AirSprint Private Aviation has received its first conversion of a Legacy 450 to a Praetor 500 and is scheduled for another Legacy 450-Praetor 500 conversion this year, Embraer announced this week. The Canadian fractional ownership company is also expected to take delivery of a new Praetor 500 from the Brazilian airframer this year.
So far, Embraer has completed 16 Legacy 450-Praetor conversions in Europe and North America, with the first finished in June 2020. Embraer does the conversions at its company-owned service centers.
AirSprint president James Elian said the conversions will give its Embraer midsize jets a 15 percent increase in range. “The Praetor 500 is the perfect complement to the fleet and the next step towards providing our fractional owners with direct access to many more destinations, more experiences, and more opportunities,” he added. The conversions and new Praetor will boost AirSprint's Embraer fleet to nine aircraft.
The conversion option was announced at the same time Embraer unveiled the Praetor 500 and its larger sibling, the Praetor 600, an upgrade of the Legacy 500, at NBAA-BACE 2018.
AINsight: What First-time Bizjet Buyers Need To Know
Buying a business jet is complicated but feasible and worth the effort if you can afford it. Private aircraft can inspire thoughts of positive life-changing possibilities. A jet is a time machine, a tool for productivity, and a haven of health and safety—especially during Covid-19. With the right purchase, a jet is a mode of travel that enhances convenience, security, autonomy, and comfort above and beyond any airline offering.
Many first-time buyers recognize or admit, and most others quickly learn, that buying a jet is unlike purchasing real estate, automobiles, businesses, or other assets. You encounter unique, technical, and complex issues when purchasing and owning a jet.
Some buyers insist that, having closed many other complex deals, they can buy a jet with little or no help, only later to discover the error of their ways. But a first-time buyer will benefit if they educate themselves and ask for guidance. In any case, do not embark on this journey alone.
Buying your first jet can be an exhilarating, emotional, and exhausting experience. It is a complicated and unique transaction, demanding plenty of patience and the use of skilled advisors. If you do obtain the help you need and travel the distance to closing, though, you will likely feel fortunate to reach your destination and satisfied when you arrive.
With the one-year anniversary of the declaration of Covid as a pandemic this week, global business aviation activity is down just 2 percent year-over-year, according to industry data provider WingX. It said business aviation accounted for a larger percentage of all fixed-wing traffic thus far in 2021 at 19 percent, compared with 12 percent in the same period last year.
WingX noted that business aviation recovery in the U.S. is being led by those 12 states that recently loosened their travel restrictions. Departures from those areas are up 11 percent so far in March year-over-year, compared with a 5 percent decline in January and February and a 25 percent decrease from March 2020 through December.
Europe—after experiencing a 26 percent year-over-year drop in business aviation activity in January and February—is also showing improvement, but the UK continues to trail, with business aviation flights down by 50 percent so far this month.
“Business aviation in the U.S. is remarkably buoyant, with clear growth on the pre-pandemic period in 2020,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “Activity in Europe is getting closer to normal, with trends also starting to reflect comparison with the slowdown pre-lockdown in March 2020.” He added that Asian flight activity, particularly in China, is already reflecting the recovery from the lockdown in progress a year ago.
Scandinavian regional airline Wideroe yesterday committed to introducing Tecnam’s new all-electric P-Volt aircraft into commercial service on scheduled routes starting in 2026. Rolls-Royce Electrical is developing a propulsion system for the nine-passenger aircraft based on Tecnam’s existing P2012 Traveller piston twin.
Italy-based Tecnam and Rolls-Royce’s new electric propulsion division announced plans to develop the P-Volt in October. Since 2018, the companies have worked on a program to convert the four-seat P2010 aircraft to hybrid-electric propulsion, using the H3PS1 propulsion system developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and Rotax.
Rolls-Royce established its Electrical division in 2019, following the aero engines group’s acquisition of the Siemens eAircraft business. In the same year, Rolls-Royce and Wideroe started a joint research project to evaluate options for introducing electric aircraft.
The P-Volt’s STOL capability makes it suitable for services to the many small airports that Wideroe serves across Norway. Before the Covid pandemic, the airline operated 400 daily flights in 44 airports, with around three-quarters of the routes stretching less than 172 miles. The Norwegian government is pressing for the introduction of electrified aircraft on domestic flights from 2030 to meet its objective of an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2040.
Wideroe has not specified exactly how many of the P-Volt aircraft it will buy as the program’s launch operator, but CEO Stein Nilsen indicated that it might start taking deliveries in 2025.
Gogo Delays 5G Upgrade to 2022, Citing Chip Supply Issue
Business aviation connectivity provider Gogo is delaying deployment of its 5G air-to-ground (ATG) network by one year, to 2022, due to a microchip shortage, company president and CEO Oakleigh Thorne said yesterday during an investor conference call. The upgrade will replace the 3G/4G architecture currently used in its ATG network and increase connectivity speeds to more than 50 Mbps.
“As is true of many projects in the telecom and satellite space, our schedule has slipped, primarily because of a supply chain delay for one particular microchip,” he said. “And we now expect to deploy the network in 2022 instead of 2021.”
The good news, Thorne said, is that customers with Avance systems installed on their aircraft—a number that now exceeds 1,700—will be able to take advantage of the 5G network with a software update and minor hardware upgrades. Speaking of software upgrades, he said Gogo plans to enable on-air software updates this year, “saving customers time and money when installing new releases.”
According to Thorne, Gogo’s Avance L3 and L5 systems installed on a range of business aircraft are also able to run self-diagnostics “and it reports them remotely, allowing us to often fix issues before the customer even notices an issue has occurred. And it does much more, and we'll talk about that more in the future.”
Boom Gets Financial Boost from Amex
Boom Supersonic recently received a strategic investment from American Express Ventures that the company says will help support the continued development of its Overture supersonic airliner. The investment comes as Boom has outlined a roadmap to build and roll out the aircraft around 2025, with passenger flights commencing in 2029.
As a precursor, Boom in October rolled out its XB-1 supersonic demonstrator, which will fly this year to test concepts for the final Overture design. Blake Scholl, Boom founder and CEO, called 2021 a pivotal year for the Denver-based company. “As we prepare to fly our supersonic demonstrator, XB-1, we are also accelerating Overture,” he said.
Powered by three General Electric J85-15 turbojets, the one-third-scale XB-1 will reach speeds up to Mach 2.2 and demonstrate technologies planned for the Overture such as carbon-fiber composite construction, computer-optimized high-efficiency aerodynamics, and propulsion systems.
Boom stressed that a significant amount of work has been occurring between both programs with teams applying lessons from the XB-1 to the Overture. “For years Boom has been a two-aircraft company,” Brian Durrence, senior v-p of Overture development, said in a discussion outlining the roadmap. “As XB-1 was being tested and developed, part of our team was working on Overture’s conceptual designs. And when XB-1 begins flight testing...the Overture team will be conducting wind-tunnel testing to validate those designs.”
Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia have developed a new method they say will allow the economically feasible recycling of carbon fiber manufactured parts.
Due to its reduced weight and increased strength, carbon-reinforced fiber polymer (CRFP) technology is making an ever-growing impact on modern aircraft construction, from fuselages to turbine blades, but how to dispose of those parts has been a problem. Previously they had been largely ground up and incinerated, or simply buried in landfills. But, according to scientists at the university’s school of civil engineering, their two-phased process involving pyrolysis and oxidation can recycle the material while maintaining 90 percent of its considerable strength.
“Until now, it has been impossible to continuously recycle products made of carbon fibers,” said lead researcher Dr. Ali Hadigheh. “Given that most recycling involves shredding, cutting, or grinding, fibers are worn out, decreasing a product’s viability. This presents a huge challenge and threat to our environment as it has led to the production of virgin carbon fiber, which contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.” According to a study, global CFRP production will top 18 million tonnes by 2025.
The newly-developed method uses precisely regulated heat and time to elicit a chemical reaction in the material, breaking down the polymer matrix and allowing the recovery of the intact carbon fibers.
Leonardo’s 2020 Helicopter Deliveries Fall 29 Percent
Although unit deliveries plunged 29 percent last year, Leonardo Helicopters posted a 1.3 percent revenue decline and 11.1 percent reduction in earnings—to $4.75 billion and $455 million, respectively—versus 2019.
For the year, Leonardo delivered 111 helicopters, compared with 156 in 2019. Delivery declines in 2020 versus 2019 were widespread across all models including the company’s line of medium to super-medium twins. Deliveries of intermediate-twin AW139s fell from 69 to 48, medium-twin AW169s dropped from 30 to 14, and super-medium-twin AW189s plunged from 10 to just four. Deliveries of the company’s light singles and twins fared somewhat better, declining from 34 to 25.
Orders last year fell by 3.2 percent, to $5.34 billion, but posted their sharpest decline in the fourth quarter, dropping 44.3 percent year-over-year, to $1.59 billion. While acknowledging that “2020 was an incredibly difficult year” due to conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo said told analysts this week that overall 2021 guidance was “robust.” Further, he said the company’s helicopter division would continue to perform well due to its ongoing military programs and improving customer support activities.
While the company forecasted that both the military and customer support market will grow modestly through 2025, it acknowledged that the civil helicopter market is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic activity levels for several years.
Sophie shows off. Aviation photographer Greg Loflin captured this immaculate 1941 PT-17 Stearman named “Sophie” from a Beechcraft Bonanza chase plane at dusk outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. “She is leading the easy life with tender loving care after previously being resurrected from a boneyard and fully restored to near show quality,” he said. Thanks for sharing, Greg!
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