As Germany’s Aero Friedrichshafen show continues to evolve its dedicated business aviation offering, next year’s iteration will—for the first time—incorporate the Air Charter Association into its schedule. The April 14 to 17 show will include the first staging of the Air Charter Regional conference, which is based on the established formula of the existing Air Charter Expo (ACE).

Aero Friedrichshafen show director Tobias Bretzel presented the new format yesterday at ACE 2026 at London Biggin Hill Airport (EGKB). In addition to a dedicated conference program, the new feature will include an ACE-branded business aviation exhibit in Aero's Hall A1, promising what he termed a “similar feel and focus” to the annual UK event. 

Pre-furnished booths within the Air Charter Association area, measuring either 3 by 6 or 3 by 3 meters, will be available for exhibitors. Meanwhile, as Aero itself continues to expand, the business aviation element—returning for its third year—is now set to encompass a footprint across four halls and the Messe Friedrichshafen venue’s Foyer West, as well as an extended static display. 

In response to industry suggestions, the April 2027 dedicated business aviation event will now run for just 2.5 days, allowing attendees to travel home on Friday afternoon. While business aircraft will remain at the static lineup on Saturday, these exhibitors aren't required to remain present.

AIN is commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11 this week with a series of stories that look back on the tragedy.

He spends more than three hours in a helicopter nearly every weekday, flying in some of the world’s busiest airspace, and while his voice is familiar to millions of New York City-area commuters, WCBS 880 radio helicopter traffic reporter Tom Kaminski is also known for his brief role as an eyewitness to one of the darkest events in American history. Not even the passage of two decades has dimmed his recollections of that clear late summer morning.

“The day was uneventful up until that point. We were out later than we normally would have been. We had to check on a collision that turned out to be really nothing. At 8:46 we started to make our way back [to the helicopter base at Linden Airport] and were making our turn south on the Hudson at the George Washington Bridge when we saw a flash and a fireball.”

The date was Sept. 11, 2001, and from his lofty vantage point, Kaminski and his pilot, Arthur Anderson, had just witnessed the explosion of the first airliner as it struck Tower One of the World Trade Center. As the Bell 206L3 LongRanger headed downtown for a closer look, Kaminski tried in vain to reach his newsroom for information. 

Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief of AIN Media Group for the past nine years, is retiring at the end of October. His career as a widely respected aviation journalist spans four decades, including three spells with the AIN team. Previously, Thurber served as editor of Aviation Maintenance magazine and as an associate editor at Flying magazine.

At AIN, Thurber has been an exceptionally prolific journalist, contributing widely to all AIN Media Group publications. In addition to the day-to-day business aviation news beat, his work includes in-depth coverage of avionics, maintenance, training, safety, operations, rotorcraft, and myriad other topics.

Thurber is also an experienced pilot, holding an ATP pilot certificate as well as airplane and helicopter commercial pilot certificates. He is an instrument flight instructor and holds type ratings in the Gulfstream G550 and Cessna Citation 500 series. Additionally, Thurber holds an A&P mechanic certificate.

These qualifications have opened doors for Thurber to file expert pilot reports on multiple aircraft types. He has also been a frequent contributor to AIN Media Group’s Business Jet Traveler publication for private aviation consumers. Thurber has been honored with the NBAA Gold Wing Award for Journalism and multiple Aerospace Media Awards.

At NBAA-BACE 2026 on Wednesday, October 21, the AIN team will mark Thurber’s impending retirement with an open-to-all reception at the company’s booth (1925, West Hall) from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Support for Bombardier and policies that encourage trade continues to flow in after President Trump called for a ban on the sale of the Montreal-headquartered company’s products unless they are produced in the U.S. How such a ban could take place remains unclear. Bombardier immediately responded with a statement highlighting that it employs thousands of workers throughout the U.S.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said it was “firmly opposed” to a ban on Bombardier products and said trade restrictions are counterproductive.

While not specifically referencing Bombardier, NBAA yesterday reiterated its support for trade policies that boost U.S. aviation while also fostering manufacturing and job creation. “For 45 years, zero-tariff policies have enabled U.S. aerospace to maintain a dominant trade surplus,” NBAA said.

A delegation of Kansas Republican lawmakers—including U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, along with Rep. Ron Estes—vowed to work to ensure Bombardier can continue to grow. Citing the importance of Bombardier to Kansas, Estes added, “Today’s North American aerospace supply chain is deeply integrated, which is why I have long advocated for aircraft and aviation parts to be exempted from all tariffs.”

Marshall stated: “I’m going to fight to keep Bombardier’s over 1,200 Kansas jobs.” However, he did agree with Trump that, if the U.S. is the market, “more of those planes should be built here.”

Take a closer look at an inlet overhaul at DAS Aviation. Composite Technician Derek Taylor walks through the disassembly and repair process on a damaged Bombardier Global Express inlet and explains why maintaining the structural integrity of these components is so important.

North American business aviation activity rose slightly in August amid signs of softening demand, according to the latest TraqPak report from Argus International. With a 7.9% gain, fractional operators drove the region’s 0.3% year-over-year (YOY) increase, while Part 135 flying was flat and Part 91 activity fell 2.9% on double-digit declines in midsize and large-cabin jets within this operational category. Globally, flight activity climbed 0.6% YOY, with Europe posting its second consecutive monthly decline, falling 1%.

Among the four broad aircraft categories in North America, turboprops posted the largest yearly gain at 3.3%, followed by light jets at 2.9%. Midsize jets fell 1.9% YOY, and large-cabin jets declined 6.2%. 

In Europe, large-cabin jets drove most of the decline, falling 6.4%, while light jets slipped 5.1%. Turboprops and midsize jets posted yearly gains of 9.2% and 1.9%, respectively, in the region.

The remaining regions—Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America—recorded the strongest growth of any area tracked in the report, with combined activity up 17.4% year over year, bolstered by a 27.6% increase in turboprop flying. Light jets rose 13.9%, large-cabin jets rose 6.9%, and midsize jets rose 6.2%.

TraqPak analysts project North American activity will decline 0.1% YOY this month, with European activity expected to fall 0.4% over the same period.

African private aviation consumers have a growing appetite for high-performance in-flight connectivity that can now more readily be satisfied, according to system specialist Gogo. According to the company, which now incorporates the former Satcom Direct product line, it is fielding requests from operators of a more diverse array of aircraft across the continent.

“What we see now is a change in the landscape that has reinvigorated the African market and improved the passenger experience,” Gogo senior v-p for international sales David Falberg told AIN. “In the past, we mainly had conversations about [installing connectivity systems] on heavier aircraft like Challengers; now we are getting asked about smaller airframes like the [Pilatus] PC-24 and the [Beechcraft] King Airs.”

According to Gogo, both its satellite-based Galileo (LEO) and Plane Simple Ka/Ku-band (GEO) connectivity systems provide customers with affordable connectivity options. “Especially with older aircraft, we help customers to consider the right level of investment with simplified installation and the right price point,” Falberg said. 

Gogo, which is a founding member of the African Business Aviation Association, is now offering finance options to amortize the cost of aircraft connectivity hardware over a fixed period. “This is a good option especially for smaller aircraft, because the pricing is more predictable for the purchase of the hardware and fixed for three years, removing the element of surprise,” Falberg explained.

Many business aviation flights were affected yesterday by the serious disruption to air traffic control services in the UK that triggered several thousand airline flight cancellations and delays at multiple airports. Flight data group Cirium reported that almost one-third of all movements at the UK’s main airports were canceled yesterday, with operations slowly recovering today.

According to Sean Raftery, senior director of international business with flight support group Universal Aviation UK, many business aviation flights were canceled and others were delayed by up to five hours. He told AIN that operators of aircraft at London Biggin Hill Airport for the Air Charter Expo yesterday were faced with canceling departures or accepting very long delays.

According to UK air traffic services group NATS, a cybersecurity breach was ruled out as a possible cause of the widespread technical failure. NATS CEO Martin Rolfe said a technical problem had been identified and its resolution took “longer than hoped.”

Acknowledging some impact on traffic at the London-area Farnborough Airport, a spokesperson told AIN that the privately owned facility had been well placed to respond to the airspace disruption. “Unlike commercial aviation hubs, where canceled flights often represent completely lost capacity, business aviation allows for dynamic rescheduling, enabling our clients to complete their journeys with minimal long-term impact,” the spokesperson said.

Following the doubling of Starlink service prices and the introduction of new regional service areas, aviation operational information provider OpsGroup has published maps of the new regions. SpaceX implemented the new Starlink prices and regions on August 7, adding the Aviation Regional Unlimited plan for $12,500 per month and doubling the Aviation Global Unlimited price to $20,000 per month.

At about the same time as the price increase, SpaceX released a new version of its electronically steered antenna that doubled download speeds to up to 1 Gbps.

User reports also indicate that service drops completely if the aircraft flies out of the region and doesn’t automatically resume when it returns. According to OpsGroup, “You can change regions during the month, but if you cross the boundary, the service stops as soon as you leave your selected region! It won’t switch you to Global Unlimited automatically—you’ll need to contact Starlink and change your region to get it working again.”

Other reports posted this week claim that SpaceX is no longer accepting credit cards for payments above $10,000 and that users must use ACH or wire transfers to pay for the Regional and Global Unlimited plans. AIN could not confirm these details with SpaceX since it does not respond to media inquiries.