Continuing a refreshment cycle of its legacy aircraft, Textron Aviation yesterday announced interior upgrades to the M2 and XLS+ light and midsize twinjets at NBAA-BACE. “We’re trying to accelerate upgrading all existing products,” Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper told AIN. “We have such a broad product line up, we feel you need a mix of new aircraft as well as…enhancements to existing products.”
Inside the flight deck of M2 Gen2, Textron Aviation has added three inches of legroom in the copilot’s position. In the cabin, entry threshold materials have been improved for durability and maintainability, including the side-facing seat that folds down.
Deliveries of the M2 Gen2, priced at $5.85 million, are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022.
For the Citation 560XL, upgrades on what will now be the XLS Gen2 are more extensive, starting with a lighted airstair door and a new entry curtain for protection from inclement weather and improved acoustics in flight. Textron Aviation has added a new pedestal seat design with individual controls.The XLS Gen2 features an intuitive wireless cabin management system with a touchscreen moving map monitor as well as wireless charging. Other upgrade options are a forward, fold-down couch, and a Bongiovi speakerless surround-sound system.
The XLS Gen2 is priced at $15.5 million and deliveries are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022.
Bolen: NBAA-BACE Is Time To Reconnect, Move Forward
The return this year of an in-person NBAA-BACE coincides with the industry's rebound from the pandemic and comes at a time when business aviation is on the cusp of a change, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen told AIN ahead of NBAA-BACE 2021 in Las Vegas.
“There's clearly a lot of excitement for NBAA-BACE…a pent-up desire for people to connect,” he said. “Our industry is doing well in terms of hours flown and with the market. There's a sense that there are a lot of opportunities.”
Despite the complexities of the pandemic, Bolen stressed, “This is an enormously exciting time in terms of innovation, technology, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion. There's just so much going on.” Bolen said that with the technological breakthroughs, the new entrants, and a core of young people who are “once again excited” about the industry, “all of those things make this kind of a unique moment.”
While BACE this week serves as a platform for this evolution, it also offers a way for people in the industry to reconnect after being separated from the pandemic. "It's particularly important for communities to be connected in challenging and uncertain times to allow us to rely on each other's strength and expertise,” Bolen said.
This connection, he added, “helps us find a way forward. We're part of a big community.”
Piaggio Aerospace has just announced a host of upgrades for its P.180 Avanti Evo turboprop twin, including several enhancements to aircraft components and systems, interior, and payload.
To start, a new high-power steel braking system, supplied by Parker and already available for retrofit on in-service Avantis through an STC, has just received EASA approval under the aircraft type certificate, with other similar approvals pending. “The integration provides reduced certified landing distances and better reliability, and along with the anti-skid system brings an increased suitability for intense training use, together with lower equipment and maintenance costs,” said Antonio Sollo, chief technical officer and head of design organization at Piaggio Aerospace.
In addition, lithium-ion batteries are available on new-production Evos, according to Sollo. “The main and emergency batteries are manufactured by True Blue Power and use lithium-ion nano phosphate cell chemistry, which provides improved capacity and output voltage stability, together with shorter engine start time, as well as significant weight saving,” he said.
A Becker Avionics digital audio system will also be available soon for factory-new airplanes and Piaggio will also increase the Evo's maximum zero fuel weight to 10,200 pounds, up from 9,800 pounds. Meanwhile, the company is rolling out new cabin interiors.
Bizav ‘Visionaries’ Predict Industry’s Future at BACE
The heads of three major business aviation enterprises—George Antoniadis, founder and CEO of PlaneSense; Kenny Dichter, founder and CEO of Wheels Up; and Kenn Ricci, founder and principal of Directional Aviation Capital—shared the dais and views on the current and coming state of the industry at the NBAA-BACE Aviation Visionaries Forecast Luncheon yesterday.
All three executives expressed surprise at the speed and extent of business aviation’s recovery, with Dichter likening demand for lift to “Joe’s Stone Crab on a Saturday night in season,” referring to the popular Miami restaurant. Antoniadis noted his company and the industry is “now squeezed because of unprecedented demand,” and Ricci noted Flexjet went from 320 revenue hours a day pre-Covid to between 500 and 550 revenue hours daily now. “In many ways, [the jump in hours is] more challenging than no business,” he said.
Can the growth be sustained? Ricci cited three factors to watch: the economy; people’s feelings about their own wealth; and the state of airline industry—“at its nadir,” Ricci said. “If none give, we’ve got a good road ahead.”
All three agree most new customers are onboard permanently, with Antoniadis calling the change “an inflection point.” Dichter believes growth can continue with more efficient operations and ease of access, predicting the industry would expand exponentially “if it’s as easy to call a plane as it is to order a pizza on the phone.”
Boeing Business Jets is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week at NBAA-BACE and highlighting “our accomplishments over the last quarter-century,” said company president James “J.D.” Detwiler. The airframer is also marking the return of the BBJ Max, capped this year by service entry of the first BBJ Max 8, and the first BBJ Max 8 order since its now-resolved grounding.
The company launched Boeing’s business jet line in 1996, using the 737 airframe for its first family of single-aisle corporate jets before adding VIP variants of Boeing’s widebodies to its portfolio.
The Max makeover of the 737 features aerodynamic improvements, including advanced winglets and new CFM LEAP-1B engines, which together deliver a 13 percent reduction in fuel consumption, cutting operating costs and environmental impact while increasing the Max 8’s range to 6,325 nm, a boost of some 600 nm.
The first redelivered Max was announced in May by Jet Aviation, which performed the completion—designed by the MRO’s in-house studio in collaboration with the undisclosed owner’s designer—at its Basel, Switzerland completion center. The interior creates “a cozy residential space in which one could relax and enjoy the ride,” Jet Aviation said, and includes details such as woven wooden paneling, full-flat cocoon seats finished in 3D wood veneer, and an integrated wine fridge in the living area.
With the business aviation industry’s focus on increasing utilization of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) despite its currently limited geographical distribution, Avfuel has announced the launch of its book-and-claim program.
The book-and-claim process allows customers who wish to use SAF but are not in an area where it is available to purchase the fuel and receive credit for it under the various emission accounting programs. The fuel is then dispensed into and ultimately burned by another aircraft elsewhere.
“Sustainable aviation fuel is the most effective way to reduce a flight’s carbon footprint, and book-and-claim is the single most effective way to make SAF attainable for customers no matter where they fly,” said Keith Sawyer, Avfuel’s manager of alternative fuels. “Trucking the fuel to the opposite end of the country where a customer may want SAF is not only less efficient and costlier but also affects the lifecycle emissions reduction benefit of SAF. Rather than move the SAF molecules, it makes far more sense to move the accreditation."
To ensure that only the customer who purchases the book-and-claim SAF receives the environmental credit for it, a strict accounting system is in effect to prevent double-counting.
Avfuel will continue to operate its carbon offset program and has announced a new partnership with carbon credit provider CBL Markets, which will assist with back-end processes such as sourcing verified green projects, carbon credit accreditation, and certificate retiring.
The day-one digital flip-through issue of AIN’s award-winning NBAA Convention News is now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from NBAA-BACE 2021, whether you’re in Las Vegas attending the show or watching from afar.
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