Global business aviation traffic last month declined 2.1 percent year-over-year as part of an anticipated seasonal lull, according to the TraqPak data released this week by Argus International.
Contrasted with totals from February 2022, North American flight activity fell 3 percent. Among operating segments, only fractional flying in the region showed an increase, climbing 7.9 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, Part 135 activity dropped 8.4 percent, followed by Part 91 with a 1.6 percent decline. All aircraft categories experienced single-digit activity decreases in North America last month.
In Europe, large-cabin jet usage was off by nearly 30 percent year-over-year, while overall activity was down by 12.6 percent in the same comparative period. For Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America, the nearly 56,000 business aviation flights last month represented a more than 10 percent increase from February 2022.
“February turned out pretty close to what we were expecting, which seems to be more of a sign of stability,” said Argus senior v-p of market intelligence Travis Kuhn. “While the month was lower than the busiest February on record [2022] it’s still up more than 10 percent from pre-pandemic levels and some 500 flights more per day versus January. The biggest area of concern is the middle of the Part 135 market.”
Argus is forecasting North American and European traffic this month to be down 4.6 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.
Atlantic Aviation, one of four service providers at Florida business aviation hub Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE), has opened its new FBO terminal. The 7,000-sq-ft building at the west end of Runway 9/27 offers more than twice as much space as the chain’s former terminal on the other side of the field, which will be retained for tenant office space.
The facility features two passenger lounges with refreshment bar, 12-seat conference room, pilot lounge with snooze room and showers, kitchen area, on-site car rentals, and a pair of crew cars. It also includes 170,000-sq-ft of aircraft storage space spread among its 24 hangars capable of sheltering aircraft up to a Bombardier Global 7500.
“From absolute first-class décor to high-tech conference rooms and compelling crew services, no detail has been overlooked,” explained Kurt Schmidt, the chain’s senior v-p of operations for the U.S. Southeast. “We’re excited to welcome customers to our new facility and I feel certain they’ll be amazed at all that has been done.”
As the first part of a multiphase expansion at the location, Atlantic also added four acres of ramp to the complex. According to the company, it expects to finalize plans this year for additional phases that will include more community hangars.
Dassault Aviation has named Universal Avionics as a North American repair facility for its FalconEye enhanced flight vision system (EFVS) product line. FalconEye is available on the Falcon 8X, 900LX, 2000S, and 2000LX.
“The FalconEye camera is one of the most sophisticated electrical-optical systems available for commercial aviation. The implementation of repair services in North America for Dassault FalconEye guarantees customers will have first-rate services for the system,” said Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav.
Universal Avionics is establishing approved repair capabilities at its Tucson, Arizona-based Part 145 repair station to augment the established EFVS services provided by the company while giving North American operators additional support for Dassault’s leading-edge technologies.
The FalconEye Combined Vision System uses synthetic, database-driven terrain mapping with multi-sensor camera inputs to provide pilots with enhanced situational awareness through the aircraft’s head-up display. These technologies enable safer approaches during adverse weather conditions and terrain.
C&L Aviation Group has signed a contract repair agreement with APPH—a subsidiary of Héroux-Devtek—for its MRO facility in Bangor, Maine, to be the exclusive provider of factory-authorized repair, overhaul, and warranty services on the company’s products for Hawker-series business jets, including the HS-125, Bae-125, BH-125, Hawker 800, and its various derivatives.
“We’re thrilled to be able to offer this service for Héroux Devtek’s distributors and customers,” said Chris Kilgour, CEO of C&L Aviation Group. “This work complements our current in-house capabilities, making us a perfect fit to perform these repairs. We will also be able to provide lower shipping costs and faster turn times for U.S.-based customers, which will be a huge benefit to them.”
The authorization includes accumulators, jacks, reversing valves, relief valves, hand pumps, selector valves, cut-out valves, and pressure maintenance valves. C&L will provide testing, repair, and overhaul services with standardized turn times to ensure customers receive their parts back promptly and on schedule. C&L will also offer AOG repair services should customers require them.
“We are pleased to continue building upon our lasting and successful relationship with C&L, both striving to deliver the best customer support experience to operators and distributors,” said Marc-Olivier Gagnon, v-p of product support at Héroux-Devtek.
In response to persistent threats, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) yesterday issued an emergency amendment to cybersecurity programs for certain TSA-regulated airports and aircraft operators. It requires those entities to develop an approved implementation plan that describes measures they are taking to improve security, protect against disruption of their infrastructure, and proactively assess the efficacy of those measures.
The amendment focuses on actions that include the development of network segmentation policies and controls to ensure systems can continue to operate in case of an information technology breach; the creation of access control limitations to prevent unauthorized access to critical cyber systems; implementation of monitoring and detection procedures to respond to threats and anomalies; and minimization of the risk of exploitation of cyber systems through the use of security patches and updates.
The move, part of the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to increase the cybersecurity resilience of critical infrastructure, follows similar measures applied in October to passenger and freight railroad carriers.
“Protecting our nation’s transportation system is our highest priority, and TSA will continue to work closely with industry stakeholders across all transportation modes to reduce cybersecurity risks and improve cyber resilience to support safe, secure, and efficient travel,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “This amendment to the aviation security program extends similar performance-based requirements that currently apply to other transportation-system critical infrastructure.”
Legacy avionics component manufacturer Ontic has signed three license agreements with Honeywell to deliver a range of radar systems and navigation and communication product lines. Under the agreements, Ontic will produce P440/660/880 Primus weather radar systems; BendixKing’s Gold Crown, Nav/Com, and Multi-Hazard product lines, including traffic awareness systems, traffic collision avoidance systems, and enhanced ground proximity warning systems; and other legacy components.
“Ontic has taken on a number of exclusive license agreements to support existing radar and navcom technology for the aerospace market, positioning the company as a key OEM for existing radar technology,” said Ontic v-p and CCO Gareth Blackbird. “All three licenses are a testament to our relationship with Honeywell and will enable Ontic to provide for customers throughout the military and commercial global markets.”
Ontic will deliver these latest licenses, along with a range of complementary products to the aftermarket, through its facilities in the U.S., the UK, and Singapore. It is also looking at setting up a radar center of excellence in Chatsworth, California.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Ontic, and they have supported us through various license agreements like this over the years,” said Honeywell Aerospace v-p and GM of avionics Vipul Gupta. “These licensing agreements reinforce the strong partnership we have built and we are confident they will provide excellent value to our customers.”
MRO Duncan Aviation has painted the first Pilatus PC-24 light jet outside of a Pilatus production facility. The aircraft was brought to Duncan’s Lincoln, Nebraska facilities to be repainted to better meet the style of the owner. The process was complicated by the Pilatus maintenance manual prohibition against using paint stripper, forcing Duncan to mechanically sand off the previous paint by hand.
“It was a fun and challenging project, and I’m glad we could deliver the aircraft to a happy customer as he understood all the challenges involved,” said Duncan project manager Janet Beazley.
Duncan coordinated the project with “Pilatus in Switzerland and Pilatus North America in Colorado to ensure every process was done according to the Pilatus aircraft specifications. I will only use Duncan Aviation to paint my aircraft from this point forward,” said customer Hardy Hay, director of maintenance and chief pilot with Det 9 Aviation. “Being a new-design aircraft to the industry with very little history, this turned out to be a challenging project,” he said.
Air charter broker Chapman Freeborn has opened a regional office in Houston, part of the global company’s Americas expansion program that also saw the establishment of a New York City office in August.
The Avia Solutions Group subsidiary’s headquarters is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and it also has a location serving the Los Angeles area. Its Houston office is near George Bush International Airport (KIAH) and the company said more locations are on the way.
“We are excited to establish our presence via a dedicated office in the Houston market to support our clients in the oil, gas, air logistics, and other industries based in the area,” said Chapman Freeborn president for the Americas David McCown. He added that as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the new office will allow it to enhance its on-the-ground support for cargo transitioning in and out of area airports.
“With our diverse array of charter offerings, we’ve seen tremendous growth in our private and cargo charter operations and aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance business segments in the southern and central U.S., as well as Mexico and Latin America,” McCown said.
Requires revising the existing airplane flight manual to incorporate new wet runway performance tables. Prompted by a determination that the existing wet runway performance tables in the airplane flight manual may not provide an acceptable level of safety.
Requires measuring the passenger door steps, passenger door gaps, and passenger door stops rigging, and readjusting the door if necessary. Prompted by a report that the passenger door functional test engineering requirements were not fully accomplished on several airplanes.
Requires revising the rotorcraft flight manual to align with the limitations of the helicopter's Safran Arrius 2R engine, including more stringent fuel operating envelope limitations for starting at certain altitudes, ambient temperatures, and fuel specifications. Failure to comply with the correct operating limitations could result in low fuel pressure, engine flameout, or engine power interruption, according to Transport Canada.
Requires booting the avionics in configuration mode, inhibiting the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) autopilot, fabricating and installing information placards, revising the existing airplane flight manual, and revising the airworthiness limitations section of the airplane maintenance manual or instructions for continued airworthiness. For certain airplanes, this AD also requires modifying the wiring to remove the CAPS power timer functionality. Prompted by reports of an accident and an incident due to uncommanded activation of the CAPS autopilot mode while in flight.
Requires a one-time inspection and measurement of the main gearbox suspension bar attachment plates and, depending on findings, replacement. Prompted by a reported occurrence of a right-hand rear suspension bar attachment plate installed on a helicopter that was not eligible for installation. A subsequent investigation determined that attachment plates originally designed for AS332L2 and EC225LP helicopters may have inadvertently been installed on other helicopters, even though no Airbus Helicopters maintenance instructions allow operators to install these parts on AS332C/C1s or AS332L/L1s.
Model(s): Global Express, XRS, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500
Published: March 8, 2023
Effective: March 22, 2023
Requires testing affected bleed air overheat detection sensing elements for insufficient salt fill and replacement, if required, to restore bleed air leak-detection capabilities. Prompted by a reported manufacturing quality escape in which some sensing elements were manufactured with insufficient salt fill.
AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
