Fans in attendance in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday got their money’s worth, with the Kansas City Chiefs pulling out a repeat as NFL champions, but business aviation traffic to the city was down considerably compared to that in the host cities in previous years. According to aviation activity tracker FlightAware, for the week encompassing the game, including Monday’s getaway day, the five airports in the Las Vegas area saw nearly 1,700 business aircraft arrivals.

Last year, when the game was held in Glendale, Arizona, it attracted 2,400 such arrivals spread over the area’s eight airports. That amounts to a more than 29 percent decrease year-over-year.

According to flight data tracker WingX Advance, during this year’s Super Bowl, average daily arrivals during the event weekend were 1.5 times higher than the average daily arrivals for February so far. Last year in Arizona, the daily average during the event was 1.9 times higher than the daily average during February 2023.

While some have posited that the difference was due to fewer airports in the Las Vegas area, this year’s totals also underperformed the private aviation traffic the city saw in November for its first Formula 1 Grand Prix, where the contentious special event aviation fees were also in effect.

Airbus Helicopters plans to start flight testing its high-speed rotorcraft technology demonstrator, dubbed Racer, later next month. Engineers at the company’s Marignane headquarters in France are now completing the installation and testing of all subsystems as they prepare to start the next phase of the program to define the configuration of a new-generation helicopter featuring rear-facing propellers in addition to a main rotor.

Racer flight trials are expected to target a top speed of 220 knots, which Airbus believes will represent the most efficient use of Racer’s hybrid-electric powertrain developed by Safran. Operating at 180 knots, it is expected to burn 15 percent less fuel than a conventional helicopter at 130 knots. Using the so-called Eco-Mode, one of the two Aneto-1X engines can be switched to standby during cruise flight to increase fuel efficiency by 30 percent.

According to Racer chief engineer Brice Makinadjian, Airbus and its partners have taken multiple design options to reduce drag by around 25 percent. These include a new fairing design, narrowing the fuselage while not reducing the size of the cabin, an asymmetrical tail boom, and a box wing featuring an integrated landing gear.

The Racer is expected to log around 200 flight hours over the course of a two-year demonstration program. The first flight will mark the end of the European Union-backed CleanSky 2 program that has involved 40 partners from 13 countries.

January kicked off the year with a 4.3 percent drop in global flight activity as the North American market declined by 5.5 percent year-over-year and Europe was down by 7.9 percent, according to aviation data research and safety specialist Argus International. Reporting on its monthly TraqPak data, Argus found traffic down not only from weaker demand but also from significant weather.

In North America last month, fractional operations continued to gain steam, up 9.4 percent year-over-year. But that marked the only gain in the continent in January, with Part 91 activity down by 6.7 percent and Part 135 off by 9.8 percent from the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, operations dropped for all aircraft categories, with midsize-cabin activity posting the smallest decrease of 1.8 percent. Turboprop operations posted the largest slide, down 9.6 percent, followed by large cabins at a 5.3 percent decline and small cabins down 5.2 percent.

A 17 percent decrease in turboprop operations and a 9.1 percent drop in large-cabin activity pushed down operations in Europe overall. However, small and midsize activity appeared to stabilize, down by only 1.6 and 1.8 percent, respectively. The rest of the world remains up by 7.7 percent.

Despite the sustained declines, Argus expects a slight increase of 1.2 percent in North America and a smaller decrease of 2.7 in Europe in February year-over-year.

Training beyond the minimums is becoming increasingly encouraged and standardized across business aviation. This equates to good news for all facets of the industry, as safety remains the critical axis on which our success revolves. Achieving necessary and effective balance surrounding safe flight narrows down to one thing: pilot training. 

An update from the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) on Friday indicates that the union and fractional-share operator NetJets have reached an agreement in principle to resolve issues involved with negotiations over an amended collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

NJASAP, which represents the roughly 3,100 NetJets pilots, had requested an updated contract to try to get its members closer to airline salary and to achieve working condition improvements. The existing CBA between NJASAP and NetJets extends to 2029, but NetJets agreed to voluntary interim bargaining and offered pay raises and other quality-of-life changes. NJASAP, however, didn’t put the offer up for a vote by members because it didn’t think the changes fully matched the increases that airline pilots have recently gained during their contract negotiations.

According to a joint statement issued by NJASAP and NetJets yesterday, “We are pleased to share an agreement in principle for an amended collective bargaining agreement has been reached between NetJets and NJASAP. Our teams are in the process of preparing a formal tentative agreement package that NJASAP can present for a membership vote. As the leader in private aviation, we will continue to keep safety and service at the forefront of all our actions, providing the exceptional travel experiences our owners expect and deserve.”

Dassault’s Falcon 6X will make its first Singapore Airshow appearance starting next Tuesday, when the 2024 edition of the airshow opens to trade attendees. The wide-cabin, ultra-long-range twinjet will be on static display alongside a Falcon 2000LXS at the Asian show, the French aircraft manufacturer said.

The 6X received simultaneous certification from EASA and the FAA in August, and the first delivery was to a customer in late November. The company noted that the airplane features the largest cabin cross-section of any purpose-built business jet.

Following its showing in Singapore, the 6X will continue its “worldwide tour” through other stops in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia-Pacific, according to Dassault. The twinjet has already done similar tours in America, Europe, and the Middle East.

“Operators who have flown the 6X as it has made its way around the globe praise the unparalleled quietness, comfort, and spaciousness of the cabin,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Éric Trappier. ”The 6X also retains the peerless handling, versatility, and short-field capability typical of all our Falcons.”

The FAA recently issued a supplemental type certificate (STC) to Nextant Aerospace for installation of SpaceX’s Starlink satcom system on the Bombardier Global Express, XRS, 6000, and 6500. Nextant previously obtained an STC for Starlink installation on the Gulfstream G650.

In September, following the G650 STC, Nextant sister company Flexjet announced plans to work with Nextant on Starlink STCs for Flexjet’s Embraer Phenom 300, Praetor 500 and 600, and Bombardier Challenger 350/3500 fleet. According to Nextant, it is now working on STCs for the rest of Gulfstream’s large-cabin jets, and by the end of the year, it plans to obtain STCs for the Challengers and Praetors, followed by light jets such as the Phenom 300.

These Starlink STCs are engineered by Nextant, but it isn’t installing Starlink systems for third parties—just for Flexjet. Third-party requests will be forwarded to Starlink’s approved vendor network, according to Nextant. “We expect to issue more announcements about STCs and other OEMs,” the company said.

Starlink equipment costs $150,000 and service is $25,000 per month. The hardware consists of an aero terminal (a phased-array electronically steered antenna that mounts on top of the fuselage), a power supply, and two wireless access points. The entire system weighs 65 to 70 pounds but will be “significantly” lighter for super-midsize and light jets, the company told AIN.

An open letter from the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) pushing back against criticisms stemming from diversity and inclusion programs in the aerospace industry has been endorsed by Women in Aviation International (WAI).

The letter, released last week, argues that “diversity in the flight deck enhances safety, innovation, and the overall effectiveness of the industry” and also makes note of the current statistical inequity of Black workers within the aerospace industry, despite the existence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

“According to the 2023 US Bureau of Labor & Statistics Report, of the 211,000 commercial pilots employed in the United States, 92.4 percent identify as white, while only 3.9 percent are Black,” the letter reads. “Efforts have been ongoing to foster greater inclusivity.”

Defending OBAP’s letter, WAI CEO Lynda Coffman said that providing access and education to those seeking out careers in aviation is a net positive for the industry. “As a longtime partner in fostering greater inclusivity in our industry, WAI has proudly signed OBAP’s letter and offers our continued support and resources as one of the many aviation affinity groups with the same goal,” she said.

OBAP’s statement comes amid growing national criticism of diversity and inclusion programs. Pundit Charlie Kirk specifically expressed concerns about Black pilots on his podcast, opining that Black pilots could be less qualified because they’ve benefitted from DEI programs.

NBAA has published a comprehensive customs and entry guide for those flying internationally into more than 300 general aviation airports in the U.S. with customs services. The organization’s GA Airport Fact Sheet aims to reduce the confusion around entering the U.S. through general aviation airports by collating different procedures and information about the inspection process from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) into one central reference point. 

“There are many nuances in the procedures and processing standards at each airport, and that can be challenging when clearing customs, especially if you regularly use different airports as your entry point to the U.S.,” said NBAA director of flight operations and regulations Brian Koester. He added that one of the biggest difficulties is that every port of entry has slightly different rules. NBAA plans to update the archive regularly as CBP revises and releases fact sheets.

“The business aviation community is grateful to CBP for creating these important fact sheets and bringing much-needed transparency to general aviation processing standards and procedure,” said Koester. “NBAA will continue to support and promote CBP’s GA fact sheets and every other initiative that enhances the safety, security, and integrity of our industry and the National Airspace System.”