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EASA certification directorate staff members flew the Leonardo AW609 civil tiltrotor in Cascina Costa di Samarate, Italy, on March 16 and 17 as part of its first round of familiarization activities for the aircraft program. These flights follow FAA pre-type inspection authorization (TIA) flights on February 22 in Philadelphia. Leonardo said both sets of flights constitute “an important step forward in the final stages of the certification process” and set “the right pace on the validation process, together with the FAA certification path.” Earlier this month, Leonardo reported that the AW609 civil tiltrotor had reached the “final stages of certification” as the FAA prepares to initiate formal TIA flight tests. Along with the test fleet, three customer AW609s remain in final assembly. However, under questioning, managing director Gian Piero Cutillo admitted that an order for four AW609s from an unnamed European customer, announced at last year’s Heli-Expo, was the largest contract it had received for the type. Company officials have declined to reveal details concerning the aircraft’s total order book, likely pricing, or precise timetable for certification. While Leonardo is noncommittal on estimating a certification date for the AW609, Leonardo emergency medical services specialist Sam Schaab said he expects it to occur “relatively quickly.” The company is marketing the aircraft for a variety of missions, including air ambulance applications.   Source AIN Online

Bombardier, continuing to meet financial objectives in its turnaround plan, has upped its goals for 2025, now targeting more than $9 billion in revenues by 2025 as it plans to deliver 150 aircraft annually by that time frame. The $9 billion marks an improvement from the $7.5 billion goal laid out in 2021, when Bombardier became a pure-play business aviation company, and the $6.9 billion brought in 2022. Increased deliveries would be a ramp-up from 120 in 2022 and the anticipated 138 in 2023. Along with revenues, Bombardier has set more aggressive profitability targets, and is anticipating an adjusted EBITDA of more than $1.625 billion, compared with the original goal of $1.5 billion. “In 2021, we laid the foundation for a stronger, more resilient, and predictable Bombardier by 2025. Halfway down the road, we can say we are delivering on that promise,” said Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel. “All of Bombardier’s strategic priorities are on track or ahead of plan. We are therefore proud to announce today that we are confidently raising the bar.” Contributing to the improved results are returns on its long-term plans to expand its aftermarket revenues, and Bombardier executives said during an Investor Day on Thursday that they are well on their way to achieving a $2 billion annual contribution from that business by 2025, a 50 percent jump from 2020 and up from $1.5 billion in 2022. Propelling this has been a dramatic expansion of its aftermarket footprint that has included the opening of new or expanded centers in Miami, Melbourne, London, and Singapore, among other activities. Also contributing to the improved revenues is growth beginning in its certified preowned program and defense business. However, Martel noted that Bombardier expects those

Business aviation advocates are working with government leaders to help ease the transition in the implementation of the new EU passenger-entry programs—the Entry/Exit System (EES) and European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). Carriers that fly passengers into the EU must register for EES and ETIAS to enable the verification of travel details for arrivals into the 27 countries that make up the Schengen Area. The programs apply to Part 135 and 125 operations. NBAA noted it is still unclear whether Part 91 operators must comply, pointing out that each state may have a different definition of “carrier.” While deadlines for both programs were delayed (requirements originally were scheduled to begin in September 2022), transitions to them are anticipated to begin this year. The EU is estimating mid-May for the transition to begin with EES, which will replace the manual stamping of passports with electronic records. While the transition will continue until February 2024, manual stamping of passports is anticipated to end by mid-August. ETIAS, an online pre-travel and pre-boarding system for visa-exempt third-country nationals, is targeted for implementation in November. NBAA is coordinating with the European Business Aviation Association and the Canadian Business Aviation Association to help facilitate a smooth implementation for the business aviation community of the programs that are managed and overseen by the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice (eu-LISA), said NBAA director of flight operations and regulations Brian Koester. The association recommends carriers that travel to Europe begin the registration process and warns that operators should not wait for additional guidance in hopes of being exempt from the requirements. “The responsible position is to register and be

Seeking to expand the business aviation workforce, the UK’s Farnborough Airport will stage a careers day event on January 23. In addition to the management team of the London-area private airport, the event will feature some of its major tenants, including Flexjet, Air Charter Service, and Gulfstream. The latter company has a major maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at the site. The British Business & General Aviation Association is supporting the careers day, which will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the on-site Aviator Hotel. The group’s managing director, Lindsey Oliver, is due to speak at the event to prospective recruits, including “candidates who are looking to start a career in the industry or experienced hires who are looking for their next role.” More information is available from the Farnborough Airport recruitment team at recruitment @ farnboroughairport.com. The airport—which seeks to fill vacancies in areas such as customer service, operations, and ground handling—has more than 50 companies on-site that collectively employ around 1,200 people. On the other side of the UK capital, London Biggin Hill Airport is holding a Careers Open Day on February 16 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Private Jet Card, Membership Prices Continue To Climb Fixed and capped hourly rate jet cards and memberships increased 4.9 percent quarter-over-quarter, according to private aviation services buyer’s guide Private Jet Card Comparisons. The average hourly price climbed to $11,748 across all categories in the fourth quarter, capping a 21 percent rise for all of last year. However, the company said, “There is light at the end of the tunnel.” It cited daily minimum charges decreasing to 94.7 minutes in the fourth quarter, down from a high of 109.3 minutes in the second quarter. While this is higher than the pre-Covid low of 86.2 minutes in fourth-quarter 2019, the result was the cost of shorter flights dropped by 8.8 percent late last year. Meanwhile, the average cost for fixed-rate jet cards beat on-demand charter pricing in five of 12 different flight scenarios tracked quarterly by the company. The $27,738 average flight price for fixed and capped-rate jet cards and memberships with guaranteed availability essentially matched the lowest on-demand flight costs of $27,853.   Source: AINOnline

Slot Reservations Required for Superbowl LVII With the end of the NFL regular season this past weekend, the business aviation community’s eyes now turn to the Superbowl LVII, which will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12. The championship contest traditionally attracts scores of business jets but will be compounded by a major professional golf tournament—the Waste Management Phoenix Open—held in the area that same week. This will add further business aircraft volume, according to NBAA’s air traffic services. To help expedite the expected traffic to both events, a ramp reservation system is operational and reservations will be required from February 7 to 14 for all arrivals and departures, including drop-and-goes, at airports in the metropolitan Phoenix area. Those airports include Glendale Municipal (KGEU), Phoenix Goodyear (KGYR), Phoenix Deer Valley (KDVT), Phoenix Sky Harbor (KPHX), Scottsdale (KSDL), Phoenix-Mesa Gateway (KIWA), Chandler Municipal (KCHD), and Falcon Field (KFFZ) for Superbowl LVII. Each FBO has been allocated a number of available slot times and reservations must be made through either the service provider or the airport authority as necessary. Regularly scheduled air carriers and air-taxi operations are exempt from the reservation requirement. Due to limited parking availability, drop-and-go operations are encouraged versus overnight stays. With Las Vegas expected to attract its own crowd of private aircraft during the weekend of the big game, as well as its close proximity to the game venue for use as a staging area, Harry Reid International, Henderson Executive, and North Las Vegas airports will also require reservations during that time.   Source: AINOnline

Gulfstream G700 Gulfstream Aerospace (Static A12) is showcasing the five-cabin-zone Gulfstream G700, the U.S. company’s forthcoming ultra-long-range flagship, this week at MEBAA 2022 in the model’s debut appearance in Dubai. Boasting what Gulfstream G700 claims would be the tallest (6 feet 3 inches; 1.90 meters) and widest (8 feet 2 inches; 2.49 meters) cabin in a purpose-built business jet, the 7,500-nm Gulfstream G700 is expected to enter service in mid-2023. The Gulfstream G700 on display features a corporate-configured cabin along with what Gulfstream terms an “ultra-galley” with more than 10 feet of counter space; a grand suite with fixed bed and bright, spacious lavatory with shower; circadian lighting system; and new seat design of the Gulfstream G700. “It really shows the flexibility of the design that our team has created,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns about the Gulfstream G700. The twinjet arrived in Dubai during a world tour aimed at demonstrating the precocious maturity of the Gulfstream G700 aircraft model, which has been in flight testing since early 2020. The Gulfstream G700 tour began following the aircraft’s NBAA-BACE debut in Orlando, Florida, in October and includes some 20 cities on six continents, with visits to Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, for the Future Investment Initiative and Bahrain for the Bahrain International Airshow already in the logbook. With a Mach 0.85 long-range cruise speed and Mach 0.90 high-speed cruise, the Gulfstream G700 set eight international city-pair speed records during flight tests and established another on this tour for a flight from Istanbul to Van Don, Vietnam, where the model had its Asia-Pacific debut last month at an event hosted by the Gulfstream G700 sales representative Sun Air. “Vietnam and Southeast Asia are strong developing markets for Gulfstream G700,”

With the knockout phase of FIFA World Cup having started on Saturday, Middle East-based flight support companies are warning tournament-goers about an extra layer of unpredictability through the final match on December 18. “We knew which national teams were playing in the group stages, but we didn’t know who will make it to the knockout phase,” said Henry LeDuc, head of strategy development at UAS International Trip Support. “This means there were a lot of pre-planned flights already for the group stage. Ad hoc flights will rapidly build from countries whose teams advance to the next round.” Some 48 matches took place in the group phase, which ran from November 20 to December 2, with qualifiers playing only 16 more. Tom Murphy, head of FBOs and aircraft management specialist at Gama Aviation Sharjah, told AIN that demand ramp-up starting with the knockout will only soar higher with the quarter-final, semi-final, and final games. “Charters are going to be very challenging for ad hoc at the last minute,” he said. “Given the restrictions for gaining access to Qatar, you need a minimum of 72 hours’ notice for a flight. You also need a hire car, as proof that you’ve got a match ticket. Last-minute charter is going to be very difficult.” To meet expected spikes in demand, several aircraft charter companies in the region—including Qatar Executive, Empire Aviation Group, Jet Aviation, and ExecuJet—are making extra aircraft available to tournament-goers on charters and shuttles. UAE-based Royal Jet and Jetex signed a partnership early last month to operate on-demand 30-seat private jet flights between Dubai and Doha for the duration of the competition. Royal Jet operates the world’s largest fleet of Boeing Business Jets and announced the acquisition

Celebrating its 15th year of operations this week at MEBAA 2022, management specialist Empire Aviation Group (Static S4; EAG) has seen its charter business triple since 2019, it said on the eve of the biennial Middle East business aviation show. “Our movements as a company today are up 200 percent over 2019,” EAG founder and managing director Paras Dhamecha told AIN. “If you look at the number of airplanes coming in and out of the region, I would think that, overall, movements have increased strongly.” The VIP Terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport (OMDW) has been the focus of business aviation activity. “If you visualize where earlier aircraft were parked—basically two rows along the length of the ramp of the VIP Terminal area—today, we’ve got aircraft stacked about five rows deep on the sides. Obviously, there are substantial movements, but I’m not aware of the actual numbers.” He said the company tracked the type and number of movements of aircraft under its management, but not the overall market. Several industry participants have said that the lack of clarity from the authorities on business aviation movements at Dubai’s airports hampers business planning. Relocation specialists South Africa’s Henley & Partners have identified the UAE as the leading global destination for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and expected 4,000 millionaires to move there this year alone. “The UAE still has this huge concentration on becoming a global hub for business aviation,” Dhamecha said. “It’s going really well. Dubai looked like it was number two or three in terms of overall growth and movements during the pandemic. “Obviously, the borders were open, so there was a lot more movement. The growth trajectory has been exponential. Support from the government continues to grow.

While the Middle East represents only about 5 percent of general aviation worldwide, the region is poised for growth given its size, the different businesses that exist, and the fact that companies typically have dealings in several countries in the region and increasingly have to connect to Europe, the U.S., and Asia. That’s according to Dassault Aviation international sales director Renaud Cloâtre, who is based in Dubai. “Growth potential is enormous because the region is underequipped,” Cloâtre said. “If you look at general aviation’s structure in Europe or the U.S., there’s clear growth potential in the Mideast. We are in an economy where the energy market is actually changing relations between Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East. The value of oil is increasingly recognized. Oil prices are increasingly relevant, underlining oil’s true value. It’s needed. There is also a requirement to use it wisely and not burn too much. “Regional transition, as you’ve seen in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as in other countries, is taking place. The UAE has changed over the past 10 years. Change has taken place all over the region. When you move towards change, you need the tools for it, and business jets are one of them.” He said the Falcon 7X—of which Dassault sold six to Saudia Private Aviation—has been a tremendous success. “The 7X and 8X are fantastic aircraft, going all the way from here to continents. People in Saudi Arabia love three-engine aircraft. They love the stability of fly-by-wire. The Saudi market is very complex, in terms of actors and operators. It’s a big country, a big domestic market; it’s distance they need. “Again, if you look at all the missions general aviation can