Daher's newest member of its TBM family, the 940, has received EASA certification, the French airframer announced on Monday at EBACE 2019. According to Nicolas Chabbert, senior v-p of the OEM’s airplane business unit, the first delivery will take place on or about June 3 to a European customer.
He acknowledged that the vast majority of the to-date orders for the TBM 940 are from customers in North America. “The next step for us is to get the validation from the FAA, and this is a process which is a little bit delayed,” Chabbert said, “but it is coming.” He told AIN that the aircraft will be flown to the U.S. in the coming weeks for evaluation.
The 940, which replaces the 930 in the company’s line-up, features enhanced flight management, including autothrottle and an intuitive smart single engine gauge, making it the world’s first production turboprop under 12,500 pounds with an autothrottle. Daher claims the improved performance gives the 940 about 15 percent better fuel economy than its TBM 850.
It also has new functionality through its Garmin GWX 70 radar, including turbulence detection. The airplane, along with its sibling TBM 910, is additionally equipped with a new automatic icing detection system. Both aircraft now offer upgraded cabin amenities, including new personal tablet storage, two additional USB power outlets, a universal 115V power outlet, and insulation foam on all panels.
Gulfstream has received FAA certification on its G650 and G650ER for steep approaches, the airframer announced on Monday at EBACE 2019. After successfully demonstrating its steep-approach capabilities last year, the type can now access challenging airports such as London City, which requires the additional certification due to its short runway and noise-abatement requirements.
This approval, which covers the 350-plus G650s in service, also opens the aircraft for use in mountainous airports such as Lugano, which also has a short runway in the mouth of a valley, requiring similar approach characteristics.
Gulfstream also noted that its super-midsize G280 was approved by the FAA for touchdown and rollout using the optional enhanced flight vision system (EFVS), which consists of an enhanced vision camera and a head-up display (HUD). G280 pilots who have been specially trained and have received a letter of authorization from the U.S. agency will now be able to land their EFVS-equipped G280s without using natural vision to see the runway, relying instead on the imagery presented on the HUD.
“This approval enables our G280 operators to land in more weather conditions, limiting delays or rerouting,” explained Colin Miller, Gulfstream’s recently named senior vice president of innovation, engineering, and flight. “The Gulfstream EVFS significantly improves safety by increasing a pilot’s situational awareness at night and during low-visibility conditions.”
Pilatus: Half of New Tranche of 80 PC-24s Already Sold
A day after Pilatus reopened its order book for another tranche of 80 PC-24 jets, the manufacturer had already sold 40 of these available slots. “We already sold half of the 80,” Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk told AIN on Tuesday afternoon at EBACE. The Swiss manufacturer had announced on Monday that it was taking the limited number of new orders.
Pilatus took orders for 84 of its twinjets at EBACE 2014 before closing the order book, this representing the first two years of production, said Schwenk. He added that the company reopened the order book to sell two more years of production, “and then we will see.”
He admitted that, after producing a planned 40 PC-24s this year, production would increase to 50 next year and could increase further after that. However, Schwenk said the maximum output at its PC-24 production facility at Stans, Switzerland, is 60 aircraft per year. He said PC-24 demand far outstrips the company’s ability to produce the aircraft but hinted it would consider other production options, such as a second facility.
Business aviation data provider JetNet is fairly optimistic about the state of the business jet market, but sees some warning signs on the horizon, the company said Tuesday at EBACE 2019. While GDP has long been associated with business jet usage, JetNet v-p of sales Paul Cardarelli said his company's analysts have noted a bit of decoupling in GDP growth between the U.S., which has been above 3 percent for the past two quarters, and the Euro Area, which has remained flat at 1.2 percent for that span. Cardarelli placed some of the blame on the protracted drama of Brexit, which is estimated to be impacting the UK economy by £19 billion a year, among other factors.
He noted that the business jet fleet remains “geographically concentrated,” with approximately 61 percent of the world’s business jet fleet based in the U.S., and that the 22,138 business aircraft in service today had 4.5 million cycles in 2018. The last time the fleet was at that level of utilization was around 2005, when the in-service fleet numbered approximately 14,000.
“So we’re about one-third more aircraft than we were in ’05, and yet we’re operating about the same number of cycles,” Cardarelli noted. “This is one of the things that gives us some concern. We have an oversupply situation and we have underutilization going on.”
The focus of this year’s EBACE is aimed squarely at the future, but not one that is far on the horizon. Speakers at the opening session talked about products already in the production and certification processes, technologies already out there that are being ported into aviation, and problems that have nearly arrived on the doorstep.
Fortunately, the tone was optimistic, and the mood of the speakers—from the welcoming officials from Geneva International Airport to government leaders in Europe to NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen—was positive all around. Genève Aéroport CEO André Schneider pointed out that 25 to 35 percent of the aircraft movements on the airport were business aviation-related, making it the third-largest business aviation airport in Europe.
EBAA secretary general Athar Husain Khan said that in the 11 months since heading the association, he’s seen just how quickly new technologies such as electric propulsion, blockchain, sustainable aviation biofuels, and alternative forms of aerial mobility are quickening the pace of innovation in business aviation.
Keynote speaker Florian Reuter , CEO and managing director of Volocopter, discussed how autonomous electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) could solve mobility issues around cities. Grant Shapps MP, chair of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on General Aviation, also a keynote speaker, said the 222 members of the APPG are working hard to make the UK the most general aviation-friendly country in the world.
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.
AIN Alerts is a publication of AIN Publications, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
For advertising in AIN Alerts please contact Nancy O'Brien at nobrien@ainonline.com.
