Embraer closed out 2024 strong, with its 130 business jet deliveries landing in the center of its predicted range of 125 to 135 for the year. That also marks a 13% increase from its 2023 total.

In the fourth quarter, the airframer handed over 44 executive jets, split evenly between its Phenom light and Praetor midsize jet families. This represents an increase of three units over the third quarter, but five less than the fourth quarter of 2023, a testimony to the company’s goal of evening out its production schedule over the year rather than being more concentrated in the final quarter.

For the year, Embraer tallied 10 Phenom 100EXs, 65 Phenom 300Es, 28 Praetor 500s, and 27 Praetor 600s. While it shipped just one more light jet than it did in 2023, its Praetor deliveries rose year over year by 14. Last year saw the manufacturer’s highest volume of private jet deliveries in the past eight years, and it is now approaching its peak of 144 set in 2010.

“These aircraft delivery results highlight the impressive growth trajectory of Embraer Executive Jets,” Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of the OEM’s business jet division, told AIN. “It is a testament to the strong market demand for our industry-leading Phenom and Praetor jets, and our relentless commitment to delivering the ultimate experience in business aviation.”

Deliveries of Dassault Falcon business jets climbed to 31 in 2024 versus 26 in 2023, although they were lower than the 35 that Dassault had given as guidance for the year during the release of first-half results in August.

Dassault doesn’t provide a breakdown of which models were delivered, but the total includes the Falcon 6X, the newest jet in the French company’s stable. The backlog for Falcon jets as of Dec. 31, 2024, is 79, a drop of five from the end of 2023. Net orders for new Falcons reached 26 during 2024, up from 23 a year earlier.

The Falcon 6X received concurrent FAA and EASA certification on Aug. 22, 2023, and entered service on November 30 of that year. The 6X can fly up to 5,500 nm with eight passengers and NBAA IFR reserves and has an Mmo of Mach 0.90.

On the defense side, Dassault delivered 21 Rafale fighter jets in 2024, up from 13 in 2023, against an end-of-2024 backlog of 220.

Honeywell International and NXP Semiconductors are expanding their partnership to bring the latter company’s processors to the former firm’s in-development Anthem integrated flight deck to power more artificial intelligence (AI)-assist features and eventually full autonomy functions. The announcement was made today at the CES 2025 trade show in Las Vegas and builds on the agreement the companies unveiled nearly 12 months ago to develop “smart” solutions for optimizing energy consumption in buildings.

Honeywell Aerospace envisions a range of applications for NXP’s portfolio of chip products. For example, it plans to implement NXP’s i.MX 8 applications processors—which Honeywell’s Building Automation division already uses in its Advance Control for Buildings platform—in the Anthem flight deck. Honeywell Aerospace also intends to leverage S32N “super-integration” processors, which NXP produces for computers in software-defined vehicles, and adapt the technology to fly-by-wire aircraft—such as those that will be flying with Anthem avionics. 

More broadly, Honeywell aims to optimize and automate a broad range of products and processes across various industries with the help of NXP’s expertise in high-performance computing, AI, and machine learning. Eventually, the collaboration between Honeywell and NXP could culminate in AI-powered autonomous flight technologies for pilotless operations. For now, they will focus on AI-driven solutions to improve the efficiency of flight planning and management systems.

Under the expanded partnership, NXP will also work with Honeywell Aerospace on advanced cockpit display systems.

Global business jet departures remained flat in 2024 but have seen an uptick year over year (YOY) last month, according to market analyst Jefferies. Citing WingX and its own estimates, Jefferies reported that North American departures in 2024 were level with 2023, but departures slid by a percentage point in Europe and by 3% in Asia-Pacific. Corporate flight department departures were off by 11% from 2023 and aircraft management-related flights by 3%, but private flying jumped by 11% and fractional/charter by 4%.

The year finished out stronger, with business jet departures in North America up 9% YOY in December, 7% in Asia, and flat in Europe. This culminated in a 7% YOY increase in December globally and put operations 27% ahead of those in 2019. Notably, Asia-Pacific departures were up 77% over December 2019.

Meanwhile, fractional/charter departures last month climbed 14% YOY, led by a 36% gain from FlyExclusive and 17% from NetJets. Wheels Up also ticked up in December, by 2%, but departures were down 14% from 2019. 

Private jet departures in December were up by 15% YOY and by 80% over the same month in 2019, while aircraft management saw a 3% improvement in the month and a 29% gain over 2019. However, corporate flying malaise continued last month, with departures down 7% YOY and 17% lower than December 2019.

Aircraft management and charter group AirX is stepping up efforts to raise further capital to fund ambitious plans to expand its fleet. The Malta-based company said on Monday that it will soon close the second stage of a Series A funding round expected to raise an initial $30 million, and is now seeking to raise an additional amount of debt-based funding of between $100 million and $200 million.

According to AirX founder and chairman John Matthews, the new capital will be deployed in quarterly tranches of around $30 million to fund the addition of at least 40 large business jets to the fleet through the end of 2026. The company operates 17 aircraft, including a mix of seven Bombardier Challenger 850s; three Embraer Legacy 600/650s and five Lineage jets; Airbus ACJ340; and Boeing Business Jet.

Unveiling its new aircraft livery this week, AirX said that it expects to confirm 2024 revenues of €150 million ($156 million) and EBITDA in excess of €30 million. It predicted that in 2025 revenues and EBITDA could grow to €200 million and €42 million, respectively.

Matthews told AIN that while he envisions AirX’s longer-term future as a public company, he is in discussions with numerous prospective private debt partners. He said that the group’s strategy for now is focused on achieving five years of sustained growth as a private company.

NBAA has launched a customer service certification program, aimed at strengthening business aviation stakeholders’ customer-facing interactions. Created in partnership with ServiceElements International, the course—which consists of eight on-demand, self-paced modules—will provide staff training to improve the client experience and drive customer loyalty.

Among the topics covered are understanding outstanding customer service; characteristics of poor service; today’s business aviation customers; challenging customer interactions; and safety, service, and teamwork.

“There is a lot of great training out there, but nothing that really puts it together all in one place,” said NBAA senior director of credentialing Tyler Austin. “Many of our members were going outside of aviation training for customer service needs, and there wasn’t something that was really designed holistically for the aviation industry, so we quickly realized that there was a need.”

Registrants will have a six-month window to complete the course. Those who pass the final exam will be issued a digital certificate and badge that can be shared on social media and in other online locations.

The Business Aviation Customer Service Certificate is approved for credit under NBAA’s Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) program. Successful participants will be awarded four points toward their CAM application or recertification.