The UK’s Farnborough Airport today formally submitted its proposals to increase the annual flight limit from 50,000 to 70,000 movements. The application to the local Rushmoor Borough Council follows a consultation process that closed on October 18.

The London-area airport has made changes to its application in response to the public consultation. For instance, it has withdrawn a request to adjust weekend operating hours and will instead retain the current 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours.

Responding to concern over the rate at which traffic could grow, the Farnborough management team is now proposing a gradual increase to the overall annual limit of 70,000 movements, including 18,900 on weekends, by 2040. The current weekend limit is 8,900 per year.

Its proposals also include allowing more aircraft weighing between 55 and 80 tonnes to ease limits on newer, quieter aircraft such as the Bombardier Global 7500. 

Under UK planning laws, Rushmoor Borough Council now has 16 weeks to hold a “statutory consultation” in which interested parties, including surrounding counties and city officials, can provide further input. On this basis, the application would be expected to go before the council’s planning committee in March 2024. At that point, it can either be approved or rejected, in which case a lengthy appeal to the central government could be initiated.

New York City hosted public flight demonstrations of eVTOLs developed by Joby and Volocopter this week at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. On Sunday, Joby’s preproduction prototype aircraft became the first eVTOL air taxi to fly in the city, and Volocopter followed up yesterday with a demonstration of its 2X prototype.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) hosted the two-day event along with NYC mayor Eric Adams. In a briefing at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport yesterday morning, Adams announced the city’s plans to electrify the heliport in support of eVTOL operations, which are expected to launch in the city shortly after these vehicles begin receiving FAA type certification in 2025.

“By electrifying one of the most famous heliports in the world, New York is demonstrating global leadership in the adoption of electric air travel,” said Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. “We plan to make quiet, emissions-free flight an affordable, everyday reality for New Yorkers, while significantly reducing the impact of helicopter noise.”

"We cannot be afraid of the future,” Adams told reporters during the briefing at the heliport. “New York is the city of ‘yes.’ We are going to be faster in a cleaner, greener way, and we are going to help young people make more clean, green dollars.”

Eindhoven Airport (EHEH) in the Netherlands intends to ban private flights starting in 2026 as part of a strategy to reduce aircraft carbon dioxide emissions and noise by 30 percent—compared to 2019 levels—by 2030. Other measures confirmed late last week include a cap on the number of yearly flights and a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blending requirement that is more than triple the one mandated by the European Union. 

“As private flights have a relatively large noise and CO2 footprint per passenger and only marginally meet our region’s mobility needs, we have decided not to allow them at Eindhoven Airport from 2026,” the airport said. It added that it remains willing to accept electric aircraft, including eVTOLs.

The airport wants to reduce the total number of flights from 41,500 to a maximum of 40,500 a year in 2026 and 2027. It handled 40,252 departures and arrivals last year and 41,439 in 2019. Commercial flights operated by low-cost or leisure airlines such as Transavia, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Corendon, and TUI account for most of its traffic.

Eindhoven ranks as the country’s third-busiest airport for business aviation traffic, with 2,132 flight movements in 2022, according to data from EBAA. The airport is located close to the technology development hub of Dutch electronics group Philips; Philips' flight department is a founding member of EBAA.

Dassault Aviation recently broke ground on a 175,000-sq-ft Falcon service center at Florida’s Melbourne Orlando International Airport, according to the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast (EDC). The ceremony was attended by EDC and Enterprise Florida officials, local and state representatives, and Dassault Falcon Jet CEO Thierry Betbeze.

Announced a year ago, the $100 million factory-owned service center is expected to open in late 2024 and serve Falcon customers in North and South America. The facility will simultaneously accommodate up to 18 Falcons—including the soon-to-enter-service 6X and in-development 10X—providing aircraft inspections, repairs, and overhauls such as line maintenance and C-checks, as well as engineering and modification services. It will also include a 54,000-sq-ft paint shop and serve as a regional Falcon parts distribution hub.

Dassault selected Melbourne as the site for its maintenance facility because of the area’s skilled workforce, which includes about 35,000 people employed in aviation and aerospace. The region is also home to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Florida Institute of Technology.

Melbourne marks Dassault’s latest move to bolster its service support in the U.S., where it recently added service capacity at its Little Rock, Arkansas completions center and service centers in St. Louis, Missouri; Stuart, Florida; and Reno, Nevada. Meanwhile, Dassault last week announced a new Falcon service center in Brazil at São Paulo Catarina International Executive Airport.

The FAA is forming a Pilot Mental Health Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that will develop strategies to encourage pilots to report mental health issues. It will include medical experts and representatives from aviation and labor, who will draft recommendations for the FAA.

“Mental health care has made great strides in recent years, and we want to make sure the FAA is considering those advances when we evaluate the health of pilots,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. The FAA plans to finalize the charter for the ARC and appoint a panel of experts “in the coming weeks.”

Pilots are required to disclose certain mental health conditions to aviation medical examiners who assess their fitness to fly. The ARC's establishment is part of the FAA's broader effort to prioritize pilot mental health, which includes measures such as expanding mental health training for medical examiners, providing support for clinical studies and research, improving outreach efforts to pilot groups, and hiring more mental health professionals to expedite return-to-fly decisions.

The ARC will also address recommendations from the July 2023 Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General report on pilot mental health challenges. This report acknowledged the FAA's “comprehensive procedures to evaluate pilots’ psychological health.”

Fractional jet provider Flexjet has established a global training academy for its cabin servers at Farnborough Airport in the UK. The Red Label Academy aims to elevate private aviation’s in-flight service experience to a five-star hospitality standard.

The academy is an extension of Flexjet's Red Label program, which includes flight crews dedicated to specific aircraft, as well as LXi custom aircraft cabins.

While other private aviation firms typically rely on third-party training for cabin staff, Flexjet's approach focuses on in-house excellence training, according to Megan Wolf, the company's chief experience officer. “By opening infrastructure specifically dedicated to excellence training and curating professionals in the hospitality industry to teach alongside our in-house team, we have set a new standard in cabin experience. No one else in the industry is doing this,” she claimed.

The academy is led by Flexjet v-p of customer experience Francesco Vanerio, who previously worked for the five-star Villa d’Este hotel in Lake Como, Italy. Its training curriculum features expertise from renowned sommeliers, chefs, and floral designers, as well as collaboration with the Dorchester Collection Academy.

The training program spans two weeks and covers topics such as mixology, wine service, floristry, and sushi presentation. It includes scenario-based service training, as well as specialized training for attending to children and pets onboard.

Bombardier has reaffirmed its commitment to cover all its operational flights with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using book-and-claim, which allows an operator to claim sustainability benefits for SAF used by an aircraft elsewhere. 

One year after announcing an agreement with Signature Aviation for provision of book-and-claim services, the airframer continues to demonstrate what it calls firm engagement to drive lasting industry change by promoting the industrywide adoption of SAF.

By using a 30 percent SAF blend, Bombardier anticipates a 20 to 25 percent reduction in its annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG, Scope 1) at its flight operations since January 2023. This year’s SAF usage in flight operations through book-and-claim will be reflected in the airframer’s 2023 Scope 1 CO2 emissions, which it plans to publish in May 2024.

“Operational flights are part of Bombardier's regular activities and notably include production testing, certification flights, transiting Global aircraft from Toronto to Montreal to perform the completion stages, consumer demonstration flights, new aircraft platform certifications, and after-service check flights,” it said. “This major annual gain supports Bombardier’s previously announced objective of reducing 25 percent of GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2025, compared to 2019 levels. Bombardier’s 2025 objective is aligned with the business aviation industry’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”