Dassault Aviation delivered five more Falcons than it forecast last year while backlog grew for the French-made business jets, the latter helped by the introduction of the ultra-long-range Falcon 10X in May. In total, the company handed over 30 Falcons last year–four fewer than it shipped in 2020 and 10 fewer than it did in 2019.
The Paris-headquartered aircraft manufacturer took in 51 net orders for Falcons in 2021, with the backlog now at a four-year high of 55 units. That compares to 15 net orders a year earlier and backlog of 34 Falcons as of Dec. 31, 2020. Falcon backlog was in the low-50s between late 2017 and 2020; it stood at 63 units at year-end 2016.
Meanwhile, deliveries and sales of its Rafale fighter were equally buoyant, with shipments of 25 aircraft, up from 13 a year earlier. Net orders for 49 drove Rafale backlog to 86 units versus 62 at the end of 2020.
Dassault will report its full-year financial results, to include aircraft delivery guidance for 2022, on March 4.
Business jets flew 3.3 million flights worldwide in 2021, the most on record for a single year and 7 percent more than the previous high point in 2019, according to WingX’s Global Market Tracker. The year finished strong, with the number of flights worldwide in December jumping 23 percent over that month's 2019 total. In the holiday period from December 20 to January 2, the number of flights reached 127,000, a 41 percent increase over the comparable period two years ago, WingX reported.
In North America, business jet flights were up by 6 percent over 2019's total. The U.S. drove this increase with activity that was 10 percent higher. Flights in Canada were down by 24 percent from 2019.
Fractional and branded charter saw a surge in activity, up 20 and 18 percent, respectively, from 2019. In the U.S., flights in the light jet segment increased by 15 percent over 2019, accounting for almost one million hours and 662,000 sectors flown.
Business-jet activity in Europe also surpassed 2019 levels with sectors up 5 percent by year-end. But demand remained down from 2019 in Europe’s three largest markets—France, Germany, and the UK. Italy and Spain, however, saw rebounds, as did Russia and Turkey.
The rest of the world saw 28 percent more business jet flights last year than in 2019.
Jackson Jet, one of three service providers at Idaho’s Boise Air Terminal/Gowen Field, has added a second facility with the acquisition of Swift Aviation Services, an FBO at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (KPHX). According to Jackson CEO Jeff Jackson, the deal does not include Swift’s air charter certificate. Swift’s facility consists of an 18,000-sq-ft terminal, more than 100,000 sq ft of hangar space able to accommodate bizliners, and a 31,500-sq-ft arrivals canopy.
Since its founding in 2005, Jackson Jet has offered its own aircraft charter in the Phoenix area, but this latest move gives it a solid base there and strengthens the company’s presence in the intermountain west, which also includes a maintenance facility in Sun Valley, Idaho, and an aircraft base at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Jackson Jet will rebrand and take over Swift’s operations at KPHX on January 26.
“We’re always interested in ways to expand our footprint and bring top-shelf services to a wider customer base,” said Jackson. ‘We’re excited that the right opportunity came along to both grow ourselves and the services we offer our customers at Sky Harbor.”
Elevate Holdings, the parent company of Private Jet Services and Elevate Jet, has acquired Salt Lake City-based private aviation services provider Keystone Aviation from TAC Air. Through the purchase, Elevate’s managed fleet will become the 15th largest in the U.S., and the deal will also include Keystone’s long-established Part 145 aircraft maintenance operation, which will allow the New Hampshire-based Elevate to expand its service offerings.
Current Keystone COO Aaron Fish will lead the new organization as president and the current Keystone employees will continue working with the Elevate team as the two companies integrate. TAC Air will remain involved as a strategic partner, with Elevate Holdings-managed aircraft enjoying preferred access at all 16 TAC Air FBOs.
Additionally, Keystone Aviation’s Salt Lake City division will operate from a new, dedicated client access terminal at the Salt Lake City International Airport and from satellite facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona (KSDL), and Provo, Utah (KPVU).
“We believe the business aviation industry needs a provider large enough to deliver benefits at scale to its clients without sacrificing the personal touch so critical in a high-end service business,” said Elevate CEO Greg Raiff. “Together our teams will continue delivering high-touch experiences with more business aviation options than ever before.”
Sustainable technology group Johnson Matthey this week launched a new method for producing sustainable aviation fuel that it says will support more cost-efficient rates of production. Its Hycogen process, which is intended to be used in combination with FT CANS Fischer Tropsch technology, was developed jointly with BP to convert captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into aircraft fuel.
The company said the Fischer Tropsch technology has already been approved by the American Society of Testing and Materials, but it did not say when it expects to gain approval from aviation regulators. A spokesperson told AIN that the cost of the new SAF will be dependent on the cost of the green hydrogen used and the scale of output, with Johnson Matthey planning to license production to fuel manufacturers.
According to the company, the Hycogen reverse water gas shift technology is a catalyzed process that converts green hydrogen and CO2 into carbon monoxide, which is then combined with additional hydrogen to make a synthetic gas. The process converts 95 percent of the CO2 in synthetic crude oil that can then be made into SAF and other fuels.
With an eye on the initial rollout of nationwide 5G networks using C-Band, NBAA has developed a resource to help keep members updated on potential aircraft operational limits and safety precautions that may be necessary.
After agreeing to a two-week delay, AT&T and Verizon are to begin the initial implementation at select locations and lower power nationalwide. The 5G networks will operate in the spectrum between 3.7 and 3.98 gigahertz, next to frequencies used by radio altimeters. The NBAA resource will provide a detailed summary of potential effects on radio altimeters and other safety technologies in business aircraft.
NBAA’s site provides a frequently asked questions section; information on potential effects on aircraft equipment and capabilities; access to FAA airworthiness directives, special airworthiness information bulletins, and other regulatory publications; and news articles, press releases, webinars, and podcasts discussing concerns about signal interference.
“We expect this situation to evolve rapidly as the clock ticks down toward the rollout of these new high-speed communications networks,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “NBAA has developed this new resource to provide the latest, up-to-the-minute information to help operators understand what they should know and what they should do.”
National Air Transportation Association’s Compliance Services (NATACS) organization is continuing its education campaign about human trafficking with a webinar planned next week on the issue. Scheduled for 1 p.m. on January 12, the webinar will provide information on the crisis and how people can help in the battle to bring it to an end.
“Every day, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked for profit throughout the world, including the United States. This criminal practice, which has existed for thousands of years, has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that spans all levels of society,” NATACS said.
The webinar is among the initiatives the organization has underway to fight the practice. In June 2020, NATA and NATACS signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Transportation to support the joint government Blue Lightning Initiative (BLI) by expanding its reach into the general aviation community. NATACS offers the BLI training program, which is required for certain scheduled and nonscheduled air carrier personnel.
Flights in and out of Kazakhstan’s Almaty International Airport continued to face disruption on Thursday morning after protestors occupied the main terminal on January 5. With Russian paratroopers today having arrived in the central Asian country in response to a request for help from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, there were still numerous flight cancellations, according to FlightRadar24.
Officials appear not to have responded to conflicting media reports about whether or not security forces have taken back control of the damaged building. Some reports said that five aircraft might have been seized by armed protestors.
On January 5, flight support specialist Osprey Flight Solutions warned operators to prepare for disruption and security risks at the country’s main airport, and also at the Nur-Sultan, Aktau, Atyrau, and Aktobe airports. The Kazakhstan government declared that a state of emergency will be in force through January 19.
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