Gulfstream Aerospace remains hopeful in obtaining certification of what will become the longest-range aircraft in its fleet, the G800, by midyear, according to Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO of the Savannah, Georgia manufacturer’s parent, General Dynamics.

Releasing the 2024 results yesterday morning, Novakovic told analysts: “We expect the 800 certification sometime in the first half.” This keeps the program largely in line with earlier estimates that the G800 would follow the G700 certification by about a year. The G700 won approval in late March.

Noting the commonality of parts with the larger G700, she added, “We have worked our way through the most significant problems that we experienced on the 700…so we think the learning that we achieved on the 700 will be very advantageous on the 800.”

The 8,000-nm aircraft that can reach speeds up to Mach 0.925 shares a wing, tail, fuselage cross-section, flight deck, and Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 turbofans with the G700.

However, unlike the original ambitious schedule for G700 deliveries, she noted that the company expects to deliver fewer G800s this year than it had planned for the sibling aircraft. In fact, deliveries of the G800, combined with the predecessor G650/650ER, are anticipated to be close to that of this year “give or take a few airplanes.”

President Trump today officially appointed former NBAA COO Chris Rocheleau as the acting head of the FAA. The announcement comes less than 24 hours after a PSA-operated American Airlines CRJ700 regional airliner collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

For the past 10 days, the administration and FAA had declined to tell press outlets who was running the aviation agency on a daily basis. According to multiple sources, Rocheleau was previously tapped as FAA deputy administrator on or around January 20, although even that position was not formally announced by either the FAA or White House.

Rocheleau had spent almost all of the prior 17 years with the FAA in various roles, rising to the position of deputy associate administrator for aviation safety before joining NBAA in 2022. He also served as FAA deputy assistant administrator for policy, international affairs, and environment and chief of staff, among others.

Rocheleau joined the FAA in 1996 but left for a nearly four-year stint in 2002 to serve as a senior policy advisor during the early days of the then-nascent Transportation Security Administration. He also spent 10 years in the U.S. Air Force.

As orders and deliveries of its conventional helicopter models surged last year, Airbus Helicopters is pausing plans to fully launch the CityAirbus eVTOL aircraft program. Nonetheless, the European manufacturer said it will continue to fly the prototype during 2025.

Last year, Airbus Helicopters took gross orders for 455 helicopters (450 net), which is 10% higher than 2023. “When we look at the worldwide market, [this is the] first time since a few years that it's above 2019 [orders],” said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters. Deliveries during 2024 reached 361 helicopters, up from 346 delivered during 2023. The 2024 orders break down into 155 H125s, 47 H130s, 59 H135s, 114 H145s, four H160s, 18 H175s, and 58 of the Super Puma family.

The latter made a significant comeback last year. “The highlight from my perspective is the Super Puma,” he said. “It’s a strong performance confirming that this helicopter is well positioned and meeting well the demand of our customers, both civil and military. We are committed to this product and I’m optimistic we’ll be able to confirm this positive trend in the years to come.”

Airbus Helicopters is focusing on its key priorities as the year gets underway. “The first one is innovation,” Even said. “We are convinced that innovation is always the best way to continue to bring value to our customers.”

Business aircraft activity in North America is expected to inch up slightly this year, with Argus International estimating a 0.2% gain. In its newly-released 2024 Business Aviation Review, the industry analyst and safety expert forecast that North America will see 3.4 million business aircraft flights in 2025, up from 3.1 million flights in 2024. Globally, business aircraft accounted for 4.8 million flights last year.

Argus anticipates that most months—seven out of 12—will see improved numbers with the first half of the year culminating in a 0.1% gain and the second half a 0.3% uptick. However, Argus predicted that January may see the biggest surge, with a 5.2% improvement, followed by the biggest dip of 3.8% in February.

These predictions come as Argus believes that business aviation appears to have “finally settled into its normal following all the peaks and valleys from Covid.” Looking into 2025, some of the largest questions surround the continuing shrinking of Part 91 operations. Part 91 operations in North America dipped 4.8% in 2024.

“It raises the question of where did that flying go,” Argus added in its review. Part 91 accounted for 50.6% of all flight activity in North America in 2019. In 2024, business aviation flew 300,000 more flights, but Part 91 had 30,000 fewer flights than in 2019. But Argus pointed to gains in fractional operations in the period.

Boeing’s rebooted leadership team led by new CEO Kelly Ortberg has started 2025 determined to put painful losses in both civil and defense business divisions in the past tense. This was the glass-half-full messaging from a 2024 results call on Tuesday headlined by an almost fivefold worsening in net losses at $11.8 billion from revenues that declined by 14.5% to $66.5 billion.

In exchanges with analysts, Ortberg acknowledged that his leadership team is poised to take action to consolidate the aerospace and defense giant around its core activities. He indicated this could transpire through a mix of sell-offs and closures and confirmed that aviation software group Jeppesen is among those that could be jettisoned. He did not directly address questions about other subsidiaries such as aviation app provider ForeFlight and eVTOL aircraft developer Wisk Aero.

Ortberg said the group is making “steady progress” in stabilizing its commercial airplane business, which was badly knocked off course last year by a highly disruptive strike by members of the IAM union. During 2024, Boeing delivered 348 airliners, which was 34% down on the 528 total recorded in 2023. Overall, its commercial airplane business sustained losses of nearly $8 billion last year, while the Defense, Space & Security unit took a $5.4 billion hit. These losses were partially offset by $3.6 billion in profits at the Global Services division.