Embraer Hits $1.2 Billion Jackpot in Vegas

NetJets and Embraer arrived at NBAA-BACE with a blockbuster deal including orders and options for 100 Phenom 300Es valued at up to $1.2 billion, further underscoring the resurgence of the business jet market. Announced this morning, the deal continues the more than a decade-long relationship between the Brazilian airframer and fractional ownership provider and calls for deliveries headed to both the U.S. and Europe beginning in the second quarter of 2023.

While Embraer is not revealing the mix of orders and options on the latest deal, Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, noted that Embraer’s first contract from NetJets in 2010 called for 50 firm orders and 75 options and “we've now delivered those aircraft to them…they have had a consistent track record of taking every single option and firm order.”

With the white-hot business aviation market, NetJets has had to halt sales of its fractional shares and jet cards because it has been selling out, Amalfitano said. “Now we're going to help them with this new order to continue to revitalize that segment for them,” he said. “That's exciting for us because it continues to showcase their commitment to Embraer, but it's also exciting because many more customers are going to have access to the fastest, longest-range, single-pilot light jet in the marketplace.”

Honeywell: Bizjet Shipments To Bounce Back

The business aviation industry successfully emerged from the Covid pandemic with flight activity near 2019 levels, but it will be several years yet until aircraft delivery rates match those of the pre-pandemic period, according to Honeywell Aerospace’s Business Jet Delivery Outlook. The company’s annual 10-year delivery forecast calls for 7,400 new business jet deliveries over the next decade worth an estimated $238 billion, up 100 units from last year’s forecast, but still down from the 7,600 it prognosticated back in 2019.

The company's longer-range forecast through 2031 projects a 3 percent average annual growth rate of deliveries, in line with expected worldwide long-term economic growth. Released on Sunday ahead of this year's NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas, this year's forecast marks Honeywell's 30th anniversary of doing the outlook.

For this year, while airframers are seeing their order books and backlogs swell, Honeywell predicts deliveries of between 575 and 620 business jets, as they continue to ramp up production amid lingering supply chain and labor issues. Javier Jimenez Serrano, the senior strategy specialist in charge of this year’s survey told AIN, “We expect expenditures for new jet purchases to recover to 2019 levels by late 2022 to 2023, and in terms of units that will be by the mid-point of the decade.”

HAI Offering New, Lower-cost SMS Program

Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced a safety management system (SMS) software program designed for small operators and others with cost concerns.  Announced today on the eve of NBAA-BACE, the HAI SMS program meets the requirements set forth in the NTSB “Most Wanted List” proposal for operators that carry passengers. It is also available to member companies that do not carry passengers for hire.

Open to HAI operator members, the program is the result of a membership survey in which a significant number of respondents requested turnkey SMS support programs, including ways to make an SMS easier to implement and track. “One of the most exciting elements of the HAI SMS program is how quickly and efficiently it will help to improve safety across operations,” said HAI president and CEO James Viola. 

HAI chose three software providers for the program: the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) of Alexandria, Virginia; Baldwin Safety and Compliance of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; and Wyvern of Nashua, New Hampshire. “Signing up for the program through one of these providers should save most of our members more money than the cost of their HAI membership,” said Viola. 

Both Baldwin and Wyvern offer aviation safety action program (ASAP) reporting modules on their servers for companies participating in ACSF’s third-party–managed ASAP program. 

Collins Launches Izon ‘Easy Button’ for Bizav Operators

Collins Aerospace has consolidated business aviation services such as flight planning, weather information, fleet operations, and ArincDirect flight support and connectivity into a single online platform—called the Izon Connected Platform—accessible with one login.

Customer feedback was an important factor in the development of Izon, according to LeAnn Ridgeway, v-p and general manager of the Collins IMS business. “We believe Izon will take the friction out of the way you do business with Collins and run your business aviation operations,” she said. The name “Izon” is a play on “eyes-on” and represents a new way for customers and Collins to share and use information. Collins is formally launching Izon this week at NBAA-BACE.

Izon is being implemented in phases, starting with the single sign-on portal for ArincDirect flight support and connectivity services in the initial deployment. Next will come fleet status capabilities for Collins’s airborne connectivity services such as its Luxstream satcom, as well as other satcom services for which it supplies equipment and/or provides service. This includes real-time flight data monitoring and alerting for connectivity disruptions and the Flight Debrief C-FOQA Centerline partnership with GE Aviation.

Collins will add access to navigation databases for Collins-equipped aircraft and Stage content management and Tailwind TV subscriptions. Finally, flight scheduling and Collins’s FOS software will be added to the Izon platform, scheduled in 2022. 

Blackhawk Adding PC-12 Engine Upgrade to Portfolio

Blackhawk Aerospace is adding an engine upgrade program for the Pilatus PC-12 to its list of aircraft re-engining offerings. Via supplemental type certificate (STC), Blackhawk’s PC-12 XP67P Engine+ upgrade replaces the turboprop single's stock Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67B engine with the higher-thermally-rated PT6A-67P model.

Flight testing of a PC-12 with the new engine is expected to start late in the first quarter of next year. The XP67P upgrade includes a new PT6A-67P engine but retains the PC-12's original Hartzell four-blade aluminum propeller. Blackhawk plans to certify additional propeller options in the future.  

For more than 600 of the PC-12s eligible for the XP67P upgrade, many of which are at or close to overhaul, it is an optimum opportunity to install an engine upgrade, according to Blackhawk. Operators upgrading before TBO expiration will receive an engine core credit of $95 per hour for any engine time remaining.

Featuring improved metallurgy, the XP67P engine allows for a higher internal turbine temperature (ITT) limitation of 850 degrees C versus the stock -67B’s 800-degrees C limitation on takeoff. Maximum continuous ITT for climb and cruise is 760 degrees C for the -67B and 820 degrees C for the XP67P.

The PT6A-67P is a 1,200-shp engine that produces 142 more thermodynamic horsepower than the stock PT6A-67B, and the higher ITT.

Viasat Select Lowers Broadband Satcom Costs

Satellite operator Viasat has launched regional and global service plans for its Ka-band satcom, giving aircraft operators new options for high-speed service with lower prices when global connectivity isn’t needed. The new Viasat Select includes global and regional service plans with no speed limits on its Ka-band network.

The GAT-5510 airborne terminal needed to access Viasat’s Ka-band satellites is designed for installation in super-midsize and larger business jets and comprises three LRUs: the 12-inch parabolic antenna, modem, and power supply, at a total installed weight of about 50 pounds. Viasat builds the hardware, including the airborne terminal and satellite payloads, and provides the connectivity service. Value-added reseller partners are also able to provide Viasat service to their customers.

“The pain point we heard is that customers don’t like data caps and speed limits,” said Claudio D’Amico, Viasat business area director, business aviation. Select not only offers customized regional and global service plans but all of the capability available can be accessed by all Select customers. An operator with a regional plan covering North America, for example, can pay less than $3,000 per month and still receive the same no-speed limit, high-throughput service as a customer paying much more for a global unlimited plan. The lower-cost plan does have data caps, but no hit on speed.