COMMITTEE PRESSURES EPA ON AIRCRAFT EMISSIONS
The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is turning up the heat on the Environmental Protection Agency over the contribution of aircraft emissions to global warming. Committee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has written a letter wondering whether "the agency has plans to regulate heat-trapping global warming emissions from America’s aviation sector, continuing the committee’s ongoing investigation into aviation’s increasing contribution to global warming and what can be done to reduce those emissions." Last month five states, the city of New York and environmental groups petitioned the EPA to tackle the issue but there have been no smoke signals from the EPA on the topic since. More...

SENTIENT GROWS AGAIN
On the heels of its takeover of TAG Aviation's U.S. aircraft management business, Sentient Jet Holdings LLC has acquired Van Nuys-based The Air Group for an undisclosed amount. Sentient says the acquisition makes it the "leading manager of aircraft in the country." The purchase bookends Sentient's burgeoning operation with new facilities at Teterboro and Van Nuys Airports. The Air Group recently completed a new facility at all-important TEB and is building a new base at Van Nuys that is expected to be finished this spring. This acquisition further strengthens our aircraft management experience and provides us with one of the largest and highest-quality fleets for charter customers," said Sentient CEO Steven Hankin. More...

GULFSTREAM'S RNP IN PLANEVIEW
The FAA has granted approval for Gulfstream's PlaneView-equipped business jets to fly Required Navigation Performance Special Aircraft and Aircrew Authorization Required (RNP SAAAR) approaches. The approval allows PlaneView equipped G550, G500, G450 and G350 aircraft to fly approach procedures using both global positioning and inertial navigation reference systems "to fly predetermined paths preloaded in their flight management computers" via the Flight Guidance Control System. More direct approaches flown through use of the PlaneView system are designed to be safer and more efficient resulting in happier pilots and lower fuel costs. Gulfstream worked in cooperation with NetJets and Honeywell through the approval process and has completed an aircraft-specific RNP SAAAR Operations Manual. NetJets and Honeywell will now submit operational packages, which include an RNP SAAAR pilot training program, to their local Flight Standards District Offices. Upon approval, they may begin conducting RNP SAAAR instrument approaches. More...

CESSNA DOES SALES JOB ON SERVICE CENTER WORKERS
Cessna is mounting an airlift between Long Beach, Calif. and Phoenix this month trying to convince workers and their families to move with the company to Arizona. Cessna is moving its Long Beach business jet service center to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and, as you might expect, it's hoping the 80 mechanics and support staff that run the existing operation will go along. Cessna needs to expand and Long Beach Airport is out of room so the move is necessary from a business standpoint but the company has apparently recognized that convincing the employees and their families to leave the gentle ocean breezes of Long Beach for blistering Phoenix (but it's a dry heat) will take more than just covering moving expenses. "We want the children, the wives, everybody involved," Cessna exec Joel Davis (who lives in Wichita and might be able to remain objective) told the Arizona Republic. "This is a major change in their lives. There is an ocean where they're living now, and we want it to be a family decision to come over here." More...

ORDER NUMBERS BULLISH FOR BOEING
Boeing shattered its previous single-year record for orders, tabling some 1,413 for its commercial aircraft in 2007 and posting a year-over-year increase of close to 40 percent -- 369 of the orders were for the 787 Dreamliner. The company's prior net order records sat at 1,044 and 1,002 in 2006 and 2005, respectively. Boeing says its total yet-to-be-filled order book now includes over 3,400 aircraft, including 817 orders taken for the Dreamliner since that program's launch in 2004, the Dreamliner now holds position as the fastest-selling new aircraft in history, according to Boeing. First flight of the efficiency-tailored jet has been delayed into this year by technical problems and first deliveries are now expected by year-end. Airbus, facing the crunch of paying workers in domestic currencies but selling product in weakened dollars has not yet released its 2007 orders numbers, but through September offered 854 to what was then 893 for Boeing. More...

CHINA TO BUILD LARGE AIRLINERS
China has announced it will form a company by March of this year to pursue its long-held ambition to build an indigenous large jet airliner. With the ARJ21, essentially a DC-9 updated with U.S.-made engines and avionics, ready to fly about the same time, and the recent creation of a capable front-line jet fighter, the country's government says it's ready to tackle the technological learning curve required to build a big people carrier. The government wants the aircraft to weigh at least 200,000 lbs and carry at least 150 people and has indicated that simply buying off-the-shelf technology will not cut it this time. "This would lift the country's competence in the global market as a slew of technical breakthroughs, especially in engine, materials and electronic equipment, were to be made," a story in TravelVideoTelevisionMore...

BUSINESS AIRCRAFT INFLUX NOT ALWAYS WELCOME
The current boom in business jet sales has naturally created more demand for places to accommodate them. In most cases that means new investment, jobs and economic activity but not everyone welcomes the uptick at the local airport. In Livermore, Calif., for instance, local newspapers have been alive with controversy since the city signed a 35-year lease with Livermore Air Center, owned by the same company that operates the Million Air FBO at Monterey Peninsula Airport. The new lessees are adding fuel, lavatory service, concierge and other bizjet-oriented facilities and detractors say that will mean more noise and nuisance. But spokeswoman Marilyn Sullivan says the improvements don't mean only jets are welcome. "We serve anybody who is flying into the airport, any type of aircraft," she said. In Glendale, Ariz., near Phoenix, the new operator of a previously GA-oriented airport makes no bones about its intention to attract business aircraft. More...

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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.

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