CESSNA GETS COLUMBIA
As expected, Cessna was the top bidder for Columbia Aircraft, paying $26.4 million for "select assets" of the bankrupt Bend, Ore. planemaker. The bankruptcy auction was held Tuesday afternoon. CEO Jack Pelton said the company will invest money in the Bend plant, make sure existing owners are looked after and will keep making the two aircraft models under the name Cessna 350 and Cessna 400. "The Columbia models are a good fit with our existing product line," Pelton said in a news release. "We look forward to providing existing Columbia owners with improved levels of service and support and introducing new customers to these outstanding aircraft." More...

SKYCATCHER TO BE MADE IN CHINA
Cessna has chosen the Chinese-government owned Shenyang Aircraft Corp. to build the Model 162 Skycatcher. Earlier this week, Cessna announced it would be building the Light Sport Aircraft offshore. In a news release, Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said the company needed top quality at a competitive price and SAC put it all together. "Our solution is to partner with SAC, a company with excellent facilities, state-of-the-art technologies and a workforce highly experienced in aircraft manufacturing. SkyCatcher customers will get an advanced design, high-quality workmanship and world-class product support, all at an affordable price from Cessna, a brand known and trusted worldwide." The move, coupled with Cessna's acquisition of Columbia Aircraft has dominated Cessna's profile in recent months as it continues to pile up record sales for its business jets. More...

COBHAM BUYS S-TEC
British-owned Cobham PLC, which owns Chelton, Comant, Artex Aircraft Supplies and Wulfsberg Electronics, among other things, has purchased autopilot maker S-Tec from Meggitt PLC, also from Britain, for $38 million. The deal was concluded last week and the capacity that S-Tec adds to Cobham's aviation portfolio were front and center in the announcement. "The close association with these established leaders, combined with the support of Cobham, will enable S-TEC to explore new opportunities to further expand our markets for new-generation digital autopilot and flight control systems," said S-Tec President Mel Hilderbrand. More...

VLJs: IRAN'S NEXT BIG THING?
As the air taxi business based on very light jets (VLJs) gets plenty of hype all over the aviation world, even places that don't normally figure prominently in the business are taking notice. Iran, for example, seems to think there's a place for VLJ air taxis to fill in the transportation gaps over its vast expanses. "Considering the fact that the length of landing line for these ultra light aircrafts is less than 1500 meters, most of the Iran's present airports are technically suitable to accept these taxis," the Cultural Heritage News Agency (CHNA) wrote recently. More...

AVIATION BUSINESS SUPPLY CHAIN DATABASE CREATED
Those interested in who is selling what to whom in the aerospace industry can subscribe to a new database created by PMI Media. The Aerospace Supply Chain Database is described as a "new market intelligence service for the global aerospace industry." The database appears to quite literally get to the nuts and bolts of the industry, tracing the source of all materials going into aircraft and engine products, sometimes down to the raw materials. "Information has been compiled on key contracts, suppliers, value (where publicly available), location of work, contract dates and technology/industry analysis which can be easily interrogated by customers," the company said in a news release. Free examples of the depth and breadth of the database are now available. More...

JET AVIATION OPENS VNUKOVO FACILITY
Swiss-based Jet Aviation will open a branch at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport to provide maintenance, repair and AOG support for the rapidly increasing number of business aircraft using the modern airport. Jet Aviation is the first international company to set up at the airport and CEO Peter Edwards said its customers demanded it. "Given the extraordinary growth of business aviation in Russia, we felt the need to enter the region as soon as possible. Our clients and the OEMs have communicated clearly that they expect us to be here," he said in a news release. More...

BOMBARDIER TARGETS "EMERGING MARKETS"
Bombardier says a major portion of its business in coming years will come from Russia, China and India as well as South Africa and Brazil. In a ceremony to launch the Challenger 605 business jet in Mumbai, company spokesman Murray Sutherland said that market opportunities move with the changing fortunes of various parts of the world and global enterprises like Bombardier move with them. "The business is so international it makes us fairly immune to problems that are specific to some countries," he told Reuters. "But it would be foolish of us to disregard high oil prices or a possible downturn in the U.S. economy." At the same time, the Indian media was revelling in the attention from the world's third largest aircraft maker. More...

AVIATION LEADER EARNS SILICON VALLEY RECOGNITION
When the San Francisco Business Times was looking for the most admired CEO in the emerging growth category for its annual business awards, it skipped the plethora of technology and information companies within its circulation reach and tapped the aviation business. Paul Touw, CEO of XOJET was given the pivotal award at the publication's annual awards ceremony in San Francisco last week. XOJET describes itself as the "world's fastest growing aviation company" and it has the jet orders to prove it. By 2012, the company will have a fleet of 127 business jets and it's not quite two years old. More...

DID YOUR BATTERY DIE? TELL US ABOUT IT
Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer, will soon publish an in-depth report on aircraft batteries. As part of that report, the magazine would like to hear about your experiences with aircraft batteries -- good, bad or otherwise. To take part in our online survey, click here. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

MEET THE AVWEBBIZ TEAM

AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

The AVwebBiz team is:

Publisher
Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.)

Comments or questions about the news should be sent here.

Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team.

If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebBiz. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here.

Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.