FBO chain Million Air has added another arrow to its aviation services quiver with the launch of a business aircraft brokerage division. The company’s leadership, with decades of experience in the preowned aircraft market, has long been a source of trusted advice for its customers in the purchasing, selling, and upgrading of business jets and turboprops, and it believes the establishment of Million Air Craft Sales & Acquisitions will merely formalize that role.

Million Air’s new offering is being led by Tyler Bowron, who was recently a partner at Hatt & Associates and previously headed up the sales and acquisitions unit at NetJets brokerage subsidiary QS Partners. The division will be dedicated to the aircraft ownership arena, helping clients navigate aspects of buying and selling.

“As pilots and aircraft owners ourselves, we understand firsthand the challenges and opportunities that come with aircraft transactions,” explained company CEO Roger Woolsey, describing the new expansion as a natural fit. “Million Air Craft Sales & Acquisitions allows us to bring the same expertise, trust, and hospitality our clients expect on the ground into the aircraft sales market.”

Dassault Aviation today inaugurated a new production facility northwest of Paris in Cergy, which over the past 12 months has been assigned multiple manufacturing tasks for both the Rafale fighter and Falcon business jets that were formerly conducted at the French group’s nearby Argenteuil facility. More than 600 technical staff, including many who transferred from the outdated site, are now working on aircraft skin panels, forward fuselage assemblies, fuselage outfitting, and metal hose and small parts production.

The Cergy factory took three years to build and covers more than 27 acres with a production space of more than 427,000 sq ft. Featuring rooftop solar panels, the design also includes smart lighting and an innovative ventilation system.

“This is Dassault Aviation’s first new production facility since the 1970s,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Éric Trappier. “It sends a positive signal to the aerospace sector and to the industry as a whole. France possesses unique expertise that we must preserve and develop within our national territory.”

Between July 2024 and January 2025, Dassault transferred production from the Argenteuil site, which is around 17 miles from Cergy. Some small parts manufacturing went to another facility in Seclin.

The FAA has reached its goal of hiring 2,000 air traffic controllers in fiscal year 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced today. In fact, the agency has brought in 2,026 controllers since January, a 20% boost over the first nine months of 2024 and the result of a “supercharged” effort announced in February aimed at expediting hiring.

Under this initiative, the FAA has streamlined the air traffic controller hiring process, cutting down the time it takes by as much as five months. The agency is on pace to hire 8,900 controllers through 2028, including at least 2,200 in FY2026, the Department of Transportation said.

According to the agency, the goal is to fill every seat at the FAA Academy, where controllers are trained. Six hundred trainees were sent there in August alone, exceeding the record in July of 550. This marks the highest number of students in FAA history.

“These latest numbers show our supercharge effort is continuing to hit milestones, and we are making progress,” Duffy said. “Our work is just getting started. This department will continue to use every tool at our disposal to chip away at decades of controller staffing declines because the American people are counting on us.”

Operations at Copenhagen Airport (EKCH) were significantly disrupted on Monday night when two or three large drones were seen flying close to the airfield. More than 30 flights had to be diverted to airports including Billund, Aarhus, Malmo, and Gothenburg as Danish authorities investigated what is widely believed to have been the latest Russian military incursion into NATO-protected airspace.

The incident at Copenhagen Airport lasted approximately from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. local time. There was a similar disruption at Norway’s Oslo Airport (ENGM) after drone sightings over a three-hour period, and Europe-based consultancy Dyami Security Intelligence is warning aircraft operators to expect more threats to operations.

Danish officials indicated that they opted not to shoot down the drones out of concern that the use of military firepower could result in collateral damage to passengers and key facilities, such as fuel farms. According to a senior police investigator, the drone flight patterns around the airport appeared to be intended as a demonstration of the perpetrator’s capabilities, with the conclusion being that the incident had been staged by “a capable actor.”

According to Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the incident was “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date.” Her Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre, accused Russia of repeatedly violating the country’s airspace in recent months.

With improved manufacturing and lessons from a new variant, Pratt & Whitney plans to double time on-wing.

Gogo announced that its Galileo HDX antenna has received EASA approval through a supplemental type certificate (STC) developed by Switzerland-based QCM Design for Bombardier Globals. Developed in collaboration with Germany’s ACC Columbia Jet Service, the approval covers the Global Express/XRS/6000/6500 and 5000/5500,

As part of the process, ACC Columbia completed the first installation on a Global 5000 operated by Austria-based charter and aircraft management company Skyside. Skyside’s Global 5000 had been modified with the Gogo Avance SCS platform a year ago. With the addition of the Galileo HDX satcom antenna, passengers now experience what Gogo describes as a terrestrial-like digital environment in the air.

“The compact [antenna] and simplicity of the hardware installation belie the power of its connectivity provision,” said QCM Design CEO Christian Schusser. “We know that Global series aircraft owners will welcome reliable, consistent high-speed broadband services to keep them continuously productive and entertained as they travel.”

QCM Design indicated that it expects approvals from other regulators, including the FAA and Transport Canada Civil Aviation, to follow the initial EASA approval. Customers can now preorder the installation for their Bombardier Globals from ACC Columbia at its Hanover and Cologne/Bonn airport facilities.

Aircraft Shopper Online (ASO) said its new eBlast service has already delivered more than one million opportunities to aircraft owners and operators since launching earlier this year. The service distributes targeted email messages from brokers, finance companies, and other aviation service providers to a curated list of decision-makers. ASO reported average engagement metrics of a 28% open rate and a 14% click-through rate, which exceed standard email marketing benchmarks.

“For 30 years, ASO has been a central hub where buyers and sellers connect,” said Andrew Young, general manager of Aircraft Shopper Online and Amstat. “With ASO eBlast, we’re extending that connection beyond our website, giving our clients a direct line to the inboxes of real aircraft owners and operators who are looking for opportunities right now.”

According to the company, clients have credited the service with producing offers for aircraft, expanding reach beyond traditional channels, and generating immediate results. ASO noted that eBlast supports a range of content, including aircraft listings, maintenance service promotions, financing options, events, and announcements. The platform also provides campaign tracking for open rates, click-throughs, and engagement.

The California business executive who piloted the drone that collided with a firebomber battling the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year has been sentenced to prison, home confinement, and more than $150,000 in fines and restitution.

Peter Tripp Akemann, a resident of L.A. suburb Culver City, pled guilty in January to one count of unsafe operation of an uncrewed aircraft. He was at the controls of the DJI Mini 3 Pro drone that, on January 9, was struck by a Canadair CL-415 “Super Scooper” water bomber sent from Canada to assist in fighting the conflagration that threatened the city. Akemann launched the drone from the roof of a parking structure and flew it more than 1.5 miles toward the fires until he lost sight of it.

The ensuing collision punched a six-inch-wide hole in the leading edge of the firebomber’s left wing and caused internal structural damage. While StandardAero’s aerostructures team at its Van Nuys Airport facility repaired the twin-engine amphibious aircraft, it was out of the fight for at least three days.

Akemann was sentenced to 14 days in federal prison, followed by 30 days of home detention. In addition to repaying the Government of Quebec for aircraft repairs, he must also complete 150 hours of community service in support of local wildlife relief efforts resulting from the fires.

CHC Helicopter is boosting support for its offshore energy sector flights with the opening this week of a hangar at Farol de São Tomé Heliport near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In partnership with Infra Operações Aeroportuárias, the aircraft operator inaugurated the facility during an event yesterday.

The hangar provides an additional base at the heliport for the CHC rotorcraft fleet, including a pair of Sikorsky S-92As. Infra Operações Aeroportuárias has managed the heliport since 2021.

According to CHC, access to the new hangar has boosted its flight capacity in Brazil by 27%. The company now operates from four bases across Brazil, carrying approximately 6,000 passengers each month to offshore energy installations in the Atlantic Ocean.

“With the start of operations with our second aircraft in Farol, we now have 15 active contracts and another four are set to begin by the end of the year,” said Gilson Caputo, CHC’s executive director in Brazil. “The inauguration of this hangar marks the opening of our fourth base in Brazil, in an expansion supported by Infra and the entire Farol de São Tomé team. We are proud to contribute to job creation and investment in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro while maintaining our commitment to high operational availability and safety as an absolute priority.”