Volato Doubles Down on HondaJet with Latest Fleet Order

Volato today announced an order for 25 HondaJet Elite IIs, which will more than double its fleet of the Honda Aircraft-manufactured twinjets to 40. The Elite II—which has added range, new cabin designs, ground spoilers, and a stabilized approach feature—was certified by the FAA last month. Deliveries of the aircraft to Atlanta-based fractional provider Volato will begin next year. 

“We believe in the vision and future of Honda Aircraft as they continue to optimize the private jet experience with the HondaJet,” said Volato CEO and co-founder Matt Liotta. “Every business decision  we make aims to deliver the best experience for our customers.” According to Liotta, this even extends to working directly with Honda Aircraft to optimize the features and functionality of the galley.

Volato operates nationally with a floating fleet, and has bases in Atlanta; St. Augustine and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; Houston; and Carlsbad, California. It also recently announced a fleet order for super-midsize Gulfstream G280s. 

AEA Survey Shows Optimism, Increased Cost of Business

The Aircraft Electronics Association’s 2022 Rate and Labor Survey underscored the buoyancy of the market, with more than 60 percent of U.S. avionics repair stations expecting growth in the coming year. At the same time, the survey highlighted the increased cost of business, with more than half, and as many as two-thirds in certain regions, increasing shop rates and the overwhelming majority upping compensation. 

“Repair stations continue to report a positive outlook in spite of the ongoing workforce challenges to recruit and retain high-quality technicians,” said AEA president and CEO Mike Adamson, in an Avionics News article about the survey that was released today. Only 7 percent of respondents expected business to decline and another 33 percent expect business to remain the same.

As for shop rates, 52 percent of shops in the Western U.S. region reported increases of an average of 6.8 percent. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the shops increased salaries, a decline from 74 percent in 2021. In the Central region, two-thirds increased shop rates at an average of 8 percent and 80 percent increased salaries. Meanwhile, in the Eastern region, 61 percent reported shop rate increases and 85 percent increased salaries.

Jet It Begins To Add Embraer Phenom 300s

North Carolina-based fractional aircraft provider Jet It has added two Embraer Phenom 300s to its fleet and plans to add more, according to co-founder and CEO Glenn Gonzales. “We’ve got our first two Phenoms now in operation, or soon to be in operation,” he told AIN earlier this week. “One’s getting the Wi-Fi installed. So both airplanes will be in operation before the end of this week.”

Founded in 2018 as an exclusive operator of HondaJet Elites, the arrival of the Phenom 300s come after Private Jet Card Comparisons reported that Gonzales sent a letter to Jet It shareholders over issues with Honda Aircraft's support and reliability of its aircraft, including reportedly incurring “$20 million in off-fleet expenses.” According to Honda Aircraft, the HondaJet dispatch reliability rate is 99.7 percent.

The Phenom 300 is an aircraft that Jet It can continue to build on its business, Gonzales said. “We’re just excited to be able to give our owners what they want,” adding that the Phenoms provide more range and payload, as well as “a company behind it that has a lot more experience in supporting it.”

For now, the HondaJets will remain a part of Jet It’s fleet. “I love the airplane. It’s a great airplane,” Gonzales said. “We expect to continue to operate the airplane as long as our customers are happy with the airplane.”

FlightSafety Helicopter Training Saves Lives of Crew

Sergeant David Sizemore’s experience reinforces that even highly skilled officers who have been trained to respond quickly and appropriately in times of extreme stress benefit from FlightSafety rotorcraft training. It doesn’t just take you to proficiency, but to preparedness. For any situation.

Independent Falcon Operators Hold First Annual Meeting

The Independent Falcon Operators Association (IFOA) held its first annual meeting last month at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, drawing more than 70 attendees who are owners and operators of the Dassault Falcon business jets. They represented more than 50 of the French-made aircraft.

Presentations included a Falcon market overview, valuations, supply and demand issues, OEM-approved cabin lighting upgrades, avionics obsolescence, cockpit upgrades, cabin management solutions, and insurance and cost management. “We had some great discussions about rapid increases in the cost of specific components such as engine LRUs, brakes across all models, and the high cost of avionics obsolescence,” said IFOA founder Sean Lynch, who’s also the founder and program coordinator of Engine Assurance Program, one of the meeting’s sponsors. Other sponsors were Aircraft Lighting International, Aviation Partners, Duncan Aviation, StandardAero, and West Star Aviation.

The group was established last year to create a community of Falcon owners and operators that is a “stronger, well-organized sounding board” and to keep older models operating economically. So far, the organization claims 140 members who operate Falcon 10s, 20s, 50s, 900s, 2000s, and a 7X.

Massachusetts Airport Association Renews Agenda

Coming off its recent annual meeting in Springfield, the Massachusetts Airport Management Association (MAMA) elected a new slate of officers and renewed its goals for supporting the state’s 37 public-use airports in the upcoming year.

Matt Elia, the assistant airport manager at Cape Cod Gateway Airport, was elected as president and outlined a list of the organization’s priorities. Among them are increased funding for the Commonwealth’s airports that provide $24.7 billion in annual economic output and protecting the Massachusetts state aviation sales tax exemption that helps to support more than 199,000 aviation-related positions across the state. The data, he said, comes from a recent statewide airport economic study conducted by the MassDOT Aeronautics Division.

Other newly elected MAMA officials include v-p Christopher Willenborg, manager at Westfield-Barnes Airport; secretary Daniel Shearer, manager of Pittsfield Municipal Airport; and treasurer Andrew Widor, manager of Westover Metropolitan Airport.

Elected to the MAMA board of directors were Matt Cardillo, manager at Plymouth Airport; David Dinneen, business development professional at Gale Associates; Geoff Freeman, manager at Martha’s Vineyard Airport; and Jean Mongillo, v-p and senior airport engineer at civil engineering firm Hoyle Tanner. David Graham, former MAMA president, was appointed to the newly created honorary position of historian.

VPorts To Launch Québec-Syracuse Air Mobility Corridor

VPorts, a Canadian advanced air mobility (AAM) startup with plans to build a vertiport network in Québec, has announced what the company said will be the first-ever international AAM corridor for electric aircraft. The company plans to launch an eVTOL flight route between one of its vertiports near Montreal and New York’s Syracuse Hancock International Airport (KSYR).

While the cross-border route will initially be used to transport commercial cargo between the U.S. and Canada, VPorts said passengers will also be able to travel the route using eVTOL air taxis. VPorts has not specified exactly which eVTOLs will be the first to fly along this route, but the company plans to begin flight trials next year.

Several eVTOL developers are aiming to have their aircraft enter service in 2025. However, none of the models currently in development have sufficient range to fly the 250 miles between Mirabel and Syracuse.

The new vertiport route announcement comes just a few months after VPorts and a consortium of international organizations signed a memorandum of understanding to establish multiple, first-of-their-kind international electric AAM corridors between Canada and the U.S. 

Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.

Flexjet Assists in VIP ‘Very Important Pooch’ Delivery

Furthering its relationship with University Hospitals (UH), private lift solutions provider Flexjet recently transported a team of emotional support dogs and their handlers from their 14-month Pet Pals training program in Atlanta to Cleveland, where the two golden retrievers, Loki and Natasha, will join the UH Cleveland Medical Center staff. The pet therapy program provides several benefits for pediatric and adult patients, including reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and promoting healing.

Pet Pals is a nonprofit charity that relies on donations to cover the costs of the dogs, their training, and transportation. The dogs typically live with hospital staff doctors or nurses and work a 40-hour week alongside them. This pair arrived aboard a Flexjet Embraer Praetor 500 at Cleveland Cuyahoga County Airport, where they were greeted by their new families.

“We consider it an honor to fly these Pet Pals and their handlers to their new homes here in Cleveland, while also expanding our partnership with University Hospitals,” said Flexjet CEO Michael Silvestro. “Our aircraft owners fly frequently with their pets and consider them members of their families, so we know just what to do to keep our canine and feline guests as comfortable and cared for as possible.”

In 2020, Flexjet announced a partnership with UH’s Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine to provide global health-related support for its clients.

BLR FastFin Certified for Black Hawk Helicopters

BLR Aerospace has received FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) approval for its patented FastFin system for the Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter. The kit is offered with an FAA-certified flight manual supplement that includes significant increases in useful load of 400 to 600 pounds, along with increased maneuverability and controllability margins commensurate with other BLR FastFin systems.

BLR classifies the UH-60 FastFin as a “second generation FastFin system” that achieves greater performance benefits in part due to the asymmetric shape attached to the tail boom that enhances the anti-torque performance of the tail rotor. The system also includes tail boom strakes and vortex generators.

In addition to the UH-60, the system is available for medium-size Bells and the Airbus AS350 helicopter family. BLR claims other benefits of the system include improved hover holding in crosswinds, better stability in the hover, and largely eliminating loss of tail rotor effectiveness. It works on any helicopter with an enclosed tail boom. BLR provides performance-enhancing products on more than 10,000 helicopters and airplanes worldwide.

Mike Carpenter, president of BLR Aerospace, said that the FastFin kit for the UH-60 “is just another example of how BLR’s patented FastFin system can dramatically improve the performance of an existing helicopter.”