THIELERT: DIAMOND GUILTY OF DISINFORMATION
The bankruptcy firm overseeing the insolvency of Thielert Aircraft Engines used the Berlin Air Show to blast Diamond Aircraft for what it calls a "disinformation campaign." Bruno Kubler, whose firm is handling the bankruptcy, said he understands why Diamond customers are upset, but the "current disconcertion on the part of the customers is attributable to a disinformation campaign initiated by the airplane manufacturer Diamond Aircraft. In the past few days Diamond repeatedly let it be said that I was not very cooperative in negotiations and did not seem very interested in securing the TAE business in the long term." Kubler said that Diamond's claim is "a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. In actual fact, Diamond offered to buy a large number of engines and spare parts – but at a price considerably lower than the price that would be charged to the end customer." More...

AVIDYNE REACTS TO CIRRUS G1000 LAUNCH
Cirrus got a lot of attention last week when it unveiled its new Garmin G1000 panel at the EBACE show in Geneva, and now Avidyne wants to remind future Cirrus buyers that its Entegra panel, long the standard, is still an option. "Among other benefits," the company said in a news release on Tuesday, "the easier-to-use Entegra-equipped Cirrus SR22 is $48,000 less expensive and provides an additional 42 pounds of useful load, both critical factors for many potential Cirrus customers." The company said it will continue to provide support and to continuously upgrade the Entegra system, and added that Avidyne remains in a strong position overall, with a growing aftermarket segment and international expansion. "Avidyne is very confident that pilots will continue to select their avionics packages based on core value propositions such as price, ease of use, interoperability, performance and future upgradeability," the statement said. More...

GA MAKES STRONG SHOWING AT BERLIN AIR SHOW
The Berlin Air Show, officially known as Internationale Luftfahrt-Ausstellung (ILA), opened on Tuesday with its biggest show ever, which should provide some reassurance to those who tend to worry about the future of aviation in an uncertain economy. More than 300 aircraft are on display, and over 1,100 exhibitors from 37 countries expect to welcome record-setting crowds. Visitors will see the world's largest aircraft, including the Airbus A380, an Antonov An-124 and a C-5 Galaxy. GA has a home of its own along General Aviation Avenue, where exhibitors include Bombardier, Cessna, Cirrus, Diamond, Embraer, Extra, Grob, Hawker Beechcraft, Piper, Liberty Aircraft, Pilatus, Socata and Stemme. "The ILA is the most important meeting of the year on the European continent for the industry -- which, in Germany, has become one of the few sustainably expanding industries and has bucked the current trend by actually creating more jobs," said Dr. Thomas Enders, president of the German Aerospace Industries Association, which organized the event. More...

ONLINE CHARTER BOOKING SYSTEM LAUNCHED
It was about 11 years ago that Alaska Airlines took the first online flight booking and now most of us arrange our aluminum tube travel that way. Booking private charters is naturally more complicated but CharterX says it's achieved a software breakthrough called RealQuote that allows customers to book conveniently online with launch operators Segrave Aviation and its affiliate Pegasus Elite. "There have been a variety of roadblocks that have prevented the air charter industry from realizing the time and cost efficiencies that e-commerce has provided commercial travelers for the past decade," said CharterX President Jim Betlyon. "It's been a pleasure working with Segrave over the past several months to overcome these obstacles and deliver e-commerce capability to our joint customers." More...

FIRST NEXTGEN PC-12 DELIVERED
Two months after receiving FAA and EASA certification, Pilatus has delivered the first PC-12NG to a customer from Broomfield, Colo. While the PC-12 has earned a reputation as a comfortable yet tireless workhorse, the latest model adds refinements that business aircraft customers demand in new aircraft. The new airplane has a fully integrated Honeywell Primus Apex avionics system and a more powerful PT6A engine that boosts performance significantly. More...

EUROCONTROL WORRIES ABOUT BIZJET GROWTH
The number of business jets operating in Europe is expected to double to about 4,000 in the next ten years and that has officials with the continent's air traffic control organization wondering how it will accommodate the growth. "The levels of growth that we are seeing provide a real challenge for airports and air traffic control across Europe," David Marsh, Eurocontrol's manager of forecasting and statistics, said in a news release. "Business aviation uses different airports, but flies mostly in the same densely-used airspace as the rest of the traffic. In addition, business aviation generates more and bigger unanticipated peaks of demand which puts pressure both on airports and on air traffic control. As a result, delays to business flights have increased over the last two years." More...

UNDERSTANDING STRATEGICAIR'S AIR CHARTER STRATEGY
While outsourcing and contracting services has been the trend in many aviation enterprises, a Florida charter company claims that an integrated approach saves time and money for both the company and its customers. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with StrategicAir CEO Keith St. Clair. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: THIELERT SHOWS US HOW TO KILL A COMPANY (OR TWO)
"If Thielert thinks it will dig itself out from bankruptcy with its stratospheric new parts prices and no warranties, it's likely in for a rude shock" — so says Paul Bertorelli in the latest installment of our aviation blog, the AVweb Insider. Think we're crazy? Click on over and join the conversation. More...

PAT GORDON NEW SANDEL VP

Pat Gordon

Pat Gordon has been named VP of Sales and Marketing at Sandel Avionics. Gordon's first task is refocusing the organization to better support the base of service centers. More...

WHO'S WHERE? YOU TELL US
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference, too. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 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

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