,000 for California’s Castle Airport (KMER) to replace outdated air traffic control equipment up to $2 million for Smith Reynolds Airport (KINT) in North Carolina to rehabilitate its 1941-vintage contract tower.

While Gary/Chicago International Airport (KGYY) in Indiana has earmarked its $1.7 million grant for the replacement of its existing tower, the remaining airports will use their funds either to repair or upgrade critical systems in their current ATC facilities or to pay for the design of new towers.

Private jet company RightJet has launched a showroom at the Emirates Palace Mandarin hotel in Abu Dhabi. Situated in the atrium of the UAE landmark, the space serves as a client lounge and sales office, while offering a fully immersive private aviation experience. It includes a private meeting room and a mock-up fuselage for customers to view, with fully interactive digital data screens powered by proprietary software.

“This is an incredibly proud moment for the whole RightJet team as we open the doors to this unique facility in an iconic hotel that epitomizes everything we hold dear—trust, advanced information sharing, luxury, phenomenal service, and a touch of glamour. This showroom brings something very new to the private jet industry in the Middle East—a fully immersive sales experience, handcrafted to the requirements of discerning clientele looking for exclusivity and discretion,” commented Mark Hardman, CEO of RightJet.

RightJet has also developed a unique and proprietary app which it says will “present real-time aviation solutions and aircraft options.”

The Dubai-based startup was founded by Hardman, who has more than 25 years of experience in the industry with companies such as Qatar Executive, Flying Group, Dubai South Airport, ExecuJet Aviation, Bombardier Skyjet, and Harrods Aviation.

Croatian air charter operator Jung Sky has reported strong growth in private lift demand, with its flight hours for the first 10 months up by more than 15% from the same period in 2022. From January through the end of October, the company operated 619 passenger-carrying flights, which it said reflected growth of around 20% compared with the same periods in any of the past six years.

Jung Sky has come a long way since it was founded in 2009 with just a couple of employees offering sightseeing flights in a Cessna 172. It now has a 25-strong team, with seven pilots and a pair of Cessna Citation CJ2s in the fleet, as well as its own line maintenance base at Varaždin Airport, around 50 miles from Zagreb.

According to the operator, it flies in and out of more than 200 European airports in the course of a year, working for multiple charter brokers from around the world and logging up to 1,500 total flights annually. “Our mission is to be proud of the service we provide and to be the company everyone loves working with,” said co-founder Kresimir Jung, who is one of Jung Sky’s pilots. “I think we’ve had great success in achieving that and it’s something everyone in the country takes great pride in.”

FBO chain Modern Aviation sponsored an animal rescue mission last week to transport dogs from overcrowded southern animal shelters to New York, where they will have a better chance of adoption.

The mission was conducted by Pilots to the Rescue, a New York City-based nonprofit organization. “Millions of animals are euthanized simply because shelters don’t have enough space to care for them,” said Michael Schneider, the charity’s founder and head pilot. “By transporting pets to available shelters by air, we put them in position to quickly find new homes and loving families.”

Using a Daher Kodiak utility turboprop single, the group transported 22 dogs from shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi to the east end of Long Island, New York, where Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation and Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons accepted them.

Modern picked up the cost of the mission and provided ground handling at its FBOs at Wilmington International Airport (KILM) in North Carolina and at Francis S. Gabreski Airport (KFOK) in Suffolk County, New York, where the dogs were delivered.

"We are excited to kick off our relationship with Pilots to the Rescue by sponsoring the relocation of shelter dogs in need from shelters in Louisiana to New York,” said Mark Carmen, Modern’s CEO. “We are passionate about supporting animals in need, and Pilots to the Rescue does amazing work relocating them to better living situations."

As AIN develops content for our FBO Awards Dinner & Gala, we are requesting photos and videos from FBOs showing their history—past buildings, layouts, staff, etc. The photos and videos will be combined into a collage to be shown at the event's start. Click here to learn more.