Textron Aviation has delivered its 100th Cessna Citation Longitude, the flagship of its business jet family. The milestone super-midsize jet, which the manufacturer rolled out in May, was delivered to a longtime Citation customer, the company announced today.

The Longitude entered service in 2019 and is manufactured at Textron’s facilities in Wichita. NetJets is a fleet operator of the Longitude, having placed orders and options for up to 175 of the model in 2018. The fractional provider also recently placed a record-breaking all-options order for up to 1,500 Cessna Citations over the next 15 years.

“We are very proud of the entry into service of this aircraft. It hit the field with incredible reliability numbers and acceptance in the marketplace,” said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper. “We clearly have great reliability numbers, great performance, and low operating costs...and some of our larger customers like NetJets continue to talk about the performance and the technology included in this product.”

Powered by a pair of Honeywell HTF7700L turbofan engines, the Longitude delivers a range of 3,500 nm, a full fuel payload of 1,600 pounds, and a maximum cruise speed of 483 knots. Its flat-floored, six-foot-tall cabin can be configured to seat up to 12 passengers.

Aviation security experts and regulators have warned aircraft operators to maintain a high degree of vigilance over the intensifying military conflict in Israel, following attacks launched by Hamas forces early on Saturday. Late yesterday, EASA issued a conflict zone information bulletin for the Tel Aviv flight information region, saying that the risks are currently being managed effectively by Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority through notams covering its airspace and airports.

As of early afternoon local time on Monday, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (LLBG) remained open. Citing a high risk of civil aircraft being shot down, OpsGroup today issued a "do not fly" warning for the conflict area.

Osprey Flight Solutions said it had already issued five critical alerts to its security intelligence clients. The first of these was issued at 4:30 a.m. UTC, just an hour after the first rockets fired from Gaza hit targets in Israel. Before Saturday, no international civil aviation agencies had issued any official notices or restrictions applying to flights in and out of Israel.

Dyami Security Intelligence expressed concern about the possibility of a two-front war breaking out in which the Israeli military would be in conflict with both Hamas forces in the south and Hezbollah forces operating from Lebanon in the north. If that were to happen, the company indicated that Israel’s airspace could be closed for an indefinite period.

Dassault Aviation has launched FalconWays, a flight planning tool that allows Falcon pilots to select the most fuel-efficient route. It also reduces excess fuel carried using real-time wind data, as well as optimization and performance model-specific algorithms. The app will first be available for the Falcon 6X, then for the 8X early next year, the 7X later next year, and the 2000LXS/S in early 2025.

FalconWays will be offered as a flight app on Dassault’s FalconSphere iPad electronic flight bag, and it is compatible with Jeppesen and Universal flight planning tools. The tool was trialed via a campaign of flights between the U.S. and Europe and across Asia, in addition to numerous simulations.

Flight crews were able to reduce fuel consumption by up to 7 percent with FalconWays, which was developed in-house by Dassault Engineering and flight operations teams. The tool allows pilots to download worldwide wind information and combine it with imported operational flight plans, in-house performance tools, and vertical, lateral, and Mach-number-optimization data to recompute the flight plan. Falcons equipped with satcom can update the database en route on long flights to further optimize their trajectory.

“Our new FalconWays flight app is part of our company’s broader commitment to sustainable flying,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier. “It will help Falcon customers reach a new level of operational efficiency while reducing aviation emission levels.”

Preowned business aircraft inventory continues to rise but still remains below the 10-year average, according to industry data tracker Amstat. The current percentage of the fleet for sale rose by 45 percent year-over-year (YOY) to equal 5 percent of the business aircraft fleet, as compared to the 8 percent average.

The largest increases by segment were in the super-midsize and heavy jet classes at 93 percent and 73 percent, respectively. Those categories were also the closest to their 10-year average, with 6 percent of the heavy jets and 7 percent of the super-mids available versus their 8 percent averages.

Meanwhile, levels of preowned transactions fell by 26 percent YOY and are now trending back to historical levels. While sales activity in all three quarters this year was below the corresponding periods in 2022, according to Amstat, retail sales activity year-to-date has surpassed pre-Covid 2019 and is within 5 percent of the 10-year average.

Though median aircraft values rose slightly during the first half of the year, they retrenched by 3 percent over the third quarter and now remain unchanged since the beginning of 2023. The heavy jet segment saw the largest decline in median values, down 6 percent year-to-date, while the median value of the midsize jet class is up by 7 percent.

Charter, fractional, and aircraft management provider Airshare has enrolled its entire fleet, including managed aircraft, in the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP).

The ACSF ASAP program enables Part 135 and 91 operators to participate in a voluntary safety reporting agreement with the FAA without fear of agency action. ACSF aggregates the data to track safety trends and shares these with operators, without including identifying information. All reporting is non-punitive, so participants “feel comfortable reporting issues to help improve overall safety in the industry,” according to ACSF.

Key elements of the ASAP program include reporting and analysis; confidentiality; safety improvement; cooperation; corrective action; and compliance. Operators who want to participate must be willing to adhere to safety protocols and commit to reporting and addressing safety concerns.

"At ACSF, we believe that safety is a collective responsibility,” said ACSF president and CEO Bryan Burns. “Airshare's decision to join our ASAP program underscores the value, benefits, resources, and cost savings that the ACSF offers to operators of all sizes. We applaud Airshare for its commitment to aviation safety, and we look forward to witnessing the positive impact this will have on the industry.”

Global aircraft charter provider Chapman Freeborn has rolled out a premium private jet membership program. The company said it is tailored for regular users of private jet charter services and provides access to more than 2,500 aircraft. 

Over the past year, Chapman Freeborn has enhanced its business aviation segment, including making strategic investments to expand its sales team. It aims to meet the rising client demand for a membership system and said the new offering places a focus on price transparency, convenience, and exclusivity.

Under the terms of the program, members make a fully refundable $100,000 initial deposit from which funds are deducted. The system offers all-inclusive pricing, and the initial deposit has no expiration date. Additionally, this membership uses a dynamic pricing model to ensure that clients receive optimal pricing for each flight.

The membership eliminates the need to draw up contracts for individual flights. It also speeds up the booking process by doing away with credit card holds and other fees. Members gain instant access to a broad spectrum of private jets from a rigorously vetted preferred operator network. They also benefit from a dedicated advisor, around-the-clock access to the Chapman Freeborn client services team, and real-time flight tracking.

Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy suite is being tested with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system to launch uncrewed firefighting helicopters within minutes of fire detection. Rain will upload mission commands to an uncrewed Sikorsky Black Hawk.

Rain integrates with early wildfire detection networks to rapidly dispatch autonomous aircraft and significantly improve fire response times. The company has long advocated for pre-positioning autonomous aircraft in remote locations to mitigate wildfire risks with the ability to rapidly respond to ignitions in hard-to-access regions in varied terrain.

The Rain wildfire mission autonomy system onboard the aircraft identifies and locates wildfire, develops a suppression strategy, and plans flight path and drop timing to enable targeted suppressant. It shares intelligence and plans, providing firefighters with situational awareness and oversight throughout the mission to ensure safety and coordination.

“Matrix executes a full mission plan by taking into account mission goals and constraints, aircraft performance, obstacles, weather, and topography,” said Sikorsky Innovations director Igor Cherepinsky. “The system is fully integrated with the flight controls, allowing the aircraft to fly with high levels of autonomy in all environmental conditions.”

To date, Matrix has been tested on 10 different rotary and fixed-wing aircraft and can be applied to existing or new-build applications.

Talon Air has become a SmartSky dealer, and Davinci Jets is installing SmartSky’s air-to-ground connectivity system in most of its managed aircraft fleet. Both companies are charter management providers with their own maintenance facilities.

To expand the installation base for SmartSky systems, Talon Air is developing a supplemental type certificate (STC) to enable adding the system to the Hawker 4000. It has also begun installation of SmartSky’s Flagship system in a Gulfstream V.

Davinci Jets has placed an initial order for 10 SmartSky shipsets to be installed by the end of 2024, and the installations will be done by Davinci Jets Services.

“This agreement is the result of feedback from our customers who are flying SmartSky-equipped aircraft right now and are ecstatic with the performance. SmartSky’s patented next-generation technology is proven to be fast and reliable and allows for video streaming at 41,000 feet on multiple devices at once. It is unlike anything we’ve ever seen for the turboprop and light jet class aircraft,” said Davinci Jets CEO Eric Legvold.

“We aim to provide our customers with a world-class travel experience,” said Talon Air CEO James Chitty. “Fast and reliable in-flight connectivity is now an absolute must for our customers. The opportunity to expand our network and partner with next-gen provider SmartSky made this an easy decision.”