Business aviation traffic has been trending downwards over the past four weeks, off by 4 percent globally, according to WingX. Traffic in the second week of January dipped by 7 percent year-over-year (YOY) as winter storms and the end of the holidays affected traffic. In particular, Part 135 and 91K flights ebbed, WingX reported, while the airlines were up 6 percent YOY.

In the second week in North America, traffic dropped by 8.5 percent from a year ago, but this varied by region, with Mexico up by 4.7 percent and the U.S. down by 9.3 percent. Even so, the nation’s busiest business aviation airport, Teterboro in New Jersey, remained on par with last year.

In Europe, traffic was down 6 percent year-over-year in week two of the year and has trended down by 2 percent over the last four weeks. Light jets remained the busiest segment for the week, topping 1,600 flights in the region. More than 500 unique ultra-long-range jets were active during the second week. Traffic trends varied by region, down by 15 percent in week two in France but up by 6 percent in Switzerland, which hosted the World Economic Forum.

Traffic continues to improve in Asia and the Middle East, rising 2 percent YOY in the second week, and by 10 percent specifically in the Middle East.

A director of aviation recently reached out to tell me about the success of her flight department’s internship program. In that discussion, we both agreed that it’s time to shine a light on the tremendous value of internships in the business aviation industry and to encourage more Part 91 flight departments to take advantage of the opportunities they provide.

After all, we agreed, internships can be an essential launchpad for a career in business aviation in that they expose more young talent to our industry and give them a glimpse of what it’s like to work in a corporate flight department; help students gain valuable hands-on work experience and aid them in deciding which career path is right for them; and benefit flight departments by giving individual contributors the ability to hone their project management and leadership skills.

Let’s take a look at three such paid internship programs in the areas of dispatching, maintenance, and piloting.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate narrowly averted the looming federal government shutdown with the passage of a stopgap measure that extends funding into March. Approved by the Senate 77-18 and by the House 314-108 yesterday, the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act of 2024 (H.R.2872) essentially extends funding temporarily at fiscal 2023 levels until full fiscal 2024 bills can be passed.

Congress had faced a deadline at the end of today to extend funding temporarily or pass full-year bills for most government agencies. The latest continuing resolution sets two deadlines for the completion of the fiscal 2024 government funding bills.

A March 1 deadline was established for four of the appropriations bills, including transportation, housing, and urban development, which covers funding for the FAA. The March 8 deadline covers the remaining bills, including funding for the Department of Homeland Security covering both the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection.

Aerospace Industries Association president and CEO Eric Fanning stressed the need to complete full-year funding, especially for the Department of Defense, the FAA, and NASA, but added, “Doing so adequately and correctly is just as important…While it’s not the outcome we hoped for nearly four months into the year, we expect this short reprieve will enable Congress to find an acceptable path forward.”

The exact cause of an uncommanded flap movement on a Bombardier Challenger 604 departing London-area Farnborough Airport has not been fully resolved by the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB). A field investigation report published yesterday provides details on some latent failures in the No. 1 flap retract relay, which meant it did not arrest the malfunction with the flaps.

At the start of a charter flight to Malaga in Spain on Aug. 10, 2022, the German-registered Challenger (tail number D-AAY) experienced an uncommanded flap movement above the maximum flap extension speed, during which the flaps moved to their fully extended position. The aircraft returned to Farnborough with the flap extended, but subsequent testing on the ground could not determine the reasons for the malfunction. It was established that a latent failure in the No. 1 flap retract relay had occurred on at least the previous 64 flights.

According to AAIB investigators, the failure of the relay resulted from damage to the D contacts, which provide electrical power to the flap brake detector units. They concluded that the damage was caused by electrical arcing resulting from an unpressurized back electromotive force generated when the brake detector units were de-energized to apply the flap brakes when the flaps reached their selected position. Even though Bombardier has issued five related service bulletins, the AAIB does not consider the issues closed.

Banyan Air Service has inked a strategic agreement with HondaJet fractional ownership provider Volato that will see Banyan establish a new maintenance center for the light twinjet at Volato’s St. Augustine, Florida base.

“We are excited to open this new facility and have the opportunity to grow our existing MRO services,” said Charlie Amento, Banyan’s v-p and director of MRO services. "This will help us better serve our customers outside of South Florida and allow for additional employment opportunities.”

For Banyan—which is the authorized HondaJet dealer for the Southeast U.S. and operates an FAA Part 145 repair station at its 100-acre complex at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE)—this marks its first outward growth in its nearly 45-year history. Banyan agreed to a three-year sublease on a hangar at Volato’s Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ) facility and began integrating its services there on January 2.

The facility will concentrate on servicing the growing HondaJet fleet, which now numbers more than 250 aircraft. It will provide full-scale maintenance for Volato, one of the world’s largest fleet operators of the aircraft.

“Expanding into St. Augustine represents a major milestone for Banyan, marking our first venture beyond Fort Lauderdale,” said company president Don Campion. “We look forward to increasing regional accessibility by creating an additional authorized HondaJet maintenance center for operators throughout the region.”

Indian private aviation group JetSetGo has expanded its plans to launch advanced air mobility services with new agreements to add Overair’s Butterfly eVTOL and Electra’s hybrid-electric, blown-lift fixed-wing aircraft. The partnerships announced today at the Wings India trade show in Hyderabad came a few days after the operator said it plans to buy up to 100 (50 firm/50 options) of Horizon’s six-passenger, hybrid-electric Cavorite X7 aircraft.

The agreement with Overair covers provisional sales of 50 Butterfly models at an undisclosed price. JetSetGo also says it will add an unspecified number of Electra’s nine-passenger aircraft to its fleet.

According to the Delhi-based group, it has firmly committed to buying 150 aircraft from the three manufacturers with a combined value of $780 million. If options are exercised, the value of the combined transactions could increase to 280 aircraft worth $1.3 billion.

California-based Overair is working to bring the five-passenger, 100-mile-range Butterfly into commercial service in 2028. The company recently built the first prototype and aims to start flight testing early this year.

Electra’s unnamed aircraft is expected to operate on sectors of up to 500 miles and will have exceptional short takeoff and landing performance, allowing it to operate from spaces as small as 300 feet by 100 feet.