A year after completing its first flight, NASA’s X-59 supersonic demonstrator has left California for a cross-country trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be on static display at the agency’s Max Power aerospace expo and airshow.

Designed and built at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the Quesst X-plane initially took to the skies on Oct. 28, 2025. That first flight involved low, slow flight for system checks—the aircraft flew for 67 minutes, climbed to an altitude of 12,000 feet, and reached a speed of 230 mph. Since then, the X-59 has reached an altitude of more than 56,000 feet and speeds of up to Mach 1.53.

The flight-test program has continued to steadily progress, completing more than 40 flights as it expanded the envelope. NASA test pilots Nils Larson and Jim “Clue” Less are piloting the aircraft during its trip to Kennedy Space Center, accompanied by F-15 and F/A-18 chase planes.

While plans call for continuing the envelope expansion and systems trials in the coming months, the aircraft’s team will also begin transitioning for its next test phase: acoustic validation. As part of the Quesst mission, the X-59 was designed to test the effects of a quieter supersonic boom on communities to evaluate whether boom-suppressing technologies could support regulations that permit supersonic flight over land.

At the end of every episode of “The Jetsons” cartoon, George Jetson gets stuck on the treadmill with his dog Astro and cries out, “Help! Jane, stop this crazy thing!” As the credits roll, George gets stuck on the futuristic dogwalker treadmill at full speed after Astro sees a space cat, and it sucks him under and sends him around and around on the treadmill.

Those of us in the business aircraft resale market are currently experiencing what George Jetson did every episode. Each morning we get up, we have customers who want aircraft that we struggle to procure, and we climb over each other to make deals and pay higher prices. Oh, and throw in the end of the year with bonus depreciation at stake.

The market is moving at a pace that seems to defy conventional logic. Prices continue to go up in the face of very short aircraft supply and demand that just keeps coming. Seven-year-old aircraft are trading for the same price they did when new.

At NBAA-BACE last week, it was the topic of conversation. I repeatedly heard the comment from some industry associates that it feels like 2007 and early 2008 all over again. Yes, it does, and that sounds precarious to those of us who remember 2008. However, it is quite different this time in 2026.

Greenland opened a new international gateway with the debut yesterday of the rebuilt and renamed Ilulissat International Airport (BGJN). Located on the west coast of Greenland—the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory of Denmark—it marked the last opening in a trio of new facilities, including Nuuk and Qaqortoq, which opened in 2024 and earlier this year, respectively.

BGJN features a 54,000-sq-ft terminal and a 7,200-foot runway, nearly three times the length of the previous landing strip. The longer runway allows for direct international flights to northern Greenland and the Disko Bay area, which is home to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ilulissat Icefjord.

Operations at Ilulissat—approximately 150 miles (250 km) north of the Arctic Circle—will ramp up gradually, according to authorities. Greenland Airports aims for the airport to be fully operational by third-quarter 2027.

“The opening of Ilulissat International Airport marks another important milestone for Greenland. Together with the new airports in Nuuk and Qaqortoq, it creates new opportunities for tourism across our regions,” said Visit Greenland CEO Linda Kleist. “But infrastructure alone does not create lasting value. What matters is how we build on these opportunities together—strengthening local businesses, creating opportunities across our communities, and shaping tourism development that respects our nature, culture, and way of life.”

Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels (NWABF) has received a major boost in its plans to establish a renewable fuels refinery in Washington state after signing a $70 million funding partnership with Black Gold Equity Partners. This additional funding will help to establish a $3 billion production facility using woody biomass as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The company—which has a SAF offtake agreement with Delta Air Lines—expects to break ground next year in the Port of Longview. It holds a long-term lease for 250 acres along the Columbia River corridor, allowing for maritime transport of both the feedstock and finished biofuel.

NWABF expects the facility to be operational by first-quarter 2031, with an annual output of 60 million gallons of neat SAF, produced via a gasification/Fischer-Tropsch-based process, which first breaks the biomass down into a gas before converting it into liquid synthetic fuel.

“One of the greatest challenges facing the sustainable fuels industry isn’t technology—it’s access to capital,” said Dave Smoot, founder of Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels. “Black Gold Equity Partners understands what it takes to build a project like this one. Their backing helps us move from concept to construction, and we believe it shows what’s possible for sustainable fuel infrastructure across the country.”

Thornton Aviation has been the backbone of their maintenance and operational support for both the GIV and Hawker 800XP.

Bell delivered 29 commercial helicopters in the third quarter, one fewer than the same period a year ago, and reported that year-over-year revenues fell 9%, to $933 million, parent company Textron Inc. said yesterday in its quarterly financial call.

The drop came mainly from less work on the U.S. Army’s MV-75 Cheyenne tiltrotor program, which is still in development. Bell slowed spending on the program while it waited for Congress to approve funding, which was resolved only as the quarter was closing.

Third-quarter commercial deliveries totaled thirteen 505s, twelve 407s, three 429s, and one 412. In the same period last year, Bell handed over fifteen 505s, eight 407s, six 429s, and one 412. Shipments for the 407 were up 50% year over year, while 429 deliveries were cut in half.

Through the first nine months, Bell handed over 85 commercial rotorcraft, down from 91 in the same span last year. Year-to-date military deliveries total five V-22 tiltrotors, compared with seven at this point in 2025. Bell’s backlog value stood at $7.6 billion as of September 30.

According to Textron, the $93 million revenue drop from third-quarter 2025 reflected $59 million in lower military revenues, largely tied to reduced MV-75 volume, along with a $34 million decline in commercial helicopter, parts, and services revenues on lower volume and less favorable mix.

Piaggio Aerospace has signed a five-year agreement with Italy’s Ministry of Culture this month to help preserve the company’s historical archive material. Inked in Rome with the General Directorate of Archives, the agreement will support the preservation and digitalization of content, as well as promote the archive to the public.

Piaggio has also pledged to contribute to the preservation and accessibility of its “historic collection” through the creation of a permanent museum. This will be situated at its company headquarters in Villanova d’Albenga in northern Italy, and complemented by additional exhibitions across the country.

Piaggio traces its roots back to 1884, when Rinaldo Piaggio founded a company to furnish the interiors of luxury cruise ships. After expanding into train and boat production, it started aeronautical activities in 1917 by building aircraft under license. The first Piaggio-designed aircraft, the P.1, first flew in 1922.

Items in the century-spanning collection include archived drawings and wooden aircraft models. These were used for aerodynamic research in a wind tunnel, the first of its kind in Italy, constructed in 1935. Piaggio’s iconic P.180 Avanti, still in production in its latest iteration, first flew in 1986.

U.S. charter operator Jet Excellence has selected Gogo Galileo HDX for its entire fleet of Cessna Citation Xs. Installations of the high-speed connectivity system, retrofitted by Araina Aviation, are ongoing. These follow supplemental type certification earlier this month for installation of Galileo HDX on the twinjet. 

The North Carolina operator has leveraged Gogo’s flexible financing solution to help acquire the connectivity. According to Gogo, this allows eligible aircraft owners and operators to bundle hardware and services into one monthly payment with no upfront hardware investment. Jet Excellence CEO McQueen Campbell added that this flexible financing option gave the company “a practical way to introduce that capability across our fleet on an accelerated schedule.”

Jet Excellence—which provides aircraft capacity to multiple fractional, membership, and charter providers—believes installing Galileo across its entire Citation X fleet will allow it to offer “consistent and high-performance connectivity across more of its aircraft.”

In October 2025, the newly rebranded Jet Excellence added a further 19 Cessna Citation Xs to its fleet, following the acquisition of Red Wing Aeroplane. It has more aircraft additions planned over the next 12 months.

The Air Charter Association (ACA) has appointed Emily Williams as chairperson, effective Jan. 1, 2027. Williams, the co-founder of independent private aviation advisors IW Aviation, has also served as an ACA board member since 2021 and succeeds former chair Kevin Ducksbury, who has stepped down after seven years.

The appointment was disclosed earlier this month at the annual ACA Air Charter Excellence Awards, which recognized the achievement of 11 selected companies and individuals. Among the winners were Platoon Aviation as the executive passenger charter operation of the year; Titan Airways, commercial passenger charter operator of the year; and Saxon Air, helicopter charter operator of the year.

Farnborough Airport was recognized as best flight operations service provider, while software specialist Avinode took home the business service supplier accolade.

Meanwhile, ACA’s annual internship program was represented by this year’s group of 15 students, who were awarded with a special internship project prize. ACA CEO Glenn Hogben said it was fantastic to “provide them with the opportunity to network with leading air charter professionals at one of the biggest events in the industry calendar.” Student Rosa Gray was also awarded the ACA internship 2026 project prize.

Separately, ACA has also welcomed eight new corporate members: Altavia Charter, APD Direct, Aziz Aviation, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, InsiJets, PVJets, Volkswagen AirService, and Wairto.

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